Eliuk and Alexander move behind the bench in Portland
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The Portland Lumberjax may have lost a few good men in the off-season with the departure of Dan Dawson and the dismissal of their assistant coaches, but yesterday they added two of the biggest names in lacrosse to their bench staff in Dallas Eliuk and Kevin Alexander (pictured at right). Eliuk is of course an 18-year veteran of the NLL — three of those years being with the Jax and the other 15 with the Philadelphia Wings — and is widely regarded as one of the best indoor goalies to ever put on the pads. Alexander is a CLA Hall of Famer who spent two years in the NLL with the Buffalo Bandits and had a legendary nine-year career in the Western Lacrosse Association, most notably with Victoria Payless, which was not the name of his barber.
While not officially announcing his retirement, Eliuk has opted to take on the coaching position this season in part because he and his wife Daria are expecting a child in the spring. With Eliuk’s career save percentage of 76.24% and GAA of 12.24, head coach Derek Keenan has no doubts about what the six-time all-star can bring to the Jax defense.
“He should have a very easy transition into coaching,” said Keenan. “He’s been around the league and the game of lacrosse for a long time. He’s also been around me for three seasons, so he has a full understanding of how the system works.”
As for the offense, that’s where Alexander will come in. Having last coached with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2006, the two-time Mann Cup champion will be expected to bring his unique game insights to the Jax, particularly their young offensive studs.
“What Kevin brings to the table, probably more than anyone I know in lacrosse, is his ability to look at the game differently than most others do,” said Keenan. “He has a brilliant lacrosse mind and will bring new, innovative and effective ideas that are somewhat outside of the box. He will also be a tremendous help to a few of our young players like [Cory] Conway, [Peter] Jacobs and [Tim] Campeau.”
Ward began covering lacrosse for The Lacrosse Journal in 2005 and became its editor-in-chief a year later. Email her at lauren.ward@nllinsider.com.Rate This Story:
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