Rush at Mammoth Game Notes
Published on November 29, 2019 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Saskatchewan Rush News Release
Saskatchewan Rush vs. the Colorado Mammoth
(Saskatchewan Rush)
Saskatchewan Rush at Colorado Mammoth
8:30PM (CST), Friday, November 29th 2019
Pepsi Center, Denver CO
Watch | B/R Live
Listen | 92.9 The Bull
Denver, CO - Aiming for another run at the NLL Cup, the Saskatchewan Rush launch their 2019-20 National Lacrosse League season on Friday night with a trip to Denver to take on the Colorado Mammoth.
The three-time champion Rush had their playoff hopes dashed a year ago by the Mammoth as Colorado captured the West Division Semifinal 11-10 in overtime. It was the first win for the Mammoth in Saskatchewan and their first in playoff action against the Rush. The loss ended the Rush's quest for a second set of back-to-back championships, but the Rush have still dominated the Mammoth in recent action-a trend they'll look to continue in the first of three matchups this season against Colorado.
Saskatchewan has won seven straight and 10 of its last 12 regular-season games against Colorado. The Rush earned their second straight season-series sweep over the Mammoth a year ago, and in doing so, upped their all-time regular-season record against Colorado to 25-17.
The Rush finished the 2019 NLL regular-season with an 11-7 record, good for top spot in the West (one game up on San Diego and Calgary) and fourth overall. Colorado wound up fourth in the West at 6-12 (one game up on Vancouver).
The Rush won a pair of 9-7 games against the Mammoth last season beginning with a February victory in Saskatoon behind three goals from Jeff Shattler, two from Mark Matthews and singles from Ben McIntosh, Marty Dinsdale, Chris Corbeil, and Brett Mydske. Two months later, the Rush won by the same score in Colorado as Ryan Keenan, Mark Matthews and Robert Church each scored a pair with singles going to Jeff Shattler, Scott Campbell, and Ben McIntosh. The Rush wrapped up the regular season with a 13-8 win over Colorado as they stormed out to an 8-0 lead and a halftime cushion of 11-1. Ryan Keenan (1 goal, 5 assists) and Marty Dinsdale (4 goals, 2 assists) each had six-point nights for the Rush. Mark Matthews posted a hat trick, Curtis Knight and Jeff Shattler both scored twice and Robert Church had one goal.
However, just a week later, Joey Cupido scored the overtime winner to lift the Mammoth to an upset victory in the West Semifinal. Ben McIntosh had a hat trick in the semifinal loss with Curtis Knight, Robert Church, and Jeff Shattler each scoring twice, and Mark Matthews adding one goal. The Mammoth went on to the West Division Final but were beaten 8-4 by the eventual NLL Cup champion Calgary Roughnecks.
MILESTONE MINUTE: A couple of Rush players could make a move on the team's all-time leaderboard this season. Returning defenceman Ryan Dilks needs to play in eight games to move past Jimmy Quinlan into fourth spot on the team's game-played list, while Ben McIntosh needs 19 assists this season to move into third spot on the team's list past Curtis Knight.
HELLO & GOODBYE: Welcome additions to the Rush roster this year are all from the team's recent draft stockpile - Holden Garlent, Justin Robinson, Austin Murphy, and Tanner Thomson. The Rush also welcome back Ryan Dilks and Jeff Cornwall who were absent from the club last season due to work commitments. Cornwall is unavailable for the season-opener but will play in the Rush's home-opener on December 14th ... An expansion draft, entry draft, and other moves resulted in some changes to the Rush roster from a year ago. The departed from the 2019 roster are: Nik Bilic (traded to Vancouver), Curtis Knight (selected by New York in expansion draft), Scott Campbell and Pete Dubenski (free-agent signings by Halifax), Brett Mydske (work commitment), Matt MacGrotty (released last season), and Nick Finlay (traded to Philadelphia) ... A pair of familiar faces are now on the Colorado roster - fan favorite backup goalie Tyler Carlson and defenceman John Lintz are both former members of the Rush.
Statistically Speaking: Last season, the Rush's Mark Matthews finished in a tie for third in the NLL scoring race, knotting Georgia's Lyle Thompson with 105 points. They finished 10 behind scoring champ Dane Dobbie of Calgary. Matthews finished tied for seventh in assists (64) and tied for fourth in goals at 41 with teammate Ben McIntosh ... Jeff Shattler of the Rush led the NLL with five game-winning goals. He also finished the regular season tied for 15th with 34 goals and tied for sixth in shorthanded goals with two ... Saskatchewan ended the season with the top-ranked power play at 57.4%, scoring 31 goals on 54 power-play opportunities. That was the fewest opportunities in the league - 10 less than Georgia ... Mark Matthews finished tied for seventh with nine power-play goals with Ben McIntosh right behind with eight. Matthews also finished tied for sixth with 17 power-play assists ... The Rush drastically improved their penalty kill down the stretch and wound up moving from last to seventh at 52.1% with seven shorthanded goals ... Colorado got 10 power-play goals from Kyle Killen during the season, but still wound up last in the league on the man-advantage at just 37.5% (30-for-80). The Mammoth did have the sixth-best penalty kill at 52.8% with four shorthanded goals, three coming from Ryan Lee ... The Rush's Jeremy Thompson led the NLL with 208 loose-ball scoops and he wound up third in faceoff wins with 263 ... Rush defenceman Kyle Rubisch was tops in the NLL with 45 caused turnovers. Teammates Mike Messenger (fifth, 31), Jeremy Thompson (eighth, 25) and Chris Corbeil (11th, 24) were also amongs the league-leaders. Colorado's Joey Cupido finished fourth with 33 caused turnovers ... The Rush's Matt Hossack finished tied for fifth amongst defencemen with 17 points and tied for fourth with 14 assists ... Rush goalie Adam Shute ended the regular season second in the league with a 10.30 goals-against average. Colorado's Dillon Ward was fourth at 10.84 ... The Mammoth's Kyle Killen finished third in rookie scoring with 49 points and second with 28 goals.
