Rush move to 4-0 – McIntosh is a 10!
In a battle of unbeaten teams, the Saskatchewan Rush (4-0) defeated the Colorado Mammoth (3-1) 17-12 in front of 11,085 screaming fans at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Saturday, January 13.
The Mammoth started out quick with goals by Cupido and Stuart before Mark Matthews would get the Rush on the board. The Rush offense would then explode, scoring the next seven of 10 goals. Ben McIntosh, who had a 10-point night (2G/8A), would register a goal and five assists during the seven-goal explosion.
In typical Rush fashion, the defense was stingy, not allowing the Mammoth a lot of top quality shots or many second chances. Their offense was what everyone expected. A team that was averaging 18 goals a game just fell a goal short on this night.
After Eli McLaughlin opened up the second-half with a goal 34 seconds in to reduce the Rush lead to 8-6, the Rush would go on to score six of the next seven, and outscored the Mammoth in the third quarter 6-2 and increased their lead to 14-7.
Time and time again the Rush showed why they are the team to beat, not only in the west but in the entire league.
Evan Kirk is proving that he is far and away the number one goalie in the league, and with the stable defense in front of him, he will only get stronger and better.
Ben McIntosh (2G/8A), Mark Matthews (1G/6A), Marty Dinsdale (3G/2A) and Robert Church (3G/2A) led the Rush attack. Curtis Knight also registered a hat-trick. Kirk stopped 33 of 45 shots for his fourth win of the season.
McLaughlin (4G/