Rush Gets Mammoth 14-11 Win at Colorado
April 21, 2012 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Denver, Col - The Edmonton Rush punched their post season ticket with a 14-11 victory over the Colorado Mammoth in National Lacrosse League action Friday at Pepsi Center.
A six goal outburst by the Rush in the third quarter blew a tight game wide open as Edmonton (6-8) secured the fourth seed in the West Division playoffs by dropping the top ranked Mammoth (11-4).
Edmonton has four wins in the club's last five starts and broke a six game road losing skid with the win.
Despite giving up four goals and 21 shots in the fourth quarter Edmonton had an impressive victory with a tremendous effort from all aspects of the contest Friday in Denver.
"It was a complete game for us, first off," said Rush head coach and general manger Derek Keenan. "In all areas, I thought we were really strong, but our transition was the difference.
"It was just a complete effort for us. Defensively, we executed the way we talked about it and did a pretty good job on Grant and that was a good night for us."
Edmonton's balanced attack had four players with two goals apiece as Corey Small (2G, 1A), Steve Toll (2G, 1A), Tom Johnson (2G, 1A) and Zack Greer (2G, 1A) paced the attack and Kyle Rubisch (1G, 2A, 15 loose balls), Ryan Ward (1G, 1A), Aaron Wilson (1G, 1A), Chris Corbeil (1G, 1A) and Ryan Dilks (1G, 1A) added singles. Jarrett Toll had three assists, 13 face-off wins and 10 loose balls for Edmonton.
John Grant Jr. (2G, 4A) led the Colorado attack with six points and Jamie Shewchuk and Jamie Lincoln added two goals each.
Rush netminder Aaron Bold (6-8) stopped 49-of-60 shots and outdueled Colorado counterpart Chris Levis for the win.
Edmonton notched their second playoff berth in the past three seasons and Friday's matchup against Colorado could be a semi-final preview in the May play-downs.
"We earned it (playoffs) tonight," said Rush head coach and general manger Derek Keenan. "The big focus was we didn't want any help from anybody else to get in. We wanted to win it ourselves and earn it, especially coming into here, a hostile environment and a lot of adversity to go through, and we battled through it all for the big win.
"Moving forward, especially it helps us. We proved that if we do meet them down the road in the playoffs we have a bit more confidence than we did earlier in the year.
"It's a real positive for this team and we're getting better each game," he added.
After Colorado notched the game's first goal in the opening quarter Edmonton answered back in transition as Dilks picked up a long bouncer and beat Levis though the legs at 3:10
The frame ended with the Mammoth up 2-1 and Edmonton then started quickly in the second quarter as Rubisch and Steve Toll teamed up on a short-handed goal to tie the game 39-seconds in and then Small's ripper gave Edmonton its first lead of the night at 2:55 with the score 3-2.
Steve, in transition off a missed Colorado shot, ran the carpet and beat Levis at 8:37 and 88-seconds later Wilson made it a four goal run to put the visitors up 5-2.
The Mammoth then scored two straight goals late in the quarter to end the scoring at half-time with Edmonton leading 5-4.
Steve added his second transition goal of the game, for his 400th career point, to put the Rush ahead 6-4 before Colorado fired back with two tallies to knot the score 6-6 early in the third quarter.
Johnson sandwiched a Greer goal as Edmonton went on a three goal run and then Corbeil added to the stretch with another Rush tally in transition to go ahead 10-6 before Shewchuk got one back for the Mammoth late in the stanza.
With Levis out for an extra attacker for Colorado in the dying seconds of the third frame, Quinlan's buzzer beater shot from beyond half field found the open cage to put Edmonton up 11-7 after the three quarter mark.
Ward found the net from on top the crease less than three minutes into the fourth quarter to regain Edmonton's four goal lead and then the Rush and Mammoth traded two markers apiece as Small and Greer both fired their second of the night to go ahead 14-9.
Hopcroft closed out the scoring with an extra attacker marker with 28-seconds left as the visitors left with a 14-11 win.
The Rush return home to Rexall Place for a Saturday, April 21 st meeting with the Calgary Roughnecks at 7 p.m. at Crystal Glass Field.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from April 21, 2012
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- Rush Gets Mammoth 14-11 Win at Colorado - Edmonton Rush
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