By the Numbers: Saskatchewan won the NLL attendance derby again last season with an average of 13,459 which was 413 better than Buffalo ... The Rush finished the season first in the West with 222 goals. They were third in goals scored per game average with 12.33 and fourth in goals allowed at 11.22 per game. Colorado was one of only two teams in the league this season that scored less than 200 goals. The Mammoth finished 10th in goals scored at 10.06 per game but they were second in goals allowed at 10.72 per game ... The Rush ended the regular season with 7-2 record at home and 9-3 versus the West. They were also 9-1 when leading after the first quarter, 10-0 when leading at halftime, 10-0 when leading after three quarters, and 8-3 when they outshoot their opposition ... Colorado finished up 3-6 on the road, 4-8 versus the West and the Mammoth were outscored 47-24 in first-quarter play ... The Rush's Mark Matthews finished fourth in the league's Three Star Award voting with 28 points (4 x First Star, 2 x Second Star, 2 x Third Star).
Rush vs. Mammoth - Season-by-Season Glance
2019
*11-10 OT Mammoth win (Joey Cupido scores game-winner on unassisted breakaway)
13-8 Rush win (Ryan Keenan and Marty Dinsdale both rack up six points)
9-7 Rush win (Mark Matthews, Ryan Keenan and Robert Church each potted two goals)
9-7 Rush win (Jeff Shattler with the hat trick and Mark Matthews with five points)
*Denotes West Division Semifinal playoff game
2018
11-8 Rush win (Mark Matthews and Robert Church both notch seven-point games)
17-12 Rush win (Ben McIntosh racks up 10 points on two goals and eight assists)
13-10 Rush win (Ryan Keenan has first four-goal game in NLL)
2017
*11-10 Rush win (Mark Matthews leads with six points including four assists)
*18-9 Rush win (Adam Jones registers nine points featuring six second-half goals)
10-9 Rush win (Ben McIntosh notches hat trick plus one assist)
14-10 Mammoth win (Jamie Noble leads with seven points)
12-11 OT Rush win (Ben McIntosh racks up four goals including the overtime winner)
8-7 Rush win (Ben McIntosh scores two goals)
*Denotes West Division Final playoff game
2016
11-8 Rush win (Ben McIntosh and Curtis Knight each collect hat trick)
11-5 Rush win (Ben McIntosh scores four goals)
9-7 Mammoth win (Dillon Ward totals 47 saves)
12-10 Rush win (Mark Matthews racked up six points including four goals)
2015
13-10 Rush win (Mark Matthews & Marty Dinsdale both with seven-point games)
13-12 Rush win (Mark Matthews notches nine points including four goals)
11-7 Rush win (Mark Matthews & Zack Greer both with four-goal games)
2014
10-8 Mammoth win (John Grant Jr. paces attack with four goals)
12-11 Rush win (Cory Conway registers six points including five assists)
17-6 Rush win (Mark Matthews & Zack Greer each score five goals)
13-10 Rush win (Curtis Knight tallies three goals and three assists)
2013
9-7 Mammoth win (Tye Belanger makes 48 saves)
14-7 Rush win (Mark Matthews tops scoring with five goals)
2012
14-11 Rush win (Zack Greer leads the way with two goals)
11-7 Mammoth win (Adam Jones, John Grant Jr., and Jordan McBride each notch hat tricks)
13-12 Mammoth win (John Grant Jr. leads with five goals and four assists)
2011
13-6 Mammoth win
14-13 Rush win (Scott Evans leads with four goals and two assists)
7-6 Mammoth win (John Grant Jr. notches two goals and two assists)
2010
14-10 Mammoth win (Jamie Shewchuk collects nine points including four goals)
14-13 Rush win (Ryan Ward scores four goals and adds three assists)
13-9 Rush win (Ryan Ward notches hat trick plus four assists)
2009
11-9 Rush win (Ryan Benesch has eight-point game including five assists)
10-9 Rush win (Callum Crawford nets four goals and adds two assists)
10-9 Mammoth win (Jamie Shewchuk scores twice and adds two assists)
2008
14-11 Mammoth win (Dan Carey pots hat trick plus three assists
15-4 Mammoth win (Jamie Shewchuk notches seven points)
13-8 Mammoth win (Jamie Shewchuk produces seven points)
2007
16-9 Mammoth win (Jamie Shewchuk notches hat trick plus two assists)
16-7 Mammoth win (Dan Carey leads with two goals and three assists)
2006
15-10 Mammoth win (Dan Stroup collects six points including hat trick)
13-7 Mammoth win (Ben Prepchuk racks up six points including four assists)
Images from this story
 Saskatchewan Rush vs. the Colorado Mammoth |
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