Sting Looking For Fifth Straight Win in Edmonton This Weekend
February 8, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The Arizona Sting will be looking to extend their team-record winning streak to five games this weekend as they travel to northern Alberta to take on the Edmonton Rush in a Saturday night contest. The Sting won both of their showdowns with the Rush last season, outscoring the '06 expansion team by a combined score of 28-20 in a home-and-home series last March. The Rush, who finished with a league-worst record of 1-15 last year, made several off-season moves to improve their squad, most notably their acquisition of former Colorado Mammoth forwards Chris Gill and Dan Stroup.
"Edmonton is vastly improved since the last time we played them," says Sting Head Coach/General Manager Bob Hamley. "Their offense is very dangerous and we're definitely not taking this game lightly."
Sting forward Curt Malawsky has registered the game-winning goal in each of Arizona's past three victories, setting a franchise record for most consecutive game-winners in doing so. The 36-year old veteran is currently three game-winning goals short of tying his own NLL record of six in a season, set in 2001 with the Rochester Knighthawks. Curt's younger brother Derek needs a single point on Saturday night to become the 14th member of the NLL's 500 Point Club. The 33-year old is currently averaging over three points-per-game in his first season with the Sting.
Dan Dawson was named NLL Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after registering 6G-3A-9P against the New York Titan in a 16-15 win last Friday at Jobing.com Arena. 'Dangerous' Dan is off to the best start of his career thus far in '07, having amassed 33 points (17G-16) over the course of his first five matches this season. Last year the star forward tallied 26 points (8G-18A) in his first five games, and in 2005 he registered 27 points (16G-10A) in as many contests. He is currently on pace to register 106 points this season, a total that would shatter his own Sting record of 84 (48G-36A) set in 2005.
Sting Goaltender Rob Blasdell remains amongst the league leaders in both G.A.A. (9.80) and save percentage (79.0%), currently ranked second in the NLLin both categories.
Game time on Saturday is set for 7:30pm. Fans can watch the action live by logging onto B2 Networks via www.b2now.com, or by following the link on the left side of the Sting's homepage.
THE MATCH-UP:
Arizona (4-1) @ Edmonton (1-3)
Sting All-Time vs. Rush:
Record: 2-0
Goals For: 28
Goals Against: 20
Top Scorers:
ARZ: Dan Dawson (5GP-17G-16A-33P); Craig Conn (5GP-9G-17A-26P); Curt Malawsky (5GP-8G-9A-17P); Derek Malawsky (5GP-4G-13A-17P); Lindsay Plunkett (5GP-9G-7A-16P)
EDM: Chris Gill (4GP-9G-9A-18P); Jimmy Quinlan (4GP-10G-4A-14P); Dan Stroup (4GP-8G-5A-13P); Randy Daly (4GP-3G-10A-13P); Ryan O'Connor (4GP-2G-7A-9P); Jason Wulder (3GP-2G-7A-9P)
Goaltenders:
ARZ: Rob Blasdell (4-1 record, 300:00 MIN, 9.80 G.A.A., 79.0% save percentage)
EDM: Pat Campbell (1-3 record, 216:21 MIN, 14.42 G.A.A., 73.9% save percentage)
STING FORWARDS VERSUS RUSH (Career):
Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG
Dan Dawson 2 5 7 12 2.5 3.5 6.0
Craig Conn 2 5 6 11 2.5 3.0 5.5
Derek Malawsky 2 3 8 11 1.5 4.0 5.5
Andy Secore 1 0 3 3 0.0 3.0 3.0
Matt Brown 2 2 1 3 1.0 0.5 1.5
Andrew Lazore 2 1 2 3 0.5 1.0 1.5
Curt Malawsky 1 0 1 1 0.0 1.0 1.0
Lindsay Plunkett 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
National Lacrosse League Stories from February 8, 2007
- Sting Looking For Fifth Straight Win in Edmonton This Weekend - Arizona Sting
- When friends become enemies - Calgary Roughnecks
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