SIVAK WINS IT FOR RUSH ON MONDAY

(WEST VALLEY CITY, UT) – Peter Sivak burned his former team with a top-shelf rocket on the power play 27 seconds into the third period to give the Rapid City Rush a 3-1 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Monday afternoon. The win gives the Rush a 3-2-1 record on their six-game road trip.

The Rush struck for the only goal of the first period and carried the lead into the first intermission. With 5:19 left in the first, there was a scrum in the near corner of the Utah zone with both teams battling for the puck. After the puck broke free of the pile, Anthony Collins zipped the puck towards the net, and Rush Captain Riley Weselowski stormed off the blue line, backhanding the puck by Grizzlies goaltender Angus Redmond to put the Rush up 1-0 (Collins and Alex Kromm assisted).

The Rush were on the unlucky side of two penalty calls three seconds apart, including a delay of game call against Josh Elmes despite the fact that puck clearly went off the glass and out of play. Despite protests, the Grizzlies were awarded a five-on-three power play for just shy of two full minutes towards the end of the second, and Austin Ortega cashed in on a shot by Rush net-minder from the left-wing faceoff circle to tie the game at 1-1 with 2:27 left in the 2nd (Kyle Thomas and Ryan Walters assisted). The Rush were then awarded their first of only two power plays of the game at the end of the second, but couldn’t cash in before the end of the period, so the time carried over to the third.

It was 27 seconds into the third period that Peter Sivak stuck the dagger in his former club, and gave the Rush their final lead of the game. After receiving a pass from the back-end, Sivak carried the puck to the left side of the zone and rifled a shot over Redmond’s glove to give the Rush a 2-1 lead (Ian Brady and Gustav Bouramman notched the assists). At the midway point of the third, the Grizzlies thought they scored the tying goal on a one-time shot from the right-wing faceoff circle of the Rush zone. Vay came post-to-post to make the save, yet, despite the fact the puck was in his paraphernalia and way out of the net, the goal lamp went off almost three seconds after the whistle blew. After a conference with the officials, the goal was correctly not awarded, and the Rush maintained their lead. Tyler Deresky put the exclamation point on the scoresheet with his empty-net goal with just tenths of a second left to eventually give the Rush a 3-1 win.

Adam Vay stopped all but one of 37 shots in the effort for his fifth win of the season (5-8-1).

The Rush will greet the Utah Grizzlies in continuation of their four consecutive matchups on Friday, January 19th. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. MST at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

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