Western Division Final: Game 1 Rush vs. Roughnecks
Published on May 11, 2015 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton Rush vs. Calgary Roughnecks
(Edmonton Rush)
For the second year in a row and the fourth time in franchise history, the Edmonton Rush will meet the arch-rival Calgary Roughnecks in the NLL playoffs.
The Rush, who enter the drive for the Champion's Cup playoffs riding a four-game winning streak and winners of nine of their last 10 regular-season games, will host Game 1 of the two-game West Final on Friday night on Crystal Glass Field at Northlands. Game 2 of the series will go on Saturday, May 23 in Calgary. If the two teams are tied with a win apiece, a 10-minute mini-game will follow to determine the series winner and which team advances to the Champion's Cup Final.
The West winner faces the East Division winner which is a showdown between the Toronto Rock and Rochester Knighthawks.
By virtue of finishing atop the West Division during the regular season with a 13-5 record, the Rush had a bye last week, while the Roughnecks, who ended the regular season with a 7-11 mark, eliminated the Colorado Mammoth in the West Semifinal with an 11-6 victory in Denver this past Saturday.
The mini-game did in the Rush a year ago in the West Final after they evened the series with a win each, taking Game 2 by a 15-13 score after the Roughnecks had edged the Rush 12-11 in overtime in Game 1. Calgary won the West with a 2-1 verdict in the mini-game, and advanced to the Champion's Cup where they were topped by the now three-time defending league champion Knighthawks.
Until last season, the Rush held a distinctive edge in playoff meetings against the Roughnecks. In both 2012 and 2010, the Rush defeated the heavily favored Roughnecks in West Division Semifinals clashes, and both victories came in Calgary. In 2012, Ryan Ward set a club record with an 11-point game as the Rush stomped the Roughnecks 19-11. The Rush then went on to the West Final and blasted Minnesota to earn their first trip to the Champion's Cup, but Rochester eked out a come-from-behind, home-turf decision to take the championship. Two years earlier, it was a standout performance by goaltender Matt Disher that led Edmonton to an 11-7 victory. That win moved the Rush to the West Final where they lost in overtime to the Washington Stealth.
The Rush and Roughnecks met four times during the 2015 regular season, each team taking one win at home and one on the road.
Calgary's last win came at the start of a home-and-home weekend series on Friday, April 10th as the Roughnecks held on for a 9-8 win despite the Rush's five-goal outburst in the fourth quarter. Ben McIntosh led the Rush with a hat trick, Mark Matthews scored twice, and Robert Church, Adrian Sorichetti, and Zack Greer rounded out Edmonton's scoring.
Edmonton's 11-9 win one night later came with Robert Church (2 goals, 3 assists) and Mark Matthews (3 goals, 2 assists) each turning in a five-point effort, and 33 saves coming from Rush goalie Aaron Bold. Zack Greer and Ben McIntosh both scored twice for the Rush with Matthew Dinsdale and Chris Corbeil adding singles.
After an 0-2 start to the 2015 campaign, the Rush picked up their first win of the season with a 16-8 trouncing of Roughnecks in Calgary back on January 24th. An eight-point game from Mark Matthews (3 goals, 5 assists) paced Edmonton to the victory as they outscored Calgary 8-2 in the second half. Riley Loewen and Jarrett Davis both had hat tricks in the win while Robert Church, Zack Greer, and Ben McIntosh each scored a pair for Edmonton, and Cory Conway added a single goal.
Calgary bounced back to equal the season series by eking out a 12-11 overtime win on March 8th marking the second straight weekend the Rush had lost at home in OT. Daryl Veltman capped a four-goal game with the game-winner for Calgary against Rush goalie Aaron Bold who finished with 36 saves. Zack Greer and Robert Church both had hat tricks for the Rush, while Mark Matthews racked seven points (2 goals, 5 assists). Also scoring for Edmonton were Riley Loewen, Jarrett Davis and Ben McIntosh.
The Rush are 10-26 all-time in regular-season meetings against the Roughnecks, but Edmonton captured the season series for the first time in franchise history just last year by winning three of four games.
Rush vs. Roughnecks - Season-by-Season Glance
2015
11-9 Rush win at Edmonton (Mark Matthews & Robert Church both with five-point games)
9-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson pots four goals including game-winner)
12-11 OT Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Daryl Veltman scores four goals including game-winner in OT)
16-8 Rush win at Calgary (Mark Matthews registers eight points including hat trick)
2014
*2-1 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Shawn Evans scores both goals in mini-game clincher)
*15-13 Rush win at Edmonton (Mark Matthews notches hat trick)
*12-11 OT Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson pots four goals plus two assists)
14-13 OT Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curtis Dickson scores seven goals including game-winner)
15-11 Rush win at Calgary (Curtis Knight records eight-point game including five goals)
15-7 Rush win at Calgary (Zack Greer notches first-quarter hat trick)
15-8 Rush win at Edmonton (Mark Matthews tallies seven points including four goals)
2013
12-11 OT Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Shawn Evans caps 10-point game with OT winner)
18-13 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward sets Rush reg. season record with 10 points)
9-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson scores four goals including game-winner)
18-15 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Jeff Shattler tallies two goals and adds six assists)
2012
*19-11 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward sets Rush record with 11-point game)
9-6 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Shawn Evans racks up four goals and two assists)
16-9 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Shawn Evans pots five goals including penalty shot tally)
13-10 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curtis Dickson with four goals and three assists)
12-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Curtis Dickson nets hat trick plus two assists)
*denotes playoff game
2011
19-14 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Jeff Shattler totals nine points with one goal and eight assists)
15-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Dane Dobbie collects three goals and six assists)
12-11 Roughnecks OT win at Calgary (Mike Scherman pots the game-winner)
12-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Jeff Shattler notches hat trick plus five assists)
2010
*11-7 Rush win at Calgary (Ryan Ward notches nine points including eight assists)
13-8 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Josh Sanderson picks up three goals and three assists)
14-13 Roughnecks OT win at Edmonton (Josh Sanderson earns hat trick including game-winner)
14-11 Rush win at Edmonton (Dean Hill notches hat trick and adds one assist)
*denotes playoff game
2009
10-9 Roughnecks OT win at Calgary (Curt Malawsky notches the game-winner)
22-10 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Dane Dobbie collects 11 points including seven goals)
14-13 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Tracey Kelusky racks up eight points including four goals)
2008
11-9 Rush win at Edmonton (Jimmy Quinlan pots four goals plus one assist)
18-7 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Kaleb Toth registers nine points including four goals)
12-8 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Curt Malawsky registers four goals and one assist)
2007
13-12 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Kaleb Toth and Lewis Ratcliff each with four points)
13-12 Rush win at Calgary (Chris Gill sets club record with six goals)
17-11 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Tracey Kelusky collects two goals and seven assists)
2006
11-9 Roughnecks win at Calgary (Lewis Ratcliff scores five goals)
12-9 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky each with seven points)
12-11 Rush win at Calgary (Pat Campbell earns player of the game with 54 saves)
16-9 Roughnecks win at Edmonton (Lewis Ratcliff notches four goals and two assists)
Rush Scoring Leaders vs. Roughnecks in 2015 regular season
Mark Matthews "" 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists)
Robert Church "" 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists)
Ben McIntosh "" 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists)
Zack Greer "" 16 points (8 goals, 8 assists)
Rush PP "" 10-for-30 (30.0%)
Roughnecks PP "" 8-for-15 (53.3%)
On the Mark: The two top scorers in the NLL this season will go head-to-head in the West Final. Calgary's Shawn Evans led the NLL and established a new league single-season record with 130 points. At number two in points was the Rush's Mark Matthews, who broke all the club's single-season scoring records by reaching 53 goals (2nd in the NLL) and 62 assists (T-4th in the NLL) for 115 points. Matthews' numbers earned him just eighth spot in the league's prestigious 50/100 club (50 goals and 100 points in a single season), and the Rush superstar captured top spot in the league's Three-Star Voting, notching 37 total points (4 x First Star, 5 x Second Star, 2 x Third Star), which was seven points in front of Evans.
Matthews vs. Evans
Matthews Evans
Goals 53 (2nd in NLL) 47 (6th in NLL)
Assists 62 (T-4th in NLL) 83 (1st in NLL)
Points 115 (2nd in NLL) 130 (1st in NLL)
PP Assists 23 (T-3rd in NLL) 31 (1st in NLL)
SH Goals 2 (T-10th in NLL) 5 (1st in NLL)
But Matthews and Evans aren't the only comparables in the Rush vs. Roughnecks clash:
*Edmonton's Robert Church set career-highs during the regular season including 92 points which put him 10th in the NLL and just one point behind notable Calgary standout Curtis Dickson.
*The Rush's Rookie of the Year candidate Ben McIntosh and sniper Zack Greer both cracked the league's top-20 in scoring. McIntosh, the first overall pick in the 2014 Entry Draft, was tied for 14th with 86 points, while Greer was 18th with 80 points including 44 goals. Calgary's Dane Dobbie wound up 24th in league scoring with 67 points.
Statistically Speaking: The Rush finished first in the league with a goals-per-game average of 13.39. They also had the second-best goals-against-per-game average at 9.83 ... The Rush led the league with 241 total goals and surrendered the second-fewest at just 177. Calgary scored 212 (tied for second in the West) and gave up 217 (fifth-most in the NLL) ... Rush goalie Aaron Bold finished the regular season leading the NLL in goals-against average (9.44), wins (12), and minutes played (1,016), and was also fourth in total saves (565) and fifth in save-percentage (.779) ... Calgary boasted the best special teams in the NLL this season, ranking first on the power play (55.3%) and first on the penalty kill (64.4). The Rush had the fifth-best power play (46.6%) and the league's third-ranked penalty kill (62.7%) ... The Roughnecks averaged 20.0 penalty minutes per game, the fourth-most in the league, and had the second-most minor penalties with 130. The Rush had the second-lowest penalty minutes per game at 14.17 and had just 105 minor penalties ... Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson finished third in the regular season with 181 loose balls. Thompson also posted 246 faceoff wins, the third-most in the league and just 10 behind Calgary's Geoff Snider.
By the Numbers: The Rush were dominant when holding a lead this season. They were 10-2 when leading after the first quarter, 9-1 when leading at halftime, and 11-2 when leading after three quarters ... First and third quarters were Edmonton's best during the regular season. The Rush outscored their opposition 55-34 in first-quarter action, and even more impressively by a 70-41 count in third-quarter play ... The Rush were 12-4 when they outshot their opponents ... The Rush placed five defenders in the top-10 in caused turnovers. Kyle Rubisch, the league record-holder, finished second with 36, just three ahead of teammate Ryan Dilks in third. Chris Corbeil finished tied for fourth with former Rush captain Brodie Merrill (32), Nik Bilic wound up seventh (29), and John Lintz was tied for eighth (28) ... Rush captain Chris Corbeil finished fifth in scoring amongst NLL defenders with 18 points, and he was also fifth in goals with seven. Corbeil scored a pair of shorthanded goals during the season ... Rush defenders Ryan Dilks and Nik Bilic were two only three NLL defenders to score a power-play goal this season ... With John Lafontaine's goal in the regular-season finale against Colorado, every runner on the Rush who played two or more games scored during the season. Rookie Matt MacGrotty played in just one game and picked up one assist. Rush goalie Aaron Bold picked up six assists during the regular season, and his backup Tyler Carlson notched three helpers.
Images from this story
 Edmonton Rush vs. Calgary Roughnecks |
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