Roughnecks vs Rush for West Division Title
May 7, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB - For the third time in club history, the Edmonton Rush will battle the arch-rival Calgary Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League playoffs, but for the first time it will be for West Division title.
Game 1 of the 2014 West Division Final goes Saturday night in Calgary with Game 2 slated for Friday, May 16 on Crystal Glass Field at Rexall Place in Edmonton. The winner of the series will advance to the two-game Champion's Cup Final against the winner of the East Division Final which has two-time defending Cup winner Rochester taking on Buffalo. Calgary advance to the West Final after eliminating the Colorado Mammoth in the West Semifinal as they slipped away with a 16-15 OT victory.
The Rush are unbeaten in two previous playoff meetings with the Roughnecks and enter this playoff clash having won three of the four regular-season games against Calgary this season.
The two teams met for the first time in the playoffs in the 2010 West Semifinal with the Rush knocking off the defending league champs with an 11-7 win in Calgary. The win wouldn't have been possible had it not been for goalie Matt Disher, who set an NLL playoff record with 60 saves. Edmonton went 3-for-3 on the power play, got two goals and three assists from both Andy Secore and Gavin Prout, and Ryan Ward set a club record with eight assists in the win.
Two years later, the Rush traveled to Calgary again for the West Semifinal, and again dominated en route to a 19-11 victory. Ryan Ward set a club record with an 11-point effort (5 goals, 6 assists) while Corey Small added eight points (5 goals, 3 assists). Of the current Rush remaining from that game, Zack Greer notched two goals and three assists, goalie Aaron Bold counted 39 saves, and assistant coach Jimmy Quinlan put home a goal. This victory paved the way for the Rush to advance all the way to their first appearance in the Champion's Cup Final.
The Rush won the first three meetings between the teams during the 2014 regular season, scoring 15 goals in each victory. Edmonton's most-recent win over the Roughnecks was a 15-11 verdict at the Saddledome. Curtis Knight led the way for the Rush, piling up an eight-point game on five goals and three assists, while former Roughneck Cory Conway burned his former team by racking up seven assists. Rookie Riley Loewen, with a hat trick, and Robert Church, who notched two goals and four assists, helped pace the Rush attack. Mark Matthews had two goals and two assists, with goals from Chris Corbeil, Jarrett Davis, and Zack Greer rounding out Edmonton's scoring.
In the first clash of the season, the Rush scored five goals in both the second and third quarters on their way to a 15-8 victory over Calgary. Curtis Knight and Mark Matthews each scored four goals with Matthews picking up his fourth of the night on a fourth quarter penalty shot. Chris Corbeil notched a hat trick for Edmonton with Robert Church adding a pair, and singles going to Jarrett Davis and John Lafontaine.
In Round 2 of this year's Battle of Alberta, the Rush scored seven goals in the second quarter on their way to a 15-7 win. Zack Greer led the Rush with a first-half hat trick with one coming on the power play, while former Roughneck Cory Conway haunted his former mates, registering five points including a pair of goals coming 1:53 apart (one on the power play). Chris Corbeil, with two unassisted goals, Mark Matthews and Curtis Knight, with two apiece, Ryan Dilks, Jeff Cornwall, Nic Bilic, and Jeremy Thompson added goals to the Rush attack.
Calgary avoided its first-ever season-series sweep to the Rush with a 14-13 OT win in the second-last week of the regular season. Chris Corbeil and Mark Matthews both had had tricks for the Rush but it wasn't enough as Curtis Dickson's seven-goal game included the Roughnecks' game-winner coming 4:13 into overtime. Robert Church and Zack Greer each scored twice for the Rush in the loss with Curtis Knight, Jeff Cornwall, and Jarrett Davis adding singles.
Mark Matthews finished on top of the team scoring derby for the Rush and was 12th in the NLL with 78 points. Fellow second-year pro Curtis Knight topped the Rush and was ninth in the league with 35 goals, and also finished eighth in the league with nine power-play goals.
Matthews was second on the Rush with 31 goals with Zack Greer third at 30. Cory Conway topped the Rush with 51 assists with Matthews next at 47.
Rush vs. Roughnecks - Season-by-Season Glance
2014
14-13 OT Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curtis Dickson scores seven goals including game-winner)
15-11 Rush win at Calgary (Curtis Knight records eight-point game including five goals)
15-7 Rush win at Calgary (Zack Greer notches first-quarter hat trick)
15-8 Rush win at Edmonton (Mark Matthews tallies seven points including four goals)
2013
12-11 OT Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Shawn Evans caps 10-point game with OT winner)
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)
Statistically Speaking: The Rush ended the regular season with four players in the top 10 in forced turnovers, including league-leader and NLL record-holder Kyle Rubisch with 61. Jeff Cornwall was fifth with 29, while Chris Corbeil and Brett Mydske tied for eighth with 26 ... Rush goaltender Aaron Bold had a banner year between the pipes including an NLL record 15 wins. He also finished first in goals-against average at 8.73, was second in minutes played with over 1,010, fourth in save-percentage at .791, and fifth in total saves with 558 ... Rush captain Chris Corbeil had a tremendous regular season, leading all NLL defenders in goals (17) and points (27) and leading the league with five shorthanded goals ... Also among the top scoring defenders in the NLL from the Rush were Nik Bilic (16 points - 9th; 13 assists - 7th), Jeff Cornwall (seven goals - 4th), and Chris Corbeil and Ryan Dilks (10 assists - 9th) ... Jeremy Thompson of the Rush finished fifth in the league with 165 loose balls. Also in the top 10 were Kyle Rubisch (156 - 7th) and Chris Corbeil (137 - 8th). Thompson was also fourth in faceoff wins with 235.
By The Numbers: In the final game of the regular season, the Rush reached three more team records. Mark Matthews ended the year with 78 points, three up on the former team record of 75 set by Ryan Ward in 2013. Chris Corbeil reached 17 goals, tying him for the club record for a transition/defenceman with Brodie Merrill established in 2010. The Rush also ended the season with nine shorthanded goals, tying them with the team mark set in both 2006 and 2007 ... Calgary has a 24-9 edge over Edmonton in regular-season play ... The Roughnecks led the NLL with 13 shorthanded during the season, with the Rush tied for second with nine ... The Rush outscored their opposition by a whopping 65-36 edge in second-quarter action this season ... Edmonton was 10-1 when scoring first in regular-season play ... The Rush were second in the league with 310 penalty minutes, averaging 17.2 per game ... Edmonton led all teams in goals surrendered, averaging just 8.7 against per game. The Rush were second to Calgary in goals scored per game with 12.2 compared to the Roughnecks' 13.2 ... Edmonton's power play finished at 42.0% (37-for-88) winding up seventh, while the penalty killing ended up fifth at 54.3% (32 goals against in 70 shorthanded situations.
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