GAME NOTES: February 22 - Rush at Greenville Swamp Rabbits

(GREENVILLE, S.C.) - The Rapid City Rush, proud affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames, meet the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Thursday night at 5:05 p.m.

The Rush and Rabbits haven't seen each other in almost two years. Rapid City is looking to snap a six-game losing skid while the Swamp Rabbits try to hold the Jacksonville Icemen at bay in a battle for the top of the South.

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RUSH HUNT RABBITS IN SPIRE SHOWDOWN

The Rapid City Rush head back on the road after a five-game homestand to square off with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, the other Spire Holdings ECHL team, in an inter-divisional matchup. Greenville holds a slight all-time edge, as the Rush are 2-3-1 all-time against their sister team. This season the Rush are 9-2-0 in out-of-division play, and will finish their interdivision schedule with six straight games against South Division opponents. The Swamp Rabbits mark the third and final gauntlet in a string of back-to-back-to-back series against top-five teams in the ECHL. 

WE SALUTE YOU, CAPTAIN

Logan Nelson will skate in his 500^th career ECHL game tonight. Nelson, from Rogers, Minn., is the longest-tenured player by ECHL games on the Rush roster. Tonight, Nelson also becomes just the sixth player in all of Rush history (dating back to 2008) to skate in 200 or more games for Rapid City. The soon-to-be father is riding a five-game assist streak in road games entering the series in Greenville this weekend. 

STOPPING THE SLIDE

The Rush are on the longest losing streak of the season at six games. The team is 2-11-0 since the All-Star break. In order to break their last long losing streak, the Rush headed out of town to play a non-divisional team and took two of three from the Maine Mariners. The Rush are seven points out of a playoff spot, trying to track down Utah and Allen for the final postseason spot in the division. 

TOTALLY RADS

Matt Radomsky is the only goaltender in the ECHL with 900 or more saves this season. He has logged the lion’s share of work for the Rush this season with 1,815 minutes played, good for third in the league. Radomsky has seen action in 31 games already this season, just three games shy of the collegiate workload he shouldered at Alaska-Fairbanks last season. With the Nanooks, Radomsky finished 6^th in overall goals-against-average.

FIRING RANGE

To the Rush’s credit, Rapid City outshot their opponents three times in the last five games and tied Idaho in shots on Friday. The Rush have averaged 36.6 shots per game over the span of their last five games. Those last five games came against the top two teams in the Mountain Division, Kansas City and Idaho. 

EXCUSE ME, DO I KNOW YOU?

Only four Rush players are left on the roster from the last time these two teams met in April 2022. Logan Nelson, Brett Gravelle, Tyson Helgesen, and Kenton Helgesen were all dressed for a scoring frenzy that ended in a 7-6 Swamp Rabbit victory in April 2022. Meanwhile, only two Swamp Rabbits were present during the last meeting. Ethan Somoza and Anthony Beauchamp were dressed for the last Greenville win over Rapid City. 

RACKS FOR BILL

Since being claimed off the waiver wire at the beginning of the month, Billy Constantinou has five points in eight games for the Rush. With a goal and four assists, Constantinou has also brought defensive stability as he holds an even plus-minus rating in his eight appearances in the Black Hills.

HAVE A LOOK AT THE ROOKS

Rookie forward Blake Bennett is the only Rush skater to hit 20 goals this season. Bennett, in his first full year out of AIC, scored his 20^th goal of the season on Friday in a 5-4 heartbreaking loss to Idaho. Fellow rookie Simon Boyko now has six goals and two assists in 11 games for the Rush. Boyko was loaned to the Rush by the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen where Boyko had 37 points in 30 games and an active 20-game point streak. 

A FAVORABLE SPLIT?

The Rush avoid playing a Friday game during this series, with Friday being the worst day on the Rush schedule this season (4-12-0). Rapid City is 2-1-0 in Thursday games this year, 7-8-1 on Saturday, and 4-2-0 on Sunday this season.

ROAD WARRIORS

The Rush are just two wins shy of tying last year’s total number of road wins at 13. The Rush won 20 home games last year, to bring their total to 33 victories but fell just shy of a playoff appearance. Rapid City needs 14 wins in their final 23 games to hit the 33 win mark set by last year’s team. Rapid City has 12 home games and 11 road games left entering Thursday’s game in Greenville.

BRINGING THE BLACK HILLS BRIGADE

The Rush have traveled the entirety of the front office staff to Greenville to cheer on the Rush during these pivotal games. The Rush team will have the opportunity to tour the new Spire Motorsports headquarters tomorrow morning. Spire’s NASCAR season opened last weekend, headlined by a top-5 finish from Corey LaJoie in the number 7 car. 

AN EYE ON WHAT’S LEFT

After the stretch of six South Division games that start tonight, here’s what Rapid City has left this season. Six against Utah, three against Idaho, three against Wichita, three against Allen, and two against Kansas City in divisional play. The only road games remaining are the two in Kansas City, three in Utah, and three in Idaho.