The Saskatchewan Rush picked up a much-needed victory over the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night, taking a 10-9 win in overtime. The win improves Saskatchewan’s record to 3-6, while Colorado drops to 6-3.
The Rush offence came out of the gate very aggressive and opened up an early 3-0 lead on goals from Robert Church, Chris Corbeil (his first of the season) and Austin Murphy. Colorado’s Eli McLaughlin finally responded by beating newly acquired goalie Eric Penney 11 minutes into the first quarter.
And from there, the Mammoth began to chip away at the lead, as they have done to their opposition all year long—they traded goals back and forth for the remainder of the first half, going to the locker room down 6-4, then outscored the Rush 2-1 in the third quarter to reduce the deficit to a single goal.
Steady pressure from the Mammoth offence, combined with a solid performance by their goaltender, Dillon Ward, finally paid off at the 14:35 mark of the final frame—with Ward on the bench for an extra attacker, McLaughlin, who started the scoring for Colorado, tied the game at nine goals apiece, forcing overtime.
In the extra frame the teams exchanged quality scoring opportunities, with both Ward and Penney making several great saves. Church finally sealed the deal at the 6:53 mark, beating Ward for the fifth time of the night.
Church finished the game with seven points to lead all scorers, while Ryan Lee and Connor Robinson both chipped in two goals and four assists in the losing cause.
Penney earned his first win as a member of the Rush, making 37 saves. Ward turned aside a whopping 62 shots in the loss but, truth be told, although he faced a lot of rubber, he didn’t have to make many really difficult plays as the Rush offence, averaging just 10 goals per game, continued to struggle to get good looks and quality scoring chances.
If Saskatchewan hopes to make the playoffs, they’ll need to carry this momentum into next Saturday, when they travel to Texas to face the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club. Colorado, still sitting in second place in the West Division, gets a week off before they host Panther City on March 11.
