Rush Game Notes
January 15, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---After back-to-back wins over the Colorado Mammoth, the Edmonton Rush will look to go 3-0 to start a season for the first time in franchise history when they take on the arch-rival Calgary Roughnecks in 2014's first installment of the National Lacrosse League's Battle of Alberta.
The Rush completed a home-and-home sweep of the Mammoth last Saturday night as they clobbered Colorado 17-6 at Rexall Place before a crowd of 7,950 which included MMA icon and special guest Georges St. Pierre. Back on Dec. 28, the Rush topped the Mammoth 13-10 in Denver.
The victory on the road at Colorado gave the Rush their first win in a season-opener since 2007, and the return matchup win in Edmonton afforded the Rush their first win in a home-opener since 2010. That win also marked the Rush's first-ever 2-0 start in franchise history.
The Rush offense clicked right from the start in their home-opener as Jarrett Davis scored his first of three goals and eight points just 19 seconds into the game. Zack Greer notched a first-quarter hat trick on his way to a five-goal game, and Zack Matthews potted three power-play goals amongst his five goals and four assists for a nine-point effort.
Rookie Riley Loewen continued his hot start with two goals and four assists, while fellow rookie Robert Church made his NLL debut and collected five assists. Curtis Knight and Cory Conway rounded out Edmonton's scoring. At the other end, goaltender Aaron Bold helped stake the Rush to a 6-1 cushion in the first quarter as he made two brilliant saves during Colorado power plays. Bold finished with 40 saves to earn his second win of the season.
The Rush are 5-23 all-time in regular season action against Calgary, but still hold the two most crucial victories in the provincial rivalry as Edmonton captured win in West Division semifinal contests in both 2010 and 2012. Calgary did exact some measure of revenge last season as a 12-11 OT win in the regular-season finale kept the Rush from hosting a home playoff game.
Prior to that game, the Rush finally beat the Roughnecks in regular-season play, ending a 12-game regular-season losing streak against Calgary with an 18-13 victory. It was a record-tying and record-breaking performance for the Rush.
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.
Mark Matthews and Jarrett Davis are tied atop the Rush scoring derby with 13 points apiece. Zack Greer leads the Rush and is tied for third in the NLL with eight goals, while Davis is tops on the Rush with nine assists.
Calgary bounced back from a season-opening 16-11 loss at Toronto to beat Colorado 13-10 last Friday. Jeff Shattler and Dane Dobbie each had four goals against the Mammoth.
Rush vs. Roughnecks - Season-by-Season Glance
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's power play is off to a flying start this season, sitting at 7-for-11 including a 5-for-9 outing against Colorado last weekend. Edmonton's penalty kill sits at 3-for-7. Calgary is 5-for-8 with the man-advantage and have killed seven of 15 penalties ... Rush defenders Brett Mydske and Kyle Rubisch are tied for fourth in the NLL with five forced turnovers. Mydske, Rubisch, John Lintz, Ryan Dilks, and Jeremy Thompson all had two forced turnovers in the home-opener ... Transition Jeremy Thompson leads the Rush with 17 loose balls, one up on Chris Corbeil. Against Colorado in the home-opener, Corbeil and John Lintz led the Rush with seven loose balls each ... Thompson has also gone 21-for-48 on faceoffs.
By The Numbers: The Rush have scored 30 goals so far this season, second only to Colorado's 40 but the Mammoth have played four games to Edmonton's two. The Rush are tied for second with just 16 goals-against, only one behind league-leading Rochester ... Edmonton has outscored its opposition 17-8 in first half action so far this season, and outscored Colorado 8-2 in a pair of third quarters ... Goaltender Aaron Bold has racked up 70 saves in his two starts along with an 8.00 goals-against average and an .814 save-percentage ... Edmonton's Mark Matthews and Calgary's Jeff Shattler are tied for the league-lead with three power-play goals ... Roughnecks all-purpose standout Geoff Snider had a hat trick along with 13 loose balls and four forced turnovers against Colorado last week. Snider also has 32 faceoff wins.
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