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Saskatchewan Rush

Rush vs. Swarm Game Notes

January 24, 2019 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Saskatchewan Rush News Release


Saskatchewan Rush (3-1) vs. Georgia Swarm (4-2)

3:05PM | Sunday, January 27, 2019

Infinite Energy Center | Duluth, GA

Watch | B/R Live

Listen | 92.9 The Bull

Official Away Game Party | Shoeless Joe's

The past two NLL champions collide on Sunday with the Saskatchewan Rush on the hunt for a fourth straight win in a showdown against the Georgia Swarm.

After losing their season-opener in New England, the Rush have since come out on top in their past three games including last Saturday's dominant 12-7 victory over the Rochester Knighthawks. Meanwhile, the Swarm started their season with four consecutive wins, including two at home, but they lost back-to-back games last weekend, falling in Toronto and New England.

This will be the only meeting of the season between the Rush and Swarm. The two teams are 3-3 against each other in the last six regular-season meetings, but the Swarm hold an notable edge after beating the Rush in the 2017 league championship series.

The Swarm won Game 1 of the series 18-14 at home, outscoring Saskatchewan 11-5 in the second half. Mark Matthews, Adam Jones, and Jeremy Thompson each had hat tricks for the Rush, Curtis Knight and Robert Church both scored twice and Ryan Keenan added a single. In Game 2, the Rush let a late lead slip away and Miles Thompson scored 1:14 into overtime to give the Swarm a 15-14 win and their first NLL title. Robert Church scored four goals for the Rush with Ben McIntosh and Adam Jones posting hat tricks. Ryan Keenan scored twice with singles going to Jeremy Thompson and Matt Hossack.

Georgia also won the only regular-season meeting against the Rush in 2017, but prior to that, the Rush had won four of the previous five against the Swarm.

Last season, the teams split their games, each winning on the road. The Rush captured a 13-9 win in Georgia, taking the lead with six goals in the third quarter. Robert Church and Jeff Shattler both had hat trick for the Rush, while seven others - Brett Mydske, Jeff Cornwall, Marty Dinsdale, Mark Matthews, Jeremy Thompson, Ben McIntosh, and Matt Hossack - each added a goal.

In the second-to-last regular-season game for the Rush, the Swarm took control early and used that to come away on top 16-10. The two teams combined for 12 goals in the game's fourth quarter. Mike Messenger, Ryan Keenan, Mark Matthews and Jeff Shattler all had a pair of goals for the Rush with singles going to Kyle Rubisch and Robert Church.

The Rush used a five-goal run in the third quarter while holding their opposition off the scoreboard along with five power-play goals to breeze past the Knighthawks last Saturday in Saskatoon. Mark Matthews (3 goals, 4 assists) and Robert Church (2 goals, 5 assists) packed the Rush with seven points each. Ben McIntosh scored back-to-back goals in the Rush's third-quarter spree, while Mike Messenger also had a pair, and Ryan Keenan, Curtis Knight, and Marty Dinsdale both added a goal apiece.

Four-time NLL Defensive Player of the Year Kyle Rubisch added another achievement to his resume last weekend in the Rush's win over Rochester. The nine-year veteran defenceman collected eight loose ball scoops in the game, pushing him over the 1,100 HUMAN VACCUM: mark in regular-season play. Rubisch is the league's single-season record-holder in caused turnovers and a four-time First Team All-Pro.

MEMORY LANE: The Rush hold an all-time regular-season record of 9-8 against the Swarm franchise (Georgia/Minnesota). The teams are 1-1 in playoff encounters with the Swarm winning the 2017 NLL championship series, and the Rush winning the 2012 West Final. That 15-3 victory remains the Rush's largest margin of victory in a playoff game.

Statistically Speaking: With two more goals last weekend, the Rush's Ben McIntosh continues to sit amongst the league-leaders in goals, now sitting fourth with 15. McIntosh and Mark Matthews are tied for 10th in league scoring with 27 points. Matthews is tied for ninth with 18 assists ... The Rush have the league's top-ranked power play at 73.7% (14-for-19). Ben McIntosh is second in the NLL with five power-play goals and Mark Matthews leads the way with nine power-play assists ... Ben McIntosh's 31.9 shooting percentage leads all NLL shooters with more than 10 goals. The Rush as a team are ranked third with an 18.5 shooting percentage ... Saskatchewan's penalty kill is at the bottom, however, at just 45.0% (11 kills in 20 shorthanded situations) ... Georgia has the second-seeded power play at 54.2% (13-for-24) and the Swarm are ranked fifth on penalty kill at 56.0%. The Swarm are tied for the league-lead with four shorthanded goals, two each from Shayne Jackson and Jordan McIntosh ... Saskatchewan's Jeremy Thompson is second in the NLL with 58 loose balls scoops and he is fifth with 61 faceoff wins. The Rush are third as a team on faceoffs at 56.8% ... Rush defenceman Kyle Rubisch is tied for fifth with 10 caused turnovers ... Georgia's Randy Staats is fourth in the league with 34 points and tied for third with 21 assists. His teammate Lyle Thompson is fifth in points with 31 and leads the NLL with 18 goals ... The Swarm's Holden Cattoni is tied for 10th with 27 points and tied for seventh in assists with 19 ... 2018 Playoffs: For the third time in his career, the Rush's Mark Matthews finished on top of NLL playoff scoring with 22 points. He also led all playoff performers with 19 assists and two game-winning goals ... Ben McIntosh of the Rush finished in a tie for third in playoff scoring with 18 points and ended up fourth with 10 assists ... Saskatchewan's Robert Church and Jeff Shattler finished tied for fourth with 15 points, but Shattler's efforts over the final two games of the NLL Cup were what garnered him the Playoff MVP award ... 2018 Regular Season: Rush star Mark Matthews completed the regular season in style as he set a new NLL record for assists in a single season with 84, and captured the league scoring title with 116 points, which also broke his own team record for points in a season. Matthews led the NLL with 33 power-play assists and was tied for the league-lead with three game-winning goals ... The Rush's Robert Church finished second in league scoring with 107 points and tied for second in the league with 47 goals, one up on teammate Ben McIntosh. Church also finished sixth with 60 assists ... Saskatchewan finished the regular season with the top-ranked power play at 67.8% (59-for-87). Robert Church, Ben McIntosh and Ryan Keenan all tied for third in the league with 14 power-play goals, and Church also finished second with 27 power-play assists ... The Rush finished with the fifth-ranked penalty kill at 52.8% with eight shorthanded goals ... Rush goalie Evan Kirk led the league with 12 wins and finished with the second-best goals-against average at 10.82. He also had the fourth-best save-percentage at .777 ... Saskatchewan finished with a league-best 19.9% shooting percentage.

