Lacrosse Battle of Alberta Saturday
April 19, 2013 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---The Edmonton Rush can clinch first overall heading into the National Lacrosse League playoffs with a victory Saturday night over their provincial rival Calgary Roughnecks.
Outside of two previous meetings in the NLL West Division Semifinals in 2010 and 2012, this is the biggest matchup in the history of the NLL's Battle of Alberta. A win over the Roughnecks would give the Rush home-field advantage throughout the NLL playoffs, a home playoff date for the first time in franchise history, and the regular-season West Division title. The Rush are the defending West Division champs from their playoff run of 2012 which culminated with a spot in the Champion's Cup final for the first time in club history.
The Rush picked up a critical win last Sunday afternoon, knocking off the Rochester Knighthawks 14-10 at Rexall Place. The win came less than 24 hours after the Knighthawks stole a 15-14 victory in Calgary.
Those results leave the Rush in first place in the West Division, one game up on Calgary and Washington, and two games ahead of Minnesota. If Calgary defeats Edmonton, and Washington beats Philadelphia, all three-way tie between the Rush, Roughnecks and Stealth would leave Edmonton at 3-4 in head-to-head matchups and the Rush would land third in the West standings. Should Calgary beat Edmonton and Washington lose to Philadelphia, the Rush would finish second in the West.
The Rush earned a crucial win in the last meeting against the Roughnecks - a win that snapped a 12-game regular-season losing streak for the Rush against their arch-rivals. Despite a 2-0 record in playoff matchups, the Rush had not defeated the Roughnecks in regular-season play since 2010. The 18-13 win not only put a halt on their losing skid against Calgary, it also was a record-tying and record-breaking performance. Edmonton equaled its franchise-high for goals in a regular-season game by hitting the 18 mark, while Ryan Ward set a new team high for points in a regular-season game as he struck for 10 points on two goals and eight assists. The eight assists also tied a team record for the Rush, most recently established by Shawn Williams last season.
Mark Matthews and Zack Greer both had hat tricks against Calgary with Corey Small and Jarrett Davis adding two goals apiece. Brett Mydske, Kyle Rubisch, Curtis Knight, Alex Turner, Chris Corbeil, and Ryan Dilks rounded out Edmonton's scoring barrage, while Cory Conway, playing against his former club, racked up four assists.
Calgary earned back-to-back wins over Edmonton earlier this season, taking an 18-15 win at Rexall Place on Feb. 2, and then earning a 9-8 verdict on Feb. 9 at the Saddledome. Curtis paced the Roughnecks to that narrow win, scoring three of his four goals in the fourth quarter including the game-winner with 39 seconds remaining.
Jarrett Davis led the Rush against Calgary, notching a hat trick which included a pair of power-play markers. Mark Matthews added a pair of goals, both coming in the fourth quarter, with singles going to Curtis Knight, Ryan Dilks, and Ryan Ward, who also chipped in three assists.
In the first meeting of the year between the teams, both teams fired up their offense in the opening half, racking up 20 goals and finishing up the first half tied 10-10. But the Roughnecks got the better of the Rush in the second half, outscoring Edmonton 8-5, sparked by a five-goal outburst that put them out in front to stay at 16-12.
Ryan Ward led the Rush attack with a hat trick plus four assists for a seven-point game. Jeremy Thompson potted three goals, with Zack Greer, Mark Matthews, and Corey Small each scoring twice. Singles went to Jarrett Davis, John Lafontaine, and Alex Turner.
The Rush closed in on a home-floor playoff date last Sunday with their victory over Rochester, which gave Edmonton a season sweep of their two-game series against the Knighthawks - a small measure of revenge with the Rush who dropped last year's NLL final to the K-Hawks.
Zack Greer and Jarrett Davis each fired in four goals to pace the Rush attack. Greer added four assists for an eight-point effort, while Ryan Ward played set-up man as well, picking up five assists, four of those coming on the power play. Alex Turner added a pair of goals, with singles for the Rush going to Curtis Knight, Corey Small, Mark Matthews, and Cory Conway.
Ryan Ward leads the Rush in scoring with 70 points, and also in assists with 50. Rookie sensation Mark Matthews, who is second in points with 67, is the Rush's top goal scorer and stands fifth overall in the NLL with 37 goals. Corey Small is third in team scoring with 62 points, and is second in assists with 36. Zack Greer is moved into second on the Rush in goal with 27, while Cory Conway has tied Matthews for third in assists with 30.
Roughnecks star forward Shawn Evans is the NLL leader in both points (102) and assists (71).
Rush vs. Roughnecks - Season-by-Season Glance
2013
18-13 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward sets Rush reg. season record with 10 points)
9-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson scores four goals including game-winner)
18-15 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Jeff Shattler tallies two goals and adds six assists)
2012
*19-11 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward sets Rush record with 11-point game)
9-6 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Shawn Evans racks up four goals and two assists)
16-9 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Shawn Evans pots five goals including penalty shot tally)
13-10 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curtis Dickson with four goals and three assists)
12-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson nets hat trick plus two assists)
*denotes playoff game
2011
19-14 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Jeff Shattler totals nine points with one goal and eight assists)
15-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Dane Dobbie collects three goals and six assists)
12-11 Roughnecks OT win at Calgary (Mike Scherman pots the game-winner)
12-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Jeff Shattler notches hat trick plus five assists)
2010
*11-7 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward notches nine points including eight assists)
13-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Josh Sanderson picks up three goals and three assists)
14-13 Roughnecks OT win at Edmonton (Josh Sanderson earns hat trick including game-winner)
14-11 Rush win at Edmonton (Dean Hill notches hat trick and adds one assist)
*denotes playoff game
2009
10-9 Roughnecks OT win at Calgary (Curt Malawsky notches the game-winner)
22-10 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Dane Dobbie collects 11 points including seven goals)
14-13 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Tracey Kelusky racks up eight points including four goals)
2008
11-9 Rush win at Edmonton (Jimmy Quinlan pots four goals plus one assist)
18-7 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Kaleb Toth registers nine points including four goals)
12-8 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curt Malawsky registers four goals and one assist)
2007
13-12 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Kaleb Toth and Lewis Ratcliff each with four points)
13-12 Rush win at Calgary (Chris Gill sets club record with six goals)
17-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Tracey Kelusky collects two goals and seven assists)
2006
11-9 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Lewis Ratcliff scores five goals)
12-9 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky each with seven points)
12-11 Rush win at Calgary (Pat Campbell earns player of the game with 54 saves)
16-9 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Lewis Ratcliff notches four goals and two assists)
Record Watch: Mark Matthews needs one goal to set a new club record for most goals in a single season. Matthews is currently tied with Chris Gill who set the mark of 37 in 2006 ... with five assists in his last game, Ryan Ward needs five points in the season-finale to break his own team regular-season scoring record of 74 points set in 2010. In the game against Rochester, Ward registered four assists on the power, giving him 16 on the season and a new club record for power-play assists in a single season ... Chris Corbeil has set a new team record for shorthanded goals in a season with four ... Jeremy Thompson's franchise single-season mark for faceoff wins now stands at 160 ... Zack Greer needs one game-winning goal to break the club record of four set by Gavin Prout in 2010 ... With 192 goals scored this season, the Rush have already set a record for goals scored in a regular season.
Statistically Speaking: The Rush are fourth in the NLL with 192 goals scored and are second in goals against with 158. Calgary leads the NLL with 210 goals scored, but have also given up the second-most in the league at 200 ... With four power-play goals last week against Rochester, the Rush power play is now fifth in the league at 49.0% (32-for-65), but Edmonton's penalty killing is eighth at 43.0% (28 goals surrendered in 49 shorthanded situations). Calgary's power play ranks first in the NLL at 65.0% (53-for-82) and the penalty killing sits seventh at 45.0% (58 goals surrendered in 105 shorthanded situations) ... Curtis Dickson of Calgary leads the NLL with six shorthanded goals and five game-winning goals. Edmonton counterparts Chris Corbeil is tied for second with four shorthanded goals, and Zack Greer is second with four game-winning goals ... The Rush are 2-5 on their home floor while Calgary is 5-2 in road games this season ... Reigning NLL defender of the year Kyle Rubisch leads the NLL with 39 forced turnovers, and is tied for fifth in the NLL in loose balls with teammate Jeremy Thompson with 119. Thompson is also fifth in the NLL with 160 faceoff wins ... Brett Mydske (24) and Chris Corbeil (20) are also in the NLL's top-10 in forced turnovers ... Edmonton's Aaron Bold and Calgary's Mike Poulin are tied for second in wins amongst NLL goalies with eight each. Bold is third with a 10.59 goals-against average, while Poulin is tied for fourth in saves with 540 ... Calgary's Geoff Snider leads in the NLL in loose balls (215), faceoff wins (286), and penalty minutes (69), and is also second in forced turnovers with 27 ... Roughnecks Dane Dobbie and Curtis Dickson are tied for second in the NLL with 40 goals, while Dobbie is also second in power-play goals with 15.
By The Numbers: The Rush are 9-0 when leading after three quarters and 8-2 when leading at halftime. The Rush are also 6-2 when they score the first goal of the game ... The Rush have outscored their opposition 55-32 in first-quarter play this season. The Roughnecks have outscored their opponents 63-46 in fourth quarters ... Edmonton is 5-5 against West Division foes, while Calgary is 7-4 ... Calgary is averaging 14 goals per game, tops in the league, but have given up an average of 13.33 goals per game, second-worst in the NLL. Edmonton is averaging 12.8 goals scored per game - third-best in the league - and have averaged 10.53 goals against per game - second-best in the NLL ... Mark Matthews leads all NLL rookies in points (67) and goals (37), and is third in assists (30). Teammate Curtis Knight is fourth in rookie scoring (44 points), fifth in goals (18), and fourth in assists (26). Matthews and Knight are tied for third amongst NLL rookies with five power-play goals apiece ... Chris Corbeil leads all NLL defenders with nine goals and is third in points with 14. Brett Mydske is fifth in goals by a defender with five, while teammates John Lafontaine (12), Ryan Dilks (10), and Kyle Rubisch (10) all also in top-10 for points by defenders ... Calgary has racked up 338 penalty minutes this season - third-most in the league - while Edmonton is at 198 minutes, the fewest in the NLL ... The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 12 shorthanded goals including 11 scored on the road but have also given up a league-high 12 shorties. The Rush have scored five shorthanded goals and given up five.
KEENAN'S KORNER
Quotes from the Rush GM/Head Coach
"Down 0-4 and come back to win, what's that say about your guys."
- Keenan on last Sunday's sluggish start but comeback win over Rochester
"He's basically been sitting on the bench for two years and he showed that he's a really good goalie. We've got a lot of confidence in him and it gives the whole team a lot of confidence moving forward, that we've got two really great goalies."
- Keenan on the performance of Rush backup goalie Brodie MacDonald in last week's win
"Sometimes it comes down to special teams and goaltending, but it's really anybody's to win."
- Keenan on what he expects in the NLL playoffs
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National Lacrosse League Stories from April 19, 2013
- Rock Will be Scoreboard Watching this Weekend - Toronto Rock
- Lacrosse Battle of Alberta Saturday - Edmonton Rush
- Minnesota Swarm Finish Regular Season at Home Saturday vs. Mammoth - Minnesota Swarm
- Knighthawks Can Clinch Playoff Berth with Win - Rochester Knighthawks
- Regular-Season Finale: It All Comes Down to This - Colorado Mammoth
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