Rush vs. Roughnecks Game Notes
April 27, 2018 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Saskatchewan Rush News Release
Saskatchewan Rush vs. the Calgary Roughnecks
(Saskatchewan Rush)
The Saskatchewan Rush will look to end the regular season on a winning note and complete a pair of notable feats as they take on the Calgary Roughnecks in the NLL's Battle of the Prairies.
So far this season, the Rush are a perfect 9-0 against rivals from the West Division, including two victories over the Roughnecks. A win over Calgary will also give the Rush their second season-series sweep of the Roughnecks in the past three years.
The Rush had a bye last weekend coming off a tough doubleheader weekend that saw them demolish the Vancouver Stealth 20-10 on the road before returning home after a tough travel day and running out of steam in a 16-10 loss to the Georgia Swarm.
This will be the Rush's final game before the 2018 Champion's Cup playoffs get under way.
Saskatchewan will host the one-game West Division Final on Thursday, May 10th against either Calgary or Colorado as those two teams square-off in the division semifinal next weekend in Denver.
Calgary leads the all-time regular-season record against the Rush with a 27-19 mark, but the Rush have won 10 of the last 11 regular-season games. Back on January 27th, Ben McIntosh scored his second goal of the game 46 seconds into overtime to lift the Rush to a 13-12 win despite a furious second-half comeback by the Roughnecks. Curtis Knight, Mark Matthews, Adrian Sorichetti, and Jeff Shattler also scored twice for Saskatchewan with singles going to Ryan Keenan, Nick Finlay, and Jeremy Thompson.
On February 24th, the teams clashed in Saskatoon with the Rush coming away with a 10-6 win behind 37 saves from Evan Kirk. Mark Matthews led the Rush attack with three goals and four assists, while Jeff Shattler and Marty Dinsdale both scored twice. Goals from Jeremy Thompson, Ben McIntosh and Robert Church rounded out the Saskatchewan scoring.
The last regular-season win for the Roughnecks over the Rush came in the regular-season finale a year ago as they ended an eight-game losing skid to the Rush with a 14-7 victory in Calgary. The Rush won three earlier meeting against the Roughnecks last season beginning with a 15-11 victory in Calgary. Ben McIntosh (3 goals, 3 assists) and Robert Church (1 goal, 5 assists) both registered six points in the victory while Mark Matthews scored four goals. Adam Jones, with two, and singles from Marty Dinsdale, Adrian Sorichetti, Jeremy Thompson, Nik Bilic, and Matt Hossack accounted for the rest of the Rush scoring.
Adam Jones was the hero in the second meeting last season as he scored his second of the game 1:16 into overtime to give Saskatchewan a 12-11 victory. Mark Matthews led the Rush with a goal and six assists, while Ben McIntosh and Robert Church each notching hat tricks. Mike Messenger, Jeff Cornwall and Marty Dinsdale also scored for the Rush. Mark Matthews (2 goals, 5 assists) led the Rush attack in 13-10 win in the next clash between the teams. Chris Corbeil, Robert Church, and Dan Taylor each scored twice with singles going to Mike Messenger, Curtis Knight, Jeff Cornwall, Marty Dinsdale, and Jeremy Thompson.
In 2016, the Rush earned their first season-series sweep of the Roughnecks going 4-0 and then dispatching Calgary 2-0 in the West Division Final.
Record Watch: With 78 assists on the year, the Rush's Mark Matthews needs 6 assists in the regular-season finale to break the current NLL single-season assists record. The current record is jointly held by Shawn Evans, Josh Sanderson, and Callum Crawford.