After giving up just seven goals against Rochester last weekend, Rush goalie Evan Kirk leads the NLL with a 10.00 goals-against average and sits fourth with a .796 save-percentage ... Georgia goalie Mike Poulin is third in the NLL with 231 total saves ... The Rush By the Numbers: lead the NLL with an average of 10.25 goals against per game, and are second with 13.25 goals scored per game. The Swarm are sixth in goals scored with an average of 12.00, and are eighth in goals allowed with an average of 11.50 ... The Rush's five power-play goals against Rochester last weekend tied them for the most in a game so far this season ... The Rush's Ben McIntosh is amongst the leaders in NLL Three-Star Award voting with 10 points (2 x First Star). Teammate Mark Matthews has also joined the leaders with six points (1 x First Star, 1 x Third Star) ... The third quarter has been the Rush's best and the Swarm's worst so far this season. The Rush have outscored opponents 13-4 in the third while the Swarm have been outscored by the opposition 19-16 in the third ... The Rush are 3-0 when leading at halftime and 2-0 when they outshoot the opposing team ... Saskatchewan leads the NLL with an average attendance of 13,651 through two home games...2018 Regular Season: Saskatchewan won the NLL's attendance derby with an average of 14,639 - 458 better than Buffalo. The Rush finished the season 6-3 on their home turf ... The Rush led the NLL with 254 goals scored and just 196 goals allowed. Saskatchewan topped the league with 14.11 goals scored per game and 10.89 goals allowed per game. Rochester finished third in both goals scored per game (13.11) and goals allowed per game (11.67) ... The Rush's Mark Matthews, Ryan Keenan and Robert Church all finished the regular season with 18-game assist streaks ... Jeremy Thompson of the Rush finished second in the league with 164 loose balls and fourth in faceoff wins with 234 ... Rush defenceman Kyle Rubisch finished seventh with 25 caused turnovers and 10th with 130 loose balls ... Saskatchewan was the only team in the league with three players in the top 10 of the Three Star Award voting. Robert Church was fifth with 26 points (3 x First Star, 3 x Second Star, 2 x Second Star), Mark Matthews was sixth with 24 points (3 x First Star, 2 x Second Star, 3 x Third Star), and Evan Kirk was eighth with 21 points (3 x First Star, 2 x Second Star) ... The Rush outscored their opposition 62-30 in first-quarter play ... The Rush were 12-2 when leading after the first quarter, 13-1 when leading at halftime, 13-1 when leading after three, and 11-0 when outshooting their opponents.

Rush vs. Swarm - Season-by-Season Glance

2018

16-10 Swarm win (Lyle Thompsons nets five goals)

13-9 Rush win (Robert Church collets six points including hat trick)

2017

*15-14 Swarm OT win (Myles Thompson and Shayne Jackson both with six-point games)

*18-14 Swarm win (Jordan Hall nets five goals and adds three assists)

18-10 Swarm win (Myles & Lyle Thompson combine for 13 points)

*Denotes playoff game

2016

14-8 Rush win (Mark Matthews scored four goals and added four assists for eight points)

2015

16-12 Rush win (Robert Church with a seven-point game including a hat trick)

14-10 Swarm win (Callum Crawford registers eight points including five assists)

2014

14-9 Rush win (Jeremy Thompson scores hat trick plus team record 19 loose balls)

2013

14-8 Rush win (Zack Greer scores hat trick and adds two assists)

13-8 Swarm win (Ryan Benesch racks up seven points including six assists)

2012

*15-3 Rush win (Ryan Ward registers seven-point game including hat trick)

9-8 Rush OT win (Zack Greer notches hat trick)

10-9 Swarm OT win (Ryan Benesch scores game-winner in second-longest NLL game)

*Denotes playoff game

2011

14-13 Rush win (Zack Greer pots five goals including game-winner)

9-8 Swarm win (Ryan Benesch notches five points including four assists)

2010

16-14 Rush win (Ryan Ward scores twice and adds five assists)

13-12 Rush OT win (Brodie Merrill scores three times including game-winner)

2009

9-7 Swarm win (Aaron Wilson scores two goals and added one assist)

2006

7-6 Swarm win (Nick Patterson makes 40 saves in the victory)

Check out the Saskatchewan Rush Statistics

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