Mark Steenhuis scored six goals in leading the Eastern Division to a 20-16 victory over the Western Division in the 2007 NLL All Star Game, held Saturday night at the Rose Garden in Portland.

Steenhuis, who added one assist for a total of seven points, was named All Star Game MVP for the second time in his career, having been similarly honored at Denver in 2004.

The East had all the offense early, as Buffalo's John Tavares scored just a half-minute in, on a feed from Philadelphia rookie Geoff Snider. That goal gave Tavares the alltime record for All Star Game points, nineteen, breaking a tie with former Baltimore and Philadelphia faceoff wizard Paul Cantabene.

Thirty-six seconds after Tavares, fellow Bandit Steenhuis scored to put the visitors up 2-0.

The Western Division tied the game late in the first period when Jeff Zywicki (San Jose) and Ryan Powell (Portland) strung a pair together, but Steenhuis and Tavares soon responded for a 5-3 lead, and a late exchange between Powell and his older brother, Casey (New York), left it 6-4 after one quarter.

Snider scored to begin the second quarter, increasing the lead to 7-4, but the West came back with three straight to tie the game -- Doyle, Gavin Prout (Colorado) and Lewis Ratcliff (Calgary).

The East again squirted away from danger, as Shawn Williams (Rochester) scored twice in the final seven minutes of the first half for a 10-8 halftime lead.

With Steenhuis leading the way, the Eastern Division extended its lead to 15-9 with about five and a half minutes to play in the third quarter.

However, Ryan Powell and Josh Sims (Colorado) scored in the last three minutes of the period, sandwiching a Steenhuis goal, as the West pulled to within 16-11.

Five minutes into the fourth quarter, it was 16-14, as Zywicki and Prout struck in the first minute and Doyle followed up at 4:48.

Tavares scored at the six-minute mark to put a little distance between East and West, and after Jim Quinlan (Edmonton) made it a two-goal game again 38 seconds later, Steenhuis recorded his sixth of the night at 8:16.

A Zywicki goal a few minutes later threatened the East's lead, but Snider quickly countered and Casey Powell netted an insurance goal with 19 seconds to play.

Prout (3 goals, 5 assists) tallied the game-high in points, eight, and was one of four West players to record a hat trick (Ryan Powell 4 goals, Doyle 3 goals and 2 assists, Zywicki 3 goals and 1 assist).

Steenhuis easily paced the East, which won for the third time in four All Star Games played under this format. Other high-scoring Easterners includes Tavares (4 goals), Snider (3 goals, 3 assists), and Williams (3 goals, 2 assists).

Brandon Miller (Chicago) picked up the win in goal for the East, making 25 second-half saves while allowing eight goals. He took over for starter Matt Roik, who allowed eight goals on 26 shots faced.

Gord Nash (Colorado) took the loss, posting a very un-Nash stat line of fifteen saves and ten goals allowed. Rob Blasdell made 25 saves, on 34 shots, in the first half.