NLL Saskatchewan Rush

RUSH vs. MAMMOTH Game Notes

March 10, 2017 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Saskatchewan Rush News Release


RUSH vs. MAMMOTH Game Notes

Colorado Mammoth (6-4) at Saskatchewan Rush (6-3)

March 11th, 2017

SaskTel Centre, Saskatoon SK

It's a showdown for first place in the National Lacrosse League's West Division as the Saskatchewan Rush host the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

The Rush fell 13-9 in Vancouver last weekend while the Mammoth thumped Calgary 18-9 which moved Colorado just one-half game behind Saskatchewan in the standings although the Rush have one game in-hand. This is the second of four meetings between the Rush and Mammoth this season after the teams collided just three weeks ago in Saskatoon with the Rush eking out an 8-7 victory. With that victory, the Rush have now won seven of the last eight against the Mammoth, and after going 0-8 against Colorado upon entering the NLL, the Rush have closed the gap to an all-time record of 16-17.

The Mammoth will host the Rush on March 25 and April 28. This game against the Rush marks the front-half of a two-game weekend road trip for the Mammoth, who will play in Vancouver on Sunday evening.

Colorado goalie Dillon Ward nearly single-handedly lifted his team to the win over the Rush, but despite making 56 saves the Mammoth netminder couldn't do quite enough. Ben McIntosh scored twice for Saskatchewan with Curtis Knight, Jeff Cornwall, Chris Corbeil, Ryan Keenan, Mark Matthews, and Adrian Sorichetti adding a goal apiece for the Rush.

Last season, the Rush took three of four games from Colorado. Saskatchewan's two-game sweep of a weekend home-and-home series late in the 2016 season clinched first place in the West Division. In the first game of the doubleheader, the Rush scored six times in the fourth quarter to blow open a tight game and go on to win 11-5. Ben McIntosh paced the Rush attack with four goals. Robert Church added a pair for Saskatchewan with singles going to Kyle Rubisch, Jarrett Davis, Ryan Dilks, Mark Matthews, and Zack Greer. Both teams flew on the same flight to Saskatoon to avoid a winter snowstorm in the Denver area, but the Rush were unkind hosts as they scored six goals in the third quarter this time on their way to an 11-8 victory before a sold-out crowd of 15,027 at SaskTel Centre. Ben McIntosh and Curtis Knight each potted hat tricks in the win with singles notched by Robert Church, Jarrett Davis, Mark Matthews, Jeremy Thompson, and Zack Greer.

The Rush captured their first home-turf victory in Saskatoon by beating the Mammoth 12-10 last January. Mark Matthews scored the last of his four goals to tie the game 10-10, and Robert Church potted the game-winner with Chris Corbeil adding a shorthanded tally to put the game away late in the fourth. Zack Greer picked up three goals and two assists for Saskatchewan which also got single markers Jarrett Davis, Adrian Sorichetti, and Ben McIntosh.

Colorado took the next matchup a month later 9-7 in Denver as they broke open a tight game with five goals in the third quarter. Jarrett Davis, with a pair, Curtis Knight, Robert Church, Mark Matthews, Zack Greer, and Ben McIntosh did the scoring for the Rush.

The Rush were bested by Vancouver last weekend in large part by the play the Stealth goalie Tye Belanger who mustered 55 saves. Robert Church and Adam Jones each scored twice for the Rush with singles going to Jeff Cornwall, Ben McIntosh, Curtis Knight, Ryan Keenan, and Adrian Sorichetti. Former Rush Callum Crawford racked up a sock trick (6 goals) plus three assists as the Mammoth blew out Calgary. 

Statistically Speaking: Despite not scoring a goal in his past two games, the Rush's Mark Matthews has moved into third in league scoring with 60 points. He has a league-best 41 assists, including 12 over the past two games ... Robert Church of the Rush is now seventh in the league with 22 goals while Mark Matthews is tied for 10th with 19 goals ... Former Rush Callum Crawford is leading the way for Colorado as he sits tied for fourth in league scoring (58 points), tied for eighth in goals (20), tied for third in assists (38) and first with three game-winning goals ... Mammoth goalie Dillon Ward and Saskatchewan counterpart Aaron Bold are tied for the league-lead with six wins. Ward also leads the way with a .803 save-percentage and is second with a 10.16 goals-against average ... Saskatchewan's Robert Church leads the NLL with 13 power-play goals with the Rush's Mark Matthews on top with 17 power-play assists ... The Rush's power play is currently ranked second in the NLL at 58.0% (29-for-50) but the Rush have given up a league-leading eight shorthanded goals. Saskatchewan's penalty kill is ranked third at 48.9% ... Colorado's power play is ranked third at 57.1% (24-for-42) but the Mammoth penalty kill is a league-worst 40.5% ... The Rush's Kyle Rubisch and the Mammoth's Greg Downing are tied for second in the league with 18 forced turnovers. Nik Bilic of Saskatchewan is tied for seventh with 15 forced turnovers ... Two of the NLL's best faceoff men will go head-to-head in the game. Colorado's Greg Downing is second with 120 faceoff wins, while Saskatchewan's Jeremy Thompson is third with 114. Thompson went 14-for-20 on the draw against Vancouver with Mike Messenger and Kyle Rubisch combining to go 4-for-6 ... The Mammoth's Cameron Holding is second in the league with 93 loose balls, just nine ahead of the Rush's Jeremy Thompson in fourth ... Colorado is getting some significant offensive production from its defence. Brent Adams and Joey Cupido lead all NLL defencemen with seven goals and Adams sits second in points with 14, while Robert Hope is second amongst defencemen with eight assists.

By the Numbers: Saskatchewan and Georgia are the only two NLL teams that are undefeated at home and both have 4-0 records ... The Rush are 4-1 against the West Division while Colorado is 3-2 on the road and 2-4 versus the West ... Saskatchewan leads the NLL in attendance with an average of 14,897. That's roughly 700 better than second-place Buffalo but the Bandits have had six home games compared to the Rush's four ... The Rush sit third in the NLL in both goals for (118) and goals against (105). They are second with an average of 13.11 goals scored per game and third with an average of 11.67 goals against per game ... Colorado is second with average of 10.40 goals allowed per game and second with only 104 goals allowed ... The Rush are 4-1 when leading after the first quarter and 4-0 when leading after the third quarter so far this season. Saskatchewan is also 6-1 when they outshoot their opposition ... The Mammoth are 5-0 when leading at halftime and 5-0 when leading after the third quarter, but are 0-3 when trailing at halftime ... Rush defencemen Mike Messenger leads his team and all NLL rookies with 31 penalty minutes ... Ryan Keenan of the Rush is sixth in rookie scoring with 18 points and fourth with 14 assists, six of which have come on the power play ... Callum Crawford of the Mammoth is tied for the league-lead in Three Star Award Voting with 21 points (3 x First Star, 2 x Second Star). The Rush's Robert Church is fifth with 16 points (2 x First Star, 2 x Second Star) and Mark Matthews is 10th with 12 points (1 x First Star, 2 x Second Star, 1 x Third Star).

Check out the Saskatchewan Rush Statistics



National Lacrosse League Stories from March 10, 2017


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