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DENVER, CO.- On a night where breaking records seemed to occur every few moments, attackman Ryan Powell put up a record-setting perfomance of his own as the Western Conference All-Stars defeated the Eastern Conference All-Stars by a 31-15 margin at the 2008 Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game in front of 10,124 fans at INVESCO Field at Mile Hile on Thursday night.

It was the Western Conference’s first victory against the Eastern Conference in two All-Star meetings. The teams combined to score an All-Star Game record 47 points, eclipsing the previous record set in the 2001 LacrosseStar Game.

Playing in front of his hometown fans, Powell set an All-Star Game record by scoring six goals and also added an assist for a seven-point effort, matching the All-Star record. Attackman Kevin Leveille also matched the All-Star Game points mark by scoring three goals with four assists.

Powell and Leveille were two of five Western Conference All-Stars to record a “hat trick” in the victory. San Francisco defenseman Eric Martin scored four goals while Los Angeles midfielder Anthony Kelly and Chicago Machine rookie Steven Brooks each recorded three-goal efforts.

Making his MLL All-Star Game debut, New Jersey attackman Merrick Thomson led the Eastern Conference All-Stars by scoring four goals while Long Island attackman Spencer Ford set an All-Star Game record by recording five assists in addition to two goals.

In addition to scoring three goals, Kelly also won 24 of 45 face-offs in the victory and also won the Fastest Shot event during the Bud Light Skills Competition, tying the event record with back-to-back 109 mile per hour shots. Meanwhile, San Francisco attackman Jake Byrne won the inaugural two-point shot contest, defeating Erwin in double overtime. Los Angeles attackman Chazz Woodson won the Freestyle event.

The Western Conference squad used a strong third quarter effort to secure the victory, recording an All-Star Game record 12 points in the period, including 10 goals. They also had two of their four two-point goals during the stanza.

Score by Quarters   1   2   3   4  Final
Eastern Conference  1   5   5   4   15
Western Conference  6   6  12   7   31

One-Point Goals:
EAST – Merrick Thomson 4, Joe Walters 2, Stephen Berger 2, Matt Danowski 2, Spencer Ford 2, Peter Vlahakis 1, Brodie Merrill 1, Matt Poskay 1.
WEST – Ryan Powell 6, Eric Martin 4, Kevin Leveille 3, Anthony Kelly 2, Steven Brooks 2, Brendan Mundorf 2, Brian Langtry 1, Greg Downing 1, Brett Hughes 1, Matt Hanna 1.

Two-Point Goals:
WEST – Jake Byrne 1, Matt Hanna 1, Anthony Kelly 1, Steven Brooks 1.

Assists:
EAST – Spencer Ford 5, Peter Vlahakis 1, Matt Striebel 1, Stephen Berger 1, Matt Poskay 1, Matt Danowski 1.
WEST – Kevin Leveille 4, Benson Erwin 3, Brian Langtry 2, Brendan Mundorf 1, Matt Hanna 1, Ryan Powell 1, Anthony Kelly 1.

Saves:
EAST – Rob Scherr 10 (30:00, 11 goals allowed), Chris Garrity 5 (30:00, 16 goals allowed).
WEST – Jesse Schwartzman 6 (30:00, 6 goals allowed), Mike Gabel 14 (30:00, 9 goals allowed).

Attendance: 10,124.

Western Conference 31, Eastern Conference 15

By Theresa Smith
Special to The Denver Post

On a night of celebration, commemorating the skills of the best players in Major League Lacrosse, the growth of the sport at the youth level and the rise in fan interest, the West All-Stars set an MLL scoring record in a 31-15 pounding of the East.

Dozens in the Invesco Field at Mile High crowd of 10,124 pulled off their socks and threw them on the field in recognition of the sock trick by Denver Outlaws attackman Ryan Powell, for the six goals he netted to win MVP honors and a $1,500 check.

“I’m honored,” Powell said. “I’m finally playing my game, scoring inside.”

Powell and the Outlaws are coming off their lowest output in the team’s three-year history, a 16-6 loss to Los Angeles that enabled the Riptide to draw within a half-game of Denver (6-3).

