JJ Seaward, Beat Writer Saskatchewan Rush
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Saskatchewan Rush would return to championship form in front of 15,007 screaming Rush fans as the team raised the 2016 Champion’s Cup banner to the Sasktel Centre rafters. They would go on to defeat the Rochester Knighthawks 16-8 on Saturday night January 21, 2017.
Mark Matthews would set the tone for the Rush as he would finish the game with an 11-point outing (4 goals, 7 assists), and a little bit of help from Ben McIntosh and Robert Church each picking up hat tricks.
The Rush would jump out to a quick lead, as they would quickly score three goals in the first three minutes of the game, one that would include the MVP of the night Mark Matthews driving to the net, and beating the Knighthawks goalie Matt Vinc with a high shot. It would go to 4-1 with McIntosh’s first of the night before the end of the opening frame.
Things would not slow down for the Rush, as they would continue to pour it on in the second quarter putting five goals into the Rochester net. Matthews send a rocket of a pass to McIntosh in front of the net, who would force it into the Hawks net to give the Rush a 5-1 lead. First draft pick Ryan Keenan would get himself on the board extending the Rush lead to 8-2.
Rochester would gather some momentum of their own in the third quarter, as they would cut into the Rush lead a few times during the quarter. However, the Rush would use their special-teams to re-ignite and gain the momentum back. Church would fire a low shot into the net on the power-play, and Rush captain Chris Corbeil would take off on a breakaway and went high with a shot for a shorthanded tally to extend the Rush lead to 11-4. Church would cap off the third quarter to hit the milestone of his 100th career goal. He would grab a pass, stepped back from a defender to create some space, and fired a shot with three seconds remaining in the third to give the Rush the 13-6 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Ryan Dilks, the NLL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, would show off his offensive skills as he would fire a shot past the Hawks goalie to put the Rush up 14-7 early in the fourth quarter. The Rush would finish the night 6-for-8 on the power-play.
McIntosh (3 goals, 3 assists) and Church (3 goals, 2 assists) were key pieces for the Rush offense. The Rush would fire 53 total shots at the Rochester net to dominating them the entire game.
Next week the Rush will look to get back to .500 as they will host the Vancouver Stealth on Friday January 27, 2017.
JJ Seaward, Beat Writer Saskatchewan Rush
Lacrosse is Awesome