RUSH-ED NEWS: February 10th

THIS WEEK:

RAPID CITY RUSH (28-15-0, 56 Pts, 2nd) VS TULSA OILERS (21-22-3, 45 Pts, 8th)

Tuesday, February 11th-7:05 MST

Wednesday, February 12th-7:05 MST

RAPID CITY RUSH @ QUAD CITY MALLARDS (22-11-8, 52 Pts, 5th)

Friday, February 14th-6:05 MST

Saturday, Feburary 15th-6:05 MST

The Rush are FINALLY back home after a two-week road trip, taking on the Tulsa Oilers tomorrow night and Wednesday night. The last time these two teams met was last month, coincidentally on a Tuesday night, as the Rush were handed their second shutout loss of the year in a 3-0 loss. Immediately following Wednesday night’s matchup, the Rush will go back on the road once again, this time to the Quad Cities to take on the Mallards. Four games in five nights, what a week!

WHERE WE LEFT OFF-FAR AWAY FROM HOME:

RAPID CITY RUSH @ DENVER CUTTHROATS

Game 1: Tuesday, February 4th; Rapid City 2, Denver 1 F/SO (RPD: Brown-GWSOG)

-->Losers of three straight to the Arizona Sundogs, the Rush left their second series sweep of the season to play against their archrivals, the Denver Cutthroats. After a scoreless first period, Denver got on the board first, as Steve Kaunisto cashed in on the only Cutthroats power play of the game 35 seconds into the second period to give his team a 1-0 lead. The Rush would tie things up in the third, as Jesse Schultz took a no-look pass from Konrad Reeder and buried the puck in an open 4’x6’ to even the game up. The Rush would miss a chance to end the game at the buzzer, and onto overtime we would go. Two clanked posts by each side and five minutes later, we were still tied, and therefore a shootout would have to determine our victor. Jared Brown would somehow find a way to control an awkwardly bouncing puck at the last second and get around a diving Kent Patterson, scoring on a wide open net to give the Rush the advantage in the shootout. Tim Boron would stop three shots and watch two go by his net, helping the Rush remain perfect in the shootout with a 2-1 win, their sixth straight over the Cutthroats.

Game 2: Friday, February 7th; Denver 3, Rapid City 2 (BOTH: SHG each; RPD: PK-5/5)

-->After two days off, the Rush and Cutthroats were back at it, marking the tenth meeting between both teams this season. This time, the first period would not go without fireworks, as Denver jumped to an early lead for the second time this series. On an odd-man rush, Daniel Amesbury would score and record his first point of the season, giving the Cutthroats a 1-0 lead. The Rush would be awarded a double-minor power play and carry over 1:38 of the back-end into the second period. This wouldn’t phase the Cutthroats, however, as Mikael Tam also recorded his first goal of the season 33 seconds into the period, a shorthanded goal, to extend the Cutthroats lead to 2-0. Lee Moffie would get an odd-man rush of his own and strike, giving Denver a commanding 3-0 lead midway through the game. The Rush were down, but certainly not out, as Scott Wray took advantage of a misplayed puck behind Kent Patterson’s net and swooped in for his own shorthanded goal, putting the Rush on the board entering the third. Down 3-1 with less than two minutes in regulation, Konrad Reeder would put the Rush within one with the help of an extra attacker to make the score 3-2. With 12.2 seconds left, the Rush would execute a perfectly drawn offensive zone draw play, but would be unable to tie the game up, falling to the Cutthroats by a 3-2 score with a rubber match slated for the next night.

Game 3: Saturday, February 8th; Denver 6, Rapid City 4 (RPD: Reeder-2 G; DEN: Schwab-Hat Trick, 4 Pts)

-->The conclusion of this three game set exhibited the quintessential nature of the Denver/Rapid City rivalry: fights, solid physical play, and lots of goals. Building off of his team’s success on the odd-man rush from the night before, Robin Soudek put his team up 1-0 almost five and a half minutes into the game. The Rush would fight back and score their first goal in the first period since their series opener with the Arizona Sundogs and knot the game up at 1-1 moments later, thanks to Konrad Reeder’s power play goal with 12:44 left in the first. The Cutthroats would re-take the lead shortly after, as Troy Schwab scored twice to close out the period, giving the Cutthroats a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. The second period was interesting in the fact that every goal scored by each side was on the man-advantage. Scoring the first power play goal of the period was Denver’s J.P Chabot, extending his team’s lead to 4-1. Quickly countering was Sean Erickson, who’s five-on-three power play goal cut the Rush’s deficit in half to 4-2. The CHL’s leading scorer, Garrett Bembridge, would end the second period with a power play goal of his own, giving the Cutthroats a 5-2 lead heading into the third period. Staring down the barrel of a 3-goal deficit, the Rush would UNLOAD to start the final frame. Within the first 1:52 of the third, Jared Brown would strike and Konrad Reeder would score his second of the evening, making it a 5-4 one goal game with virtually an entire period to be played. Despite out-shooting Denver 17-1 at one point in the third, the Rush were unable to tie the game, and Troy Schwab would complete his hat-trick with an empty-netter, en route to a 6-4 Cutthroats win.

NUMBER CRUNCH: The Week That Was

· 3 – the number of power plays between both clubs on Tuesday night. For a rivalry series that is usually filled with penalty minutes, both teams managed to only record 16 combined penalty minutes. Denver capitalized on their only man-advantage of the evening.

· 1 – the number of Rush wins in their six-game road trip. Their only win came on Tuesday night in their 2-1 shootout victory over Denver.

· 5 – the number of shootout wins for the Rush this year. This is the third time Tuesday night has come in this segment, but the Rush are a perfect 5-0 when going to the shootout. They have only played in one game decided by overtime this year, a win against Brampton in their fourth game of the season.

· +29 – the shot differential in favor of the Rush in the second and third period of both Friday and Saturday’s games.

· 1 (again) – the number of hat-tricks surrendered by the Rush this year. It took 43 games for someone to hit the goal column of the scoresheet three times against the Rush, but Troy Schwab of Denver accomplished the feat on Saturday with his 190-foot empty-net goal.

RUSH TO THE TOP

League Leaders for the Rush (min Top-5 in a category)

· Tim Boron (Goaltending)- T-4th in GP (31), T-2nd in Wins (20), 3rd in GAA (2.50), 4th in Save Percentage (.937).

· Konrad Reeder – 5th in league scoring (60 pts), 2nd in goals (28), +/- (+35), and shots (179), T-2nd in GWG (6)

· Jesse Schultz – 3rd in league scoring (62 pts), assists (48), 1st in +/- (+37) holds league-high for point streak at 15 games (7-19-26), 4th in GWG (5)

· Winston Day Chief-T-5th in goals (21) and +/- (+19)

· Justin Sawyer-2nd in PIM (128)

· Sean Erickson-T-2nd amongst defensemen in points (33), T-3rd in assists (24)

CURRENT IR STATUS

· Scott Brannon – 7-Day IR

· Tristin Llewellyn – 30-Day IR (Concussion)