“I’m going to tell Ryan to make Saturday an All-Star Game too,” Outlaws coach Brian Reese said of an upcoming contest in San Francisco.

Reese, the coach of the West, didn’t expect such an offensive show, including four two-point goals.

“We were probably the underdogs, but we started off well defensively, especially getting ground balls, and we had great passing,” Reese said.

The West, drawing players from four teams compared to the six-team East, ran off to a 6-1 first-quarter lead. Minus injured all-stars Mikey Powell, John Grant Jr. and Kyle Dixon, the East responded but trailed 12-6 at halftime.

In an offensive explosion fueled by a series of winning faceoffs by Anthony Kelly, the West scored four goals in a 1-minute, 43-second span to spark a 10-goal third quarter, and the rout was on.

Among the many highlights: a diving behind-the-back pass by Denver’s Brian Langtry to Brendan Mundorf, who caught it as he cut through the slot and fired in a behind-the-back shot.

“It is really fun to play with the best players,” Langtry said. “You don’t really know how great they are until you are with them.”

It was the seventh year of the game in the eight-year history of a league, co-founded by Body by Jake’s Jake Steinfeld, who touted the appeal of scoring, speed and hitting by players who hold down regular jobs all week and play for a few thousand dollars and the love of the game.

ESPN2, which showed the game live in another sign of increased interest, gathered a number of highlights from the halftime contests.

The creative freestyle competition was won by the Riptide’s Chazz Woodson, who jumped over two children, hung in the air and shot a behind-the-back shot into the net.

Recent Duke graduate Matt Danowski was also impressive, throwing his stick in the air, taking his shirt off, catching the stick on the run and scoring on a leaping wraparound shot.

The fastest shot contest was won by Kelly with consecutive blasts at 109 mph, tying the MLL record held by David Evans. Langtry, the defending champion, was eliminated by a 101 mph shot.

By Theresa Smith
Special to The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 07/17/2008 12:05:24 AM MDT

Attacker Ryan Powell, left, playing for the San Francisco Dragons in 2006, will represent the Denver Outlaws in tonight’s MLL All-Star Game. (Associated Press file photo )

Overcoming the middle-child syndrome, Ryan Powell has earned recognition sandwiched between a brother who is a pro lacrosse league’s top scorer and another who is college lacrosse’s most decorated player.

There are studies that suggest a middle child can get lost in the shuffle. Yet the Denver Outlaws attacker has found an identity between big brother Casey, the all-time Major League Lacrosse scoring leader, and little brother Mikey, who set records while at Syracuse.

Tonight, Ryan Powell will stand alone at Invesco Field at Mile High and lead the West squad in the MLL All-Star Game. Mikey, 25, is recovering from a hamstring injury and was taken off the East squad, while Casey, 32, was left off the East roster.

But without his brothers, Ryan, 30, wouldn’t be an all-star tonight. Their friendship and competitiveness forged an incredible brotherhood in the sport’s history.

“Winning is very important to them,” their mother Sue said. “They love to win, so you always know if they lose, someone is going to be heartbroken.

“It doesn’t fade as they’ve gotten older. I’m not saying they are bad sports and it is immaturity. They just want to be successful.”

Raised in West Carthage, N.Y., Ryan remains stunned by his ascent. He is an all-star, on the heels of being the first lacrosse spokesman for Nike.

“I’ll think about that when I’m out there, from where we grew up in such a small town,” he said, “to have the opportunity to play in Mile High Stadium and represent your team and your conference.”

As intermediate school students, Ryan and Casey were introduced to lacrosse by their physical education teacher.

“Nobody played the sport, it was nothing anyone had ever heard of,” Sue said. “They played baseball at the time and my husband, Larry, was the coach. But they kept talking about lacrosse.”

Larry sold two hunting rifles to pay for a pair of sticks.

“They just loved it,” Sue said. “They played with each other. They played until it was so dark you couldn’t see the ball.”

With Syracuse winning NCAA titles, the brothers adopted the twin stars of the Orangemen as role models. Casey imitated Gary Gait; Ryan pretended to be Paul Gait.