Statistically Speaking: Rush stars Mark Matthews and Robert Church sit 1-2 in the NLL scoring race. Matthews is out front with 109 points with Church at 103 points, which is three ahead of Buffalo's Dhane Smith. Calgary's Curtis Dickson is tied for seventh with 85 points ... Matthews' 78 assists puts him on top of the NLL with Church tied for fifth with 57. Church is second in the NLL with 46 goals, three behind New England's Kevin Crowley. The Rush's Ben McIntosh is fourth on the goal chart with 42 ... The Rush's Robert Church and Ryan Keenan are tied for third in the league with 14 power-play goals, two behind Colorado's Ryan Benesch and Calgary's Dane Dobbie. Saskatchewan's Ben McIntosh is fifth in the league with 13 power-play goals and Mark Matthews is ninth with 10. Matthews leads the NLL with 32 power-play assists with Robert Church right behind in second with 26 ... The Rush continue to boast the NLL's top-ranked power play at 69.9% (58-for-83). Saskatchewan's penalty kill is ranked sixth at 50.8% with eight shorthanded goals. The Roughnecks have the fifth-best power play at 48.1% (38-for-79) and fifth-best penalty kill at 52.0% with a league-high 14 shorthanded goals ... Mark Matthews of the Rush is tied for fifth with two shorthanded goals. Calgary's Curtis Dickson leads the league with five shorthanded tallies ... The Rush's Ben McIntosh and Curtis Knight are tied with Curtis Dickson of the Roughnecks with a league-leading three game-winning goals ... The Rush are still tops in the league with a team shooting percentage of 20.0%. Captain Chris Corbeil is tops on the Rush at 41.2% (7 goals on 17 shots) with Adrian Sorichetti (7 goals on 21 shots) and Jeremy Thompson (6 goals on 18 shots) both at 33.3% ... Rush netminder Evan Kirk leads the NLL with 11 wins and has the third-best goals-against average at 10.88. His Calgary counterpart Christian Del Bianco leads the NLL in goals-against average (10.46) and save-percentage (.797) ... Calgary's Mitch Wilde is second amongst defencemen with 25 points and 14 assists ... 2017: Saskatchewan's Mark Matthews finished second in league scoring last season as he 113 points left him just three behind Georgia's Lyle Thompson. Matthews had 73 assists to lead the league and break his own franchise record ... The Rush's Robert Church cracked the NLL's top-20 scoring last season with 77 points, and for the second straight season, Church led the NLL in power-play goals. After scoring 17 on the man-advantage in 2016, Church notched 21 goals on the power play in last season.
By the Numbers: Saskatchewan will look to end the regular season with a perfect record against its opposition from the West Division. The Rush are 9-0 vs. the West this year and have a 5-3 record at SaskTel Centre. Calgary is 5-4 vs. the West and the Roughnecks have gone 3-5 on the road ... The Rush lead the NLL with 243 goals scored and an average of 14.29 goals per game. They are second-best with 186 goals allowed and an average of 10.94 goals allowed per game. Calgary ranks fifth in both goals scored and goals allowed per game ... The Rush's Ben McIntosh saw his goal-scoring streak end at 15 games in the last outing against Georgia, but assist streaks have reached 17 games for Mark Matthews, Ryan Keenan, and Robert Church ... Saskatchewan continues to lead the NLL in attendance with an average of 14,635 - about 600 up on Colorado ... Two of the NLL's best faceoff men will do battle in this game. The Rush's Jeremy Thompson and the Roughnecks' Tyler Burton are tied for third with 223 faceoff wins. Thompson is also second in the league with 151 loose balls ... Rush defenceman Kyle Rubisch is seventh in the league with 25 caused turnovers. Teammates Adrian Sorichetti, Mike Messenger and Chris Corbeil are all tied for 10th with 20 caused turnovers ... Calgary's Curtis Dickson is second in the NLL's Three-Star Award voting with 28 points (3 x First Star, 4 x Second Star, 1 x Third Star) with members of the Rush on his heels. Robert Church is fifth with 26 points (3 x First Star, 3 x Second Star, 2 x Third Star), Evan Kirk is seventh with 24 points (3 x First Star, 2 x Second Star), and Mark Matthews is eighth with 19 points (2 x First Star, 2 x Second Star, 3 x Third Star) ... The Roughnecks are averaging 16.82 penalty minutes per game which is fourth-highest in the league. The Rush are eighth with just 9.76 PIM per game. Calgary has taken the second-most minor penalties with 93 ... The Rush are 11-0 when they outshoot their opponents in a game. Saskatchewan is also 11-2 when leading after the first quarter, 13-1 when leading at halftime, and 12-1 when leading after three quarters ... Calgary is 8-1 when leading after three quarters, but 2-7 when trailing after one and 0-7 when behind after three ... 2017: Mark Matthews was named to the NLL's First Team All-Pro following last season, while teammate Mike Messenger earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team. Messenger finished tied for fourth in defence scoring last season and led all rookies in penalty minutes.
