Lumberjax Dominate Stealth: Box Lacrosse in the Northwest

Submitted by Walax on Sun, 2009-02-08 15:43

Headline News

How many of you have actually gotten down to see the Jax play? Hmmm... not that many hands, you in the back- nice job! Every game I have been down to see, has been one I thought was worth the trip. For me, there are several elements to this formula of Goodness: I see lots of friends, watch some great Lacrosse, and be a part of a small home-town movement with an attendance of 7,000 people and a guy with a Lumberjack game jersey embroidered, "Im That Guy" and looks like a Lumberjack. Actually, I had one more reason for coming down, we wanted to watch Jamison in his first home game.

Now, I have a different outlook on the NLL, having grown up watching the first incarnation of professional indoor as the MILL- Major Indoor Lacrosse League. The Baltimore Thunder saw the likes of the Gaits, Jimmy Darkangelo (founder of Laxworld), Tom Ryan, and a wealth of other now-hall-of-famers battle each other in spandex shorts, and nearly full hockey pads. These guys were Juggernauts; they played hard, earned next to nothing, and wound up losing teeth doing something they loved.

If you watch a Lumberjax game, there are some obvious parallels. Look at the Morgan brothers teeth, the Jax team is close-knit and plays for each other, and most guys don't earn enough to pay for their gas to play. I run into local champions of the Lacrosse community in Oregon like Brian Silcott VP of Operations for the Jax, Fred Zensen - Officials Officionado, Mark Flood, Martin Wright as the Rhino, and everywhere there are signs of support from the Portland community.

The Jax have serious star power in Malawsky, who became the 8th player ever to reach 200 goals, 400 assists, and 600 total points after his fourth quarter assist. Malawsky joins other exclusive company in John Tavares, Gavin Prout, Colin Doyle, Gary Gait, Josh Sanderson, John Grant Jr., and Shaun Williams. Brodie Merrill has been called the greatest Lacrosse player currently playing. He performs magic in transition, and NLL/MLL MVP Ryan Powell who's 5 point performance last night including a hat trick led the team in scoring and heart by doing things such as going to the goal after he has had his helmet knocked off. These are the new legends of the game right here in our back yard. Well, three hours away, but well worth the trip. Jamison also had a great game, taking draws and sent an assist to Merrill in the second quarter. On top of that, he also went 9-15 in the face-off X, and doubled with Brodie on a key strip in the final minutes to help regain posession. After several scraps last night with even some dropped gloves, there is no doubt the box game still has its heart intact.

I encourage all of you guys to come down to watch a game. Yes, you can watch it on NLL.com, but do that for away games. Come be a part of the lacrosse community, support the Jax at home. In this economic climate, we may not have a team in Seattle, but we can help keep the Jax in Portland in the face of the rumors of the MLL teams in San Francisco and L.A. folding. We have the new legends of the game in our back yard. We need to keep it that way.