Rush Face Pivotal Weekend Starting with Jax
April 2, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
The Edmonton Rush's playoff hopes rest heavily on the outcome of their two games this weekend as they battle a pair of National Lacrosse League West Division rivals.
The Rush will host the Portland LumberJax in the third and final meeting between the teams this season before travelling to Minnesota for a showdown with the Swarm. Edmonton remains sixth in the West Division but is just one game behind fourth-place Minnesota and the Rush have a game in-hand on fifth-place San Jose.
Edmonton is coming off a much-needed 16-12 victory over the Toronto Rock last weekend, a victory which kept the Rush's playoff hopes alive. It was also the biggest offensive explosion in team history as they set a record for most goals scored in a game as well as setting a new team mark for goals in a half with 11 coming in the opening 30 minutes.
Rush shooters also set various marks during the offensive outburst, led by Dan Teat who set a new team record for assists in a game with seven - one more than the previous mark set by Jason Clark in the 2006 season. Andy Secore tied the Rush team record for points in a game with eight as he notched five goals and three assists. The record was previously set by Chris Gill in the season-opener of the 2007 campaign against Philadelphia.
Although he didn't set any team records the game also marked a big night for the Rush's Mike MacLeod who played a key role in setups all night and registered six assists - three of them coming on the Rush's final three goals of the game. Mike Hominuck played a key role in the Rush attack with three goals and four assists while Jimmy Quinlan added with three goals and rookie Jamie Floris added a pair.
The Rush and LumberJax have split their two meetings so far this season, with the Rush taking their home-opener 11-10 and the LumberJax returning the favor a week later at the Rose Garden with a 15-10 decision. Dan Teat led the way for the Rush in their victory over the Jax as he notched four goals - two coming on the power play - and added two assists. Teat had a five-point night in the loss at Portland.
The LumberJax hold a 7-3 edge in head-to-head meetings with the Rush since the two teams joined the NLL together in 2006. Last season the Rush were beaten 11-10 at home by the LumberJax as Dan Dawson and Derek Malawsky each scored in the final five minutes to get Portland the road win. Jimmy Quinlan and Mike Accursi each notched hat tricks in that game for Edmonton. Just over two weeks later, the LumberJax played host to the Rush and handed Edmonton a 14-8 loss despite a four-goal game from the Rush's Dan Stroup. The Rush finally got a measure of revenge on March 1 and the team also finally picked up its first win of the season with a 9-7 triumph in the Rose Garden. The victory was the first for Bob Hamley as the Rush's new GM/Head Coach and the Rush's first win in Portland in five visits.
The two teams met three times in their inaugural season with the LumberJax taking a 15-12 win at Rexall Place before racking up back-to-back home-floor wins over the Rush by scores of 14-10 and 11-7 in the season finale. In 2007, the clubs met twice with the Rush earning two notable milestones. Edmonton's earned its first win against Portland and its first overtime victory with a 9-8 decision thanks to Ryan O'Connor's game-winner. Portland took the clubs' next encounter with a 14-10 win at the Rose Garden.
When the Rush take on the Swarm on Saturday, it will be their first-ever visit to the Xcel Energy Center and only the second meeting between the teams since the Rush entered the league. The teams' only other encounter came in 2006 and was a defensive struggle with the Swarm edging out the Rush 7-6 behind a 40-save performance from goaltender Nick Patterson. Jimmy Quinlan led the Rush in that game with a pair of goals.
Dan Teat is the Rush leader in both points (51) and goals (23). Teat is nine points back of equaling the single-season club scoring record currently held by Chris Gill. Andy Secore leads the Rush with 30 assists and needs just six more to eclipse the team single-season record held by Jason Wulder. Secore is second on the club with 47 points. With his seven-point game against Toronto, Mike Hominuck climbed into third spot in the Rush scoring derby with 34 points. Chris McKay is on top of loose ball collection with 127 - up by 15 on Ian Hawksbee.
Ryan Powell leads Portland in scoring with 43 points while former Rush netminder Matt Disher has a 10.96 goals-against average in the LumberJax net. Aaron Wilson's 49 points is pacing the Swarm attack.
Statistically Speaking: The Rush power play has moved up to sixth in the league at 48.3% (28 goals in 58 man-advantage opportunities) but the club's penalty-killing continues to sit at the bottom of the league at only 34.7% (32 goals-against in 49 shorthanded situations) - 13% worse than 11th-ranked Philadelphia ... Portland's power play is second-worst in the league at 37.9% while the penalty-killing is third in the league at 56.9% ... Minnesota power play is dead last in the league at 36.8% while the Swarm's penalty-killing ranks sixth at 51.6% ... Edmonton and Minnesota have scored five shorthanded goals this season while Portland has notched just two. Minnesota has given up a league-high 10 shorthanded markers while Edmonton has surrendered seven. Portland has given up a league-low one shorthanded tally.
By The Numbers: The Rush and LumberJax are tied with 119 goals-for so far this season - the fewest in the league ... Edmonton has given up 157 goals - the second-most in the league ... The Rush are 3-3 at home this season and averaging 8,627 fans which is seventh-best in the NLL ... The Swarm are 1-4 at home this season.
National Lacrosse League Stories from April 2, 2009
- Roughnecks Can Clinch Western Division This Weekend - Calgary Roughnecks
- Playoffs Race Tightens As Blazers Prepare For Critical Two-Game Weekend - Boston Blazers
- Six teams have an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth this weekend - NLL
- Secore Scores Player-of-the-week Honor - Edmonton Rush
- Bob Watson Named Player Of The Month - Toronto Rock
- Toronto Goaltender and San Jose forward honored for great March play - NLL
- Rock Host Boston Blazers Tomorrow - Toronto Rock
- Swarm Plays Two Games This Weekend - Minnesota Swarm
- Rush Face Pivotal Weekend Starting with Jax - Edmonton Rush
- Boston Blazers To Battle Buffalo Bandits - Boston Blazers
- Amerks And Knighthawks Raise $15,026.71 For Breast Cancer Research - Rochester Knighthawks
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