Rush vs. Roughnecks - Season-by-Season Glance
2018
10-6 Rush win (Mark Matthews records seven points including a hat trick)
13-12 OT Rush win (Ben McIntosh scores second of the game 46 seconds into overtime)
2017
14-7 Roughnecks win (Frankie Scigliano compiles 53 saves)
13-10 Rush win (Mark Matthews racks up seven points including five assists)
12-11 OT Rush win (Robert Church and Ben McIntosh each post hat tricks)
15-11 Rush win (Robert Church and Ben McIntosh each collect six points)
2016
*12-9 Rush win (Mark Matthews totals seven points including five assists)
*16-10 Rush win (Ben McIntosh fires in four goals)
11-9 Rush win (Mark Matthews racks up six points including hat trick)
12-11 OT Rush win (Robert Church registers six points including hat trick)
19-12 Rush win (Zack Greer sets club record with seven goals including five in a row)
10-8 Rush win (Robert Church and Mark Matthews both registered two goals and three assists)
*denotes playoff game
2015
*4-1 Rush win (Jeff Cornwall scored series-winning goal with unassisted marker)
*12-9 Roughnecks win (Shawn Evans recorded seven points including three goals)
*10-8 Rush win (Mark Matthews racked up seven points including a hat trick)
11-9 Rush win (Mark Matthews & Robert Church both with five-point games)
9-8 Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson pots four goals including game-winner)
12-11 OT Roughnecks win (Daryl Veltman scores four goals including game-winner in OT)
16-8 Rush win (Mark Matthews registers eight points including hat trick)
*denotes playoff game
2014
*2-1 Roughnecks win (Shawn Evans scores both goals in mini-game clincher)
*15-13 Rush win (Mark Matthews notches hat trick)
*12-11 OT Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson pots four goals plus two assists)
14-13 OT Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson scores seven goals including game-winner)
15-11 Rush win (Curtis Knight records eight-point game including five goals)
15-7 Rush win (Zack Greer notches first-quarter hat trick)
15-8 Rush win (Mark Matthews tallies seven points including four goals)
*denotes playoff game
2013
12-11 OT Roughnecks win (Shawn Evans caps 10-point game with OT winner)
18-13 Rush win (Ryan Ward sets Rush reg. season record with 10 points)
9-8 Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson scores four goals including game-winner)
18-15 Roughnecks win (Jeff Shattler tallies two goals and adds six assists)
2012
*19-11 Rush win (Ryan Ward sets Rush record with 11-point game)
9-6 Roughnecks win (Shawn Evans racks up four goals and two assists)
16-9 Roughnecks win (Shawn Evans pots five goals including penalty shot tally)
13-10 Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson with four goals and three assists)
12-8 Roughnecks win (Curtis Dickson nets hat trick plus two assists)
*denotes playoff game
2011
19-14 Roughnecks win (Jeff Shattler totals nine points with one goal and eight assists)
15-11 Roughnecks win (Dane Dobbie collects three goals and six assists)
12-11 OT Roughnecks win (Mike Scherman pots the game-winner)
12-11 Roughnecks win (Jeff Shattler notches hat trick plus five assists)
2010
*11-7 Rush win (Ryan Ward notches nine points including eight assists)
13-8 Roughnecks win (Josh Sanderson picks up three goals and three assists)
14-13 OT Roughnecks win (Josh Sanderson earns hat trick including game-winner)
14-11 Rush win (Dean Hill notches hat trick and adds one assist)
*denotes playoff game
2009
10-9 OT Roughnecks win (Curt Malawsky notches the game-winner)
22-10 Roughnecks win (Dane Dobbie collects 11 points including seven goals)
14-13 Roughnecks win (Tracey Kelusky racks up eight points including four goals)
2008
11-9 Rush win (Jimmy Quinlan pots four goals plus one assist)
18-7 Roughnecks win (Kaleb Toth registers nine points including four goals)
12-8 Roughnecks win (Curt Malawsky registers four goals and one assist)
2007
13-12 Roughnecks win (Kaleb Toth and Lewis Ratcliff each with four points)
13-12 Rush win (Chris Gill sets club record with six goals)
17-11 Roughnecks win (Tracey Kelusky collects two goals and seven assists)
2006
11-9 Roughnecks win (Lewis Ratcliff scores five goals)
12-9 Roughnecks win (Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky each with seven points)
12-11 Rush win (Pat Campbell earns player of the game with 54 saves)
16-9 Roughnecks win (Lewis Ratcliff notches four goals and two assists)
Saskatchewan Rush (13-4) vs. Calgary Roughnecks (8-9)
7:30PM (CST), April 28th 2018
SaskTel Centre, Saskatoon SK
Watch: NLL TV
Listen: 98 COOL
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 Saskatchewan Rush vs. the Calgary Roughnecks |
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