Eventually, summer teams were formed and the brothers attended camps. By the time Casey enrolled at Carthage Central High School, a lacrosse team had been formed and he became a three-sport athlete.

As a freshman at Syracuse, Casey gained the first of four All-America honors and helped clinch the 1995 NCAA title.

Ryan, who backed up Casey at quarterback and point guard in high school, followed Casey to Syracuse.

“I knew I’d be in his shadow,” Ryan said. “I learned to accept it very well.”

In the late stages of a 13-7 victory over Princeton in the national championship game his senior year, Ryan tied Casey’s school record for career scoring with 287 points. Then he left the field, not wanting to break his brother’s mark.

“He was saying, ‘There’s a slight chance I could have beat him, but I am satisfied,’ ” Sue said. “That always meant a lot to everyone.”

Ryan and Casey predicted Mikey would break the mark.

Mikey, who started lacrosse as a kindergartner and developed a quick, acrobatic style, scored 307 points at Syracuse and captured two national championships.

With Mikey in Boston, Casey in Rochester and Ryan a first-year Outlaw, the brothers try to get together for camps and “Powell Hour,” a Globetrotter-esque stick show appealing to the skateboarder and surfer tweens and teens, like their brother Mason.

“It’s important for all young kids to find their strengths,” Ryan said. “I’m not the quickest guy, but I am able to be successful through knowledge and stick skills, playing a totally different game than my brothers.”

The Powells

A look at the Powell brothers — Casey, 32, Ryan, 30, and Mikey, 25 — who were all four-time All-Americans at Syracuse:

By Theresa Smith
Special to The Denver PostArticle Last Updated: 05/31/2008 11:44:16 PM MDT

The two-time Major League Lacrosse MVP felt like a 10-year-old boy changing schools, yet played like a cunning veteran.

Ryan Powell shook off the “new boy” label, scoring two goals and making three assists in the Denver Outlaws’ 19-11 pounding of the New Jersey Pride on Saturday night at Invesco Field at Mile High.

“I had jitters. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but everything was cool. They welcomed me with open arms,” said Powell, who was acquired along with Nate Watkins in an offseason trade with San Francisco.

Powell’s debut with Denver (2-1) was delayed one week by his participation in the indoor pro championships and another week by fatigue.

He made his first mark with a pass to Matt Hanna to tie it 1-1, then set up Watkins early in the second quarter. New Jersey (0-2) answered with its second power-play goal of the half, and after Matt Brown’s high shot from the slot, Denver led 6-4 at halftime.

Following a passionate speech by coach Brian Reese, the Outlaws outscored the Pride 8-2 in the third quarter.

Geoff Snider dominated faceoffs, including an astounding 3-minute, 18-second span in which Denver scored six consecutive goals.

“Last week I was a little unprepared, maybe a little cocky,” Snider admitted. “I think I let the guys down. It was important tonight not to do that, and with Ryan Powell, Matt Brown and Brendan Mundorf on attack, it makes my job a little easier. It was a total team effort.”

Powell backed down Damien Davis and then shot from a difficult angle for his first goal in an Outlaws uniform.

Brian Langtry, ranked second in MLL in points, followed with a low laser shot from beyond the 2-point line.

After Drew Westervelt’s scoop shot, Snider scored two of the next three.

“When you have guys like Powell, Brown and Mundorf, defenders might hesitate to slide over to me,” Snider said. “I just have to bury my chances.”

New Jersey 2 2 2 5 - 11
Denver 3 3 8 5 - 19

N.J. - Thomson 4-1-5 (goals-assists-points), Boland 1-2-3, Peyser 1-1-2, Urick 1-0-1, Chemotti 1-0-1, Unterstein 1-0-1, Parengkuan 1-0-1, Rekowski 1-0-1, Ford 0-2-2, Treubig 0-1-1.

Denver - Powell 2-3-5, Langtry 2-1-4, Westervelt 3-0-3, Sonke 3-0-3, Brown 2-1-3, Snider 2-0-2, Mundorf 2-0-2, Watkins 1-0-1, Hanna 1-0-1, Ethington 0-1-1, Erwin 0-1-1.

