Sting looking for fifth win of season Sunday
February 16, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The Arizona Sting will be looking to win their second and final match of the season against the Edmonton Rush this weekend when they take on their West Division rivals at Jobing.com Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Rush earned an 11-9 victory over the Sting last Saturday at Rexall Place in Edmonton, overcoming an early 4-0 deficit to register their first win over Arizona in their brief history. Rush goaltender Curtis Palidwor, who made 42 saves on 47 shots in a relief appearance on Saturday, was named NLL Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday in recognition of his outstanding play against the Sting last week.
"Curtis was excellent in net for the Rush last week," said Sting Assistant Coach Bob McMahon in a press conference on Wednesday. "We'll have to focus on continuing to be aggressive in front of Edmonton's net and try to get better quality scoring chances against them this week in order to be successful."
Thanks to a 10-7 victory by the Philadelphia Wings over the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday night at Pengrowth Saddledome, Arizona remains in second place in the NLL's West Division with a record of 4-2. The Rush, by virtue of their upset victory over the Sting, now find themselves in a playoff position for the first time in franchise history, currently possessing a 2-3 record - good for fourth place in the West.
"Edmonton is a much improved team compared to last year," said McMahon. "They did a good job of not allowing us to play our game last week by running some different defensive schemes against us, and we know they'll be well prepared for Sunday's rematch."
Edmonton Head Coach/General Manager Paul Day is anticipating a hard-fought contest on Saturday night between the Sting and Rush. The two combatants are currently ranked first and second in the West Division in terms of goals allowed so far this season. The Sting have surrendered a league-best 60 goals while the Rush have had 66 goals scored against them thus far in 2007.
"We were very fortunate to have capitalized on the few scoring chances we had against the Sting last week," said Day. "Their defense is the best I've seen in a long time. They have good speed, play very tight together, and do a great job of keeping opposing shooters on the outside. I think we'll see another low scoring game on Sunday."
Sting forward Dan Dawson, who tallied 4G-2A-6P against Edmonton last week, is currently ranked second in the NLL in goals scored with 21. The star forward is currently on pace to register 56 goals this season, a mark that would eclipse his previous high of 48, which is a franchise record.
Arizona goaltender Rob Blasdell remains near the top of the NLL's goaltending leaders, currently possessing a G.A.A. of 10.03 - good for second place in the league behind Philadelphia Wings net minder Matt Roik.
Game time on Sunday is set for 1:00pm. The game will be shown live on Cox 7 in addition to B2 Networks. Admission is free to children age 14 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket. For ticket information, please call 623-842-GOAL.
THE MATCHUP:
Edmonton (2-3) at Arizona (4-2)
Sting all-time versus Rush: Record: 2-1
Goals For: 37
Goals Against: 31
TOP SCORERS:
EDM: Chris Gill (5GP-10G-9A-19P); Randy Daly (5GP-4G-14A-18); Dan Stroup (5GP-10G-7A-17P); Jimmy Quinlan (5GP-11G-5A-16P); Ryan O'Connor (5GP-3G-10A-13P)
ARZ: Dan Dawson (6GP-21G-18A-39P); Craig Conn (6GP-9G-20A-29P); Derek Malawsky (6GP-5G-16A-21P); Lindsay Plunkett (6GP-12G-7A-19P); Curt Malawsky (6GP-8G-9A-17P)
GOALTENDERS:
EDM: Curtis Palidwor (2-1 record, 13.44 G.A.A., 76.8% save percentage with New York/Edmonton this season); Pat Campbell (1-3 record, 15.23 G.A.A., 72.4% save percentage)
ARZ: Rob Blasdell (4-2 record, 10.03 G.A.A., 78.1% save percentage)
STING FORWARDS VERSUS RUSH (Career):
Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG
Dan Dawson 3 9 9 18 3.0 3.0 6.0
Derek Malawsky 3 4 11 15 1.33 3.67 5.0
Craig Conn 3 5 9 14 1.67 3.0 4.67
Lindsay Plunkett 1 3 0 3 3.0 0.0 3.0
Andy Secore 2 1 3 3 0.5 1.5 2.0
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 2 0 1 1 0 0.5 0.5
• Discuss this story on the National Lacrosse League message board...
National Lacrosse League Stories from February 16, 2007
- NLL Hall of Fame inducts 2007 class - NLL
- Jax TV broadcast cancelled tomorrow - Portland Lumberjax
- Sting looking for fifth win of season Sunday - Arizona Sting
- Mammoth can avenge loss to Calgary on Sunday - Colorado Mammoth
- Philadelphia To Host 2007 NLL Hall of Fame Induction - Philadelphia Wings
- Portland falls to NLL champs, 10-8 - Portland Lumberjax
- Mammoth tops LumberJax 10-8 - Colorado Mammoth
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
