CAITO WINS IT FOR RUSH IN A SHOOTOUT

(RAPID CITY, SD) – Rapid City Rush special teams dictated a neck-and-neck game against the Brampton Beast, but it was Matt Caito’s winner in the eighth shootout round that gave the Rush a 3-2 win over the Beast on Friday night.

For a second night in a row, the Rush built an early 2-0 lead over the Beast, and did so on the strength of their power play. With just 2:17 gone by in the first, and on the first Rush power play of the night, Gustav Bouramman notched his first goal as a professional with a one-time blast from the blue line that whizzed by Beast goaltender Andrew D’Agostini, giving the Rush an early 1-0 advantage (Jimmy DeVito and Dante Salituro garnered the helpers). Over two minutes later on the second Rush power play of the night, Kenton Miller hit paydirt to extend the Rush lead. With 4:26 played in the game, Kenton Miller took a centering pass from Evan Jannsen from behind the net, and buried for his team-leading fifth goal, and second in as many nights against Brampton, powering the Rush to a 2-0 advantage (Janssen and Pavel Jenys assisted). Brampton wouldn’t go quietly into the intermission, halving the deficit within the last six minutes of the first. With 5:41 left in the period, the Rush were called for a delayed penalty, and the Beast took advantage of the situation, pulling D’Agostini for an extra skater. Beast captain Brandon Marino was the extra attacker, and fired a shot from the blue line that deflected off of Matt Petgrave by Rush net-minder Steve Michalek to cut the Rush lead to 2-1 heading into the first (Marino and Mike Folkes got the assists).

Both teams skated to a scoreless draw in the second period, but the Rush withstood four power plays in the middle frame, killing each one off (the team would eventually shutdown all 7 Brampton power plays in the game). However, Brampton opened up the third period with a tying goal in the opening moments. With 1:47 gone by in the period, Cory Durocher fired a shot from the far wall of the Rush zone that squeaked by a screened Michalek, tying things at 2-2 (Chris Levielle and Nathan Todd assisted). Both teams couldn’t solve eachother in the remainder of regulation, prompting the first Rush overtime appearance of the season.

The Rush and Beast still couldn’t figure things out in overtime, which then led to a shootout that lasted eight rounds. In the first seven rounds the Rush saw Gustav Bouramman, Peter Sivak, Dante Salituro, Kenton Miller, Evan Janssen, Pavel Jenys, and Jimmy DeVito register unsuccessful chances on D’Agostini, while Brampton’s Nathan Todd, Kevin Dufour, Brandon Marino, Jordan Henry, Reggie Traccitto, Scott Jackli, and Chris Levielle all were unsuccessful as well. In the top of the eighth round, Matt Caito set the home crowd on fire when he rifled a shot over D’Agostini to put the Rush in the driver’s seat for the win. With the game on his stick, Brampton’s Luc-Olivier Blain was denied by Michalek, securing the second point and the win for the Rush with a 3-2 victory over the Beast.

Steve Michalek stopped all but 2 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime, and all 8 shooters in the shootout round to notch the win (2-2-0).

The Rush and Beast will square off in a rubber match tomorrow at Premier Home Mortgage Ice at 7:05 p.m.

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