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I picked him as my impact scorer in the Jax win and Shanny mentioned him in his post yesterday, but not sure many people realize how important the play of Ryan Powell has been for Portland in their run for the cup over the last couple weeks.

And what better way to figure out how important Ryan’s been than lookin’ at the clutch holy grail that is The Money Ballers leader-board. Amen.

Powell’s been a monster in clutch situations for the Lumberjax over their western clashes, especially late. He’s chimed in on seven goals that have either knotted up, pulled the Jax ahead or even won his crew the game. They’re the kinda stats that have even edged him ahead of Dan Dawson for the lead in The Money Ballers Playoff Edition.

Actually, Powell and Dawson have by far been this year’s most clutch guys in the post-season, rippin’ it up in their wins over San Jose and Calgary. Although Dawson’s grabbin’ most of the headline, subtract Ryan’s points and I can pretty much promise you, the Jax would not be in the Champion’s Cup final on Saturday night.

And if you, like me, payed close attention to the damage Mike Accursi rained on the NLL in last year’s playoffs, it’s no surprise that he leads the Bandits in clutching scoring over guys like John Tavares and Mark Steenhuis. He’s turnin’ out to be as big a difference maker as he was last year whether you wanna believe it or not. He might not have as high profile a name as the upper echelon guys in this league, but don’t be surprised to see General Mills swap out that leprechuan for a pic of Mike’s mug if the Banditos take it all in 08.

Anyways, the numbers for the top ten-ish is below and even though Dawson, Matt Disher, Dallas Eliuk and Peter Morgan have been huge in this outta left field playoff run, DO NOT FORGET ABOUT RYAN POWELL. Wonder if the guy Darris Kilgour cut loose in 2004 will come back to haunt him this weekend? Would make for a crazy storyline if it ended up happening.

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