2-point goal - Langtry. Goalies - New Jersey: Scherr 20 saves; Denver: Schwartzman 18 saves, Smith 1. A - 8,127.

Powell was Portland’s second leading playoff scorer (10 goals, 10 assists) as the Jax became only the third team to ever reach the National Lacrosse League Championship Game after a sub .500 regular season.  The franchise leader in points (156) and assists (100), Powell set career-high’s this season for points scored (64) and assists (43).

Photo Credit: Cory Shannon

Having the two slickest clutch ballers in the post-season didn’t end up meaning much when it was all on the line. Portland’s snipe-show, Dan Dawson and Ryan Powell, as usual took their game to another level in their Champion’s Cup loss against Buffalo, only thing was, there weren’t many else clicking like the two of them.

And trust it, there were a ton of chances for a Jax scorer to step up and knot that game up.

With Portland inching in on the Bandits in the second, third and fourth periods of play, they just couldn’t bury that next goal that woulda, or at least coulda, made a massive difference in the outcome.

Although Mark Steenhuis‘ goal at just over the nine minute mark in the fourth period will officially get marked down as the game winner, there were a few goals previous to that that allowed Buffalo to keep that pillow over the Jax’s face just long enough to inch out the win.

The first one… Dawson had just rifled a short handed goal off a double team on what appeared to be a guaranteed heavy push of momentum for Portland partway into the second period. It was a beyond crucial point in the game. The score at that point was 6-5 in favor of the Bandits, but you could feel the Lumberjax were playing with a new sense of confidence and urgency… then Steenhuis stepped in. Mark got a feed from keeper Mike Thompson and buried a beauty off a high screen past Matt Disher, holding up a rush of momentum that definitely coulda had Portland leading at the half. Seriously, the goal was beyond game defining.

The scond one… happened right after Steenhuis put the breaks on the Jax, with Dawson somehow eeking out another potential momentum shifting marker. This time it was a top shelf blast that woulda hit iron had it gone any higher or even a half an inch to the right. Dawson scored about two minutes after the Steenhuis goal, coincidentally assisted by Powell, just like on the other one in the second period (actually, that was no coincidence). Anyways, this is where that ridiculous goal from John Tavares comes into play. JT took the rock almost right back up to the centre line off a restart, only to to take a detour filled path to the cage. Tavares either dodged, faked or worked some great two-man ball to score what was easily the sickest goal of the playoffs, if not the entire season. And even though everyone was busy wiping the drool off their shirts cuz of what JT just threw down, like Steenhuis’ goal just a few minutes previous, Tavares halted a sure fire run that coulda meant everything to Portland. Not surprisingly, Steenhuis scored 58 tics later too.

And the third one… Kevin Dostie’s third period goal, just seconds after Portland pulled within one again off a power play goal by Peter Morgan (again, assisted by who else but RP). Dosite used the high screen on Dish AGAIN and threw a wrench into Portland’s momentum shift just like his homies Steenhuis and Tavares did a period prior. It’s what kept the floodgates from crashing open to start the second half. Without it, who knows what coulda happened?

So even though Mark’s fourth period goal is what technically won Buffalo the Cup, without those massive goals from, well, Steenhuis anyways, and Tavares and Dostie, the script that played out on Saturday night could definitely have had a much different ending.

Anyways, did a couple things in this last NLL Money Ballers post (which actually had little talk of goals that gave a team a lead and more about the ones that stole ‘em). The first, I simply finished up the Playoff Edition and ran the numbers, which can be found in the first table below. The second, I mashed-up the regular season and post-season numbers to find 2008’s ultimate clutch scorer.

Was Dawson’s late season and playoff clutch scoring streak enough to put him ahead of the regular season champ, Athan Iannucci? Where did Ryan Powell, 08’s top clutch playoff performer, rank on the main leader-board? Find out below…

The foremost boxla writer, Tutka is a former NLL scout and a longtime Inside Lacrosse contributor. Email him at paul.tutka@nllinsider.com.