Faith pays off as Jax eye NLL title

May 16th, 2008 by Bob Chavez

At the moment, it all seemed so urgent. So immediate.

Looking back, ya kinda wonder what you were thinking. That’s what the Portland LumberJax are doing today as they prepare for Saturday’s National Lacrosse League title game against the Buffalo Bandits in Buffalo. Rewind back to when they were limping along with a 3-6 record and team owner Angela Batinovich handed out a 25-question survey to each player, the final question being: Will we win the championship this year? When every single response came back with a “yes,” Batinovich stopped worrying. She knew that despite the struggles in the standings, all the guys were confident in the direction and potential of the squad. “That meant a lot to me,” she told The Oregonian.

Winning the championship will mean a lot more to the Jax, who know that as the road team, they’re coming in as the slight underdog. Yet they’ve won both playoff games on the road to get this far, and they’ve got all kinds of confidence they can get the job done again with the likes of Dan Dawson, Ryan Powell and Brodie Merrill.

LumberJax face a tall order: The Columbian
It’s No. 8 against No. 1: NLL.com
Jax have an X-Factor in Eliuk: NLLInsider.com

Chavez is an avid lacrosse player in Rochester and a journalist for the Democrat and Chronicle as well as a longtime Inside Lacrosse contributor. Email him at bob.chavez@nllinsider.com or go to RochesterSports.com.

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