RUSH vs STEELHEADS - 11/2

GAME NOTES

Rapid City Rush vs. Idaho Steelheads

Regular Season Game #9-November 2, 2016

Where We Left Off: 3 out of 6 – Nathan Moon tied the game with 14.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, but it was the Alaska Aces that came out with the crucial second point in the extra session, defeating the Rapid City Rush in the rubber match of their three-game series by a 5-4 score in overtime on Sunday afternoon. Alaska opened up the rubber match of this weekend’s series with an early strike, setting the tempo for an offensively potent frame. Ryan Trenz scored his first of the season when Stephen Perfetto won a faceoff in the Rush zone to the back-end. Dax Lauwers teed Trenze up for a one-timer that beat Rush net-minder Kent Patterson to put the Aces up 1-0 with 2:35 gone by in the game (Lauwers and Perfetto assisted). Moments later, Brayden Low evened the score up when Hunter Fejes sprung him on a breakaway on a neutral zone turnover. Low squeaked the puck through the five-hole of Michael Garteig, Aces goaltender, and squared the game at 1-1 with 5:23 gone by in the first (Fejes earned the lone assist). Exactly 17 seconds following the tying marker, Tim Wallace put the Aces back on top with a sharp-angle wrist shot from the far faceoff circle in the Rush zone, beating Patterson to re-establish the Aces lead at 2-1 with 5:40 gone by in the opening period (Nolan Descoteaux and Tim Coffman earned the assists). Ryan Misiak squared the game up once again when he flipped the puck by Garteig on a turnover in the Aces zone, evening the score at 2-2 with 7:42 left in the period (Nick Miglio registered the lone helper). Rounding out the five goals scored between the two Mountain Division foes was Stephen Perfetto, who fired a slap shot by Patterson just over the Rush blue line with 1:10 left in the period to give the Aces a 3-2 lead heading into the second (Marc-Andre Levesque and Mackenzie Stewart assisted). Alaska notched the only second period goal, doubling their lead in doing so. With 7:13 played in the middle act of the performance, Ben Lake received the puck in the far corner of the zone and waltzed towards the Rush net. Lake stuffed the puck by Patterson to extend the Aces lead to 4-2 (Garet Hunt and Charlie Sampair assisted, with the latter recording his first professional point with the helper). It was a frenzied finish for the Rush, who managed to even things up very late in the game. With Patterson pulled from his net for an extra attacker, Ryan Misiak found Ryan Walters in the low slot, and he fired it by Garteig to bring the Rush within striking distance at 4-3 with 1:19 left in regulation (Misiak earned his second point with an assist, while Brenden Walker earned his first). Soon after, the Rush came up in dramatic fashion to extend the game into overtime. With 14.4 seconds left, a Ryan Walters cross-ice pass from the far wall was deflected right to Nathan Moon. He had an open 4’x6’ net and buried the game-tying goal, squaring the game up at 4-4, and forcing overtime (Walters and Lindsay Sparks had the assists). Overtime didn’t last long, and it was the Aces that came out with the second point in quick fashion. Just 16 seconds into free hockey, Stephen Perfetto was the beneficiary of a turnover and passed to Peter Sivak, who rifled the game winner by Patterson to give the Aces the 5-4 overtime win.

Catching Up – After starting the season 0-6, the Rush have started to find their groove. In their last pair of games against the Aces, the Rush took 3 out of 4 points, earning their first win of the season in the process.

Baker’s Dozen – Tonight’s matchup signifies the first of 13 head-to-head meetings with the Mountain Division rival Idaho Steelheads. Last season, meeting for the first time ever, the Rush split right down the middle in 12 matchups.

Flavor…I Mean PLAYER of the Week! – Just as soon as we were running out of things to say about the dynamic Lindsay Sparks, he feeds us with more gold to give him a meaningful segment in the Game Notes. Yesterday, it was announced that Sparks earned ECHL Player of the Week honors, and rightfully so, managing to snag 9 points (4g-5ast) in 4 games last week against Colorado and the Alaska. Along with his honors, Sparks is the ECHL’s leading scorer with 14 points, marking the first time that a Rush player has topped ECHL scoring, riding an 8-game point streak in the process.

Low Key – Entering this season, Brayden Low didn’t have any professional games, and subsequently zero professional points. Last week, Low played in his first four pro games, and came out with 3 goals, his last 2 of which have come in back-to-back games.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING! – Only two players come into tonight’s showdown with the Steelheads with statistical streaks on the line:

· Lindsay Sparks – has assists in his last four games and points in his last eight (7g-7a-14pts)

· Ryan Walters – has assists and points in his last four games (3g-5ast-8pts)