ECHL Rapid City Rush

MILLER EARNS 200th POINT IN LOSS TO EAGLES

Published on October 28, 2017 under ECHL (ECHL)
Rapid City Rush News Release


(WINDSOR, CO) - Kenton Miller brought the Rapid City Rush within striking distance with his 200th career point on a third period power play goal, but the Colorado Eagles weathered a surge from their archrivals, ending with a 5-4 win in the first game of the 3rd annual Crystal Cup rivalry.

Colorado kicked off scoring in what ended up being a period filled with 7 ignitions of the goal lamp. Teigan Zahn notched the first tally for the defending champs when he trailed on a rush down the ice with his Eagles teammates. Zahn scored 34 seconds on a shot from the slot by Rush net-minder, Steve Michalek, to give Colorado a 1-0 lead (Jake Marchment and Drayson Bowman assisted). The Rush countered to tie things up 2:45 into the game when Dante Salituro, in his Rush debut, deflected a Riley Weselowski shot by Eagles goalie Sam Brittain, squaring the game at 1-1 (Weselowski earned the lone assist). Colorado then took over with back-to-back power play goals, starting off with Michael Joly on the Eagles' first power play of the night. With 13:46 left in the frame, Michael Joly took a centering pass from J.C. Beaudin and sent a snapshot by Michalek to put Colorado back on top with a 2-1 lead (Beaudin and Jake Marto notched the helpers). Matt Register made it 3-1 for the defending champs with a blast from the blue line on the second Eagles power play with 10:43 remaining in the frame (Beaudin and Mychan assisted). Marcus Ortiz then brought the Rush within one when Alex Guptill went down the ice with him on a break into the Eagles zone. Guptill handed off to a trailing Ortiz, who went top-corner with a wrist shot to bring the deficit to 3-2 with 8:04 to play in the first (Guptill had the only assist). Colorado re-established their 2-goal advantage during the first Rush power play of the game within the final two minutes of the first. Joey Ratelle picked up a turnover on the Rush blue line and zipped a shot by Michalek, lifting the Eagles to a 4-2 lead with 1:36 left in the period (the goal was unassisted). Anthony Collins responded for the Rush exactly 20 seconds later when he deflected a rebound by Brittain point-blank in front of his net, ending a high-flying first period with the Rush trailing 4-3 (Matt Caito and Michael Young earned the helpers).

The pace of the game took a major downshift, with only one goal coming in the middle frame. In the midst of four-on-four hockey, Brady Shaw found Shawn St-Amant coming into the Rush zone, and St-Amant fired a shot from the far faceoff circle in the Rush zone by Michalek to give Colorado a 5-3 lead with 4:43 gone by in the second (Shaw and Matt Register assisted).

The Rush came within striking distance on their only power play goal of the game, which marked a career milestone for the goal-scorer. With 8:26 left in the game, Kenton Miller pocketed an Ian Brady rebound off of a second shot from the blue line, bringing the Rush within striking distance with his 200th career point and cutting the Rush deficit to 5-4 (Brady earned the lone assist). The Rush rode their momentum to a feverish finish, pulling Michalek for an extra-attacker with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Despite a flurry of chances, the Rush fell to the archrivals by a 5-4 score.

Steve Michalek stopped 23 of 28 shots in the defeat, his season debut with the Rush (0-1-0).

The Rush and Eagles will rematch tomorrow night in Rapid City to conclude their home-and-home series. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Check out the Rapid City Rush Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from October 28, 2017


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central