WHAT'S THE RUSH? - Week of 11/2/15

Rush Stat Leaders

· Goals – Winston Day Chief and Dan O’Donoghue - 4

· Assists – Zach Cohen – 5

· Points – Winston Day Chief – 7

· Plus/Minus – Dan O’Donoghue – +5

· PIM – Jimmy Bonneau – 38

The Upcoming Week

RAPID CITY RUSH (4-3-0-0, 8 Pts-2nd West Division) VS ALLEN AMERICANS (5-2-0-0, 10 Pts-2nd Central Division)

Friday November 6th, 7:05 p.m. MST at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Saturday November 7th, 7:05 p.m. MST at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

The Week That Was

---October 28th- COLORADO EAGLES 4, RAPID CITY RUSH-0

(RC:1st Shutout Loss of Season); (COL: DeSerres-19 SV Shutout)

Darryl Bootland scored 53 seconds into the game for the Eagles, celebrating Military Appreciation night, to get the ball rolling for their first win of the season. Rookie netminder Jacob DeSerres held on to stop all 19 shots thrown towards his net for both his first pro win and his first pro shutout. The Eagles are now on the board in the Crystal Cup Rivalry Series, but trail by a 4-2 point total to the Rush. Their next meeting is December 26th in Loveland.

---October 30th- ALASKA ACES-4, RAPID CITY RUSH-1

(RC: Pommells-PPG); (AK: Perfetto-2 G; Redmann-26 Sv)

Alaska came out flying in their first-ever matchup against the Rush, building a 1-0 lead on 16 shots in the first period of the contest. Another two goals in the early stages of the second afforded the Aces a 3-0 lead before Rush rookie Spencer Pommells ended the scoreless streak of 73:44 of game time with a power play goal with 7:58 to go in the middle frame. Alaska added an empty-netter with 20.5 seconds left in the game to win their third straight, 4-1.

---October 31st- RAPID CITY RUSH-5, ALASKA ACES-1

(RC: O’Donoghue-G, PPG; Day Chief-G, Ast; Cohen-2 Ast; Battochio-32 Sv)

It was a “Monster Mash” on Halloween, as the Rush surged in the second period after a scoreless opening frame. Dan O’Donoghue scored his first of two on the first Rush power play of the game, starting a three-goal barrage in the last 13 minutes of the second, which was followed by Taylor Doherty’s shorthanded goal, and then ended with Spencer Pommells’ third goal in his last four games. After the Rush surrendered an Alaska goal late in the second, Winston Day Chief batted home a rebound, followed by O’Donoghue’s second of the night to give the Rush a 5-1 win, splitting the series with the Aces and moving back to an over .500 record.

Notes and Numbers

Pommells Horse – Coach Ferras stresses constantly that this team needs to “score by committee” to win, and score by committee they did, especially on Saturday night. Carrying this torch is rookie forward Spencer Pommells, whose power play goal on Friday and second period snipe on Saturday gave him 3 goals on the season, all in his last four games. Pommells is just behind Winston Day Chief and Dan O’Donoghue for the goal-scoring lead on the Rush roster through 7 games this season.

7-7-7 – Looks like a good slots result in Vegas right? Well it just so happens to also represent the scoring pace of Rush Captain Winston Day Chief (#7). In his fourth season in the Black Hills, and second in the ECHL, Day Chief is continuing to assert his dominance on the ice, maintaining a point-per-game pace in the early stages of this season with 7 points in 7 games. All-time in his ECHL career, the Standoff, Alberta, native has 42 points (18 G, 24 Ast) in 43 games played.

I’m BATMAN – Rush netminder Danny Battochio is enjoying an amazing start to his second season in the ECHL. For the first time in his seven-year career, “Batman” as he is affectionately called in Rapid City started 3-0-0 in his first three starts, and improved to 4-1-0 on the season with his 32-save performance on Saturday against the Aces in a 5-1 win. Dating back to March of last season, and including his stellar playoff run, Battochio is 20-10-2 with a .913 SV% and a 2.49 GAA.