FERRIERO'S FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK POWERS RUSH PAST OILERS

SLAPSHOT POSTGAME COVERAGE PRESENTED BY ASSURANT SOLUTIONS

FERRIERO’S FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK POWERS RUSH PAST OILERS

(TULSA, OK) – It was a game of firsts for Rapid City Rush rookie Cody Ferriro, who played in just his third career ECHL game Sunday afternoon against the Tulsa Oilers. The Oilers took the first game of five consecutive matchups, but because of the rookie’s big night, the Rush evened things up. Behind his first career hat trick, completed with 16 seconds left in the game, along with the help of four other multi-point scorers, the Rush blazed past the Oilers 6-3.

For the second night in a row, it was the visiting side that jumped out to a 1-0 lead. 11:02 into the action, Cody Ferriero went coast to coast with the puck and dropped it back for Riley Weselowski, whose shot was initially stopped by Kevin Murdock. The puck bounced loose to J.P. Chabot, who tipped the puck into the open 4’x6’ to give the Rush a 1-0 advantage. The offense and defense was clearly there for the Rush, who outshot the Oilers 12-3, tying a season low for shots allowed by the Rush, accomplished only one other time.

The Oilers wouldn’t go down without a fight, and tied the game in just seconds. 54 seconds into the period, Jon Booras would provide the game-tying goal two nights in a row, sending a puck rolling behind Battochio to even the score at 1-1. Ever since that moment, the Rush went on an offensive rampage, and jumped to a multi-goal lead. With 12:06 left in the second, after the Rush couldn’t capitalize on their second power play of the game, Cody Ferriero took a chipped pass to the blue line and rifled the puck through traffic and past the outstretched glove hand of Murdock to re-established the Rush advantage at 2-1. Exactly 58 seconds later, Daniel Tetrault would rocket a feed from Johan Ryd by Murdock to double the Rush lead to two goals, making the score 3-1, a score that would hold true heading into the third and final period.

Dylan Clarke extended the Rush lead to 4-1 around four and a half minutes in, slamming a rebound past Murdock in front of the net. Despite the big lead, however, the Oilers would come back. Scoring the first of two goals within the span of 3:07 was former Rush forward Matt Larke, who deflected a shot from his captain, Nathan Lutz, past Battochio to halve the score at 4-2. Finishing the rally was Jeff Jubiville from point-blank distance, slamming the puck off of Battochio and over his back to bring the Oilers within striking distance at 4-3. But with less than five minutes to play, Ferriero would strike again, sending a wide open rebound from an Andy Huff shot past Murdock to re-establish the two-goal lead for the Rush at 5-3. With 41 seconds left in the game, the Rush were awarded a power play, and it looked as though Ferriero would just finish with three points on the evening. The rookie proved everyone wrong, and completed his hat trick with just 16 seconds left, burying a rebound off of a shot from Landon Oslanski, ultimately giving the Rush a 6-3 win.

Danny Battochio earns his tenth win of the season in his twenty-seventh appearance, stopping 11 of 14 shots thrown his way (10-13-2). The Rush set a franchise record for lowest shot total allowed in an entire game, allowing only 14 shots to Battochio’s net (the previous record was 18 shots allowed by the Corpus Christi Ice Rays in the team’s inaugural season in the CHL). Ferriero records 4 points, including his hat trick, the first one scored by a Rush player this season. Joining Ferriero as multi-point scorers were Andy Huff, Riley Weselowski, and Johan Ryd (2 assists each), and Dylan Clarke (goal and an assist). The Rush rematch the Oilers on Tuesday, January 6th, with puck drop slated for 6:35 pm. MST at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

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