Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Mike Kirschbaum
The Saskatchewan Rush (1-2) headed to Michelob Ultra Arena on Friday December 15, 2023, to take on the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. The Rush have quite a few new players on the roster after multiple pre-season trades of some of their veterans. Zach Manns was picked in a trade with the Toronto Rock sending Mark Matthews to the Rock and this trade has paid off so far. The Rush would score on their first shot and didn’t look back. They would completely dominate the game from start to finish. Frank Scigliano (42 SOG; 37 Saves; 5 GA) played his best game so far for his new team while Landon Kells (49 SOG; 31 Saves; 15 GA) definitely didn’t play up to his potential. Final Score: Rush 17—Desert Dogs 5.
The Dogs would win the opening draw but couldn’t maintain possession and Zach Manns (4g, 1a) would fire an overhand shot to the low corner stick side only 46 seconds in and the Rush would see their first shot on goal become the first goal of the game 1-0. The next goal took a while to find twine. The teams would go up and down the floor for almost seven minutes before the Rush hit net again. Robert Church (4g, 3a) with the off-ball cut, bounced a shot five-hole with 7:50 to go in the first 2-0. A couple minutes later, Church, with another off-ball cut on the backside dunked it far side with 5:14 to go giving them a three-goal lead. At this point, Saskatchewan was finding their lanes through the defense and Las Vegas couldn’t stop their powerful offense. Casey Jackson (2g) would tally the lone goal for the Desert Dogs in the first. He teamed up with Rob Hellyer who fed the ball to Jackson and his submarine shot hit top pipe, left post and dropped into the twine with 3:41 to go 3-1 still in favor of the Rush. The Dogs would get hit with a delay of game penalty with 2:33 on the ticker and Saskatchewan took advantage. Ryan Keenan set a nice pick and Church sprung himself free and fired an overhand laser top corner 16 seconds into the man up to put them up with a power-play marker with 2:17 to go. This started a five-goal run for the visitors. The Rush would then go man down with 1:53 left and on a turnover by Vegas, Jack Boudreau on the fast break would feed to Mike Messenger (1g) and he’d score on the two-on-one with 1:01 remaining in the first scoring a short-handed tally. At that point, Shawn Williams, the Desert Dogs bench boss, would pull Kells and go with Joel Watson in between the pipes. This was his first appearance for the Dogs this season and he’d keep the Rush out of the net for the remainder of the frame. Score at the end of one: Rush 5—Desert Dogs 1.
At this point, Saskatchewan had a commanding lead in SOG 15-8; LB were fairly close with Saskatchewan leading 15-13; and Las Vegas would dominate at the face-off dot 5-7.
Fans would see the Rush outscore the Desert Dogs once again in the second quarter. Only 1:08 in, Patrick Dodds (7a) would spin around on the doorstep, feed across the crease to Clark Walter (2g, 2a) and he dunked it near side 6-1 Rush. Manns would score his second of four off a cross field feed from Church, and he went through the wickets at 2:30 and it was 7-1. That caused another goalie change for Vegas. Watson was out and Kells was back in. Then all hell broke loose with 6:52 left in the half. John Wagner of Vegas got hit with a five-minute major for cross checking and Mike Messenger would fire right back with a cross check of his own sending him to the sin bin for two. This meant the teams would go four-on-four for two minutes and five-on-four with Saskatchewan for the last three. Sean Westley would fire a cross crease pass to Jackson on the doorstep and with just 2 seconds left on the four-on-four, he’d dunk it near side for a power-play tally with 4:53 left in the half. The five-on-four man up opportunity was still in play for the Rush, and they’d find twine. Dodds would get the pass on the crease and get Kells to slide left, pass to Walker who was parked on the back door, and he used a quick stick short side for his power-play tally to close out the frame with 3:04 left. Both goalies would hold tough for the remainder of the half with neither allowing a goal. Score at the end of two: Rush 9—Desert Dogs 2.
Halftime Stats:
Rush—SOG 28; FO 2-13; PP 3-5; Saves 15; LB 28; TO 11
Desert Dogs—SOG 17; FO 11-13; Saves 19; LB 19; TO 22
The Desert Dogs would control the third outscoring the Rush 3-2. Manns would get it going quickly once again. With only 1:20 off the ticker, Manns from out in front let an underhand shot rip and he found twine for his hat-trick 10-2 Rush. Las Vegas continued to make bad shots and have been rushed for much of the game. Saskatchewan would go man down 2:08 into the third and would score their second short-handed goal in the game. At this point in the season, they have put up 7 short-handed goals more than any other team in the league. Keenan would make his way to the net and bounced one in 39 seconds into the power-play to make it 11-2 Rush. The last 12 minutes of the third were all Dogs. They’d go man up and with 41 seconds left in the power-play, Zack Greer (1g) would come through the middle of the field off ball, hard fake on Scigliano opening up the net and he fired it in at the 3:31 mark. Less than two minutes later, they’d go man up again. The next goal was quite fancy. Hellyer would send a BTB pass to Jack Hannah (2a), and he sent a BTB pass to Westley on the door step and he went five-hole with 5:27 left in the third for back-to-back power play markers and it was 11-4. With 6:02 left on the timer, Dylan Watson (1g) would get his own rebound and fired a low sidearm shot under the stick to put up the final tally in the quarter. Kells would probably play his best for the last minutes and would not allow another marker to go on the board. Score at the end of three: Rush 11—Desert Dogs 5.
It got ugly in the fourth and Saskatchewan would shut out the Desert Dogs and put up another six. Nathaniel Kozevnikov (3g) off a pick and roll two-man game, fired it low from out in front 3:08 in and it was 12-5. Cameron Wengreniuk (2g) fired a bullet short side top corner for his first career goal as a Rush player at 5:33 to make it 13-5. Next up was Manns from out in front stepping and fired high-to-low far side with 6:56 on the timer 14-5 Rush. The next tally was a fluke. Wengreniuk overpowered Kells with a rocket and as Kells came up, the ball popped loose and rolled into the back of the net to make it 15-5 and a long four plus minutes that the Desert Dogs couldn’t wait to be over. With 2:04 in the game, Kozevnikov on the run fired it top corner 16-5 Rush; and he’d cap it off with a penalty shot with 44.3 in the contest faking right-left-right getting Kells to go the wrong way for his hat-trick to seal the deal. Final Score: Rush 17—Desert Dogs 5.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Saskatchewan Rush—Robert Church 4g, 3a
Saskatchewan Rush—Zach Manns 4g, 1a
Saskatchewan Rush—Ryan Keenan 1g, 9a
FINAL STATS:
Las Vegas Desert Dogs—SOG 42; Saves 32; Sv% .653%; FO 21-26; PP 2-4
Saskatchewan Rush—SOG 49; Saves 37; Sv% .881%; FO 5-26; PP 5-9
NEXT UP:
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs (1-2) have two weeks off and will return to action when they head to the Scotiabank Saddledome to face the Calgary Roughnecks (0-2). Game time 9:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
The Saskatchewan Rush (1-2) also have two weeks off and will be back in action at home at SaskTel Centre hosting the red-hot Albany FireWolves (2-0 at the time of this article). Game time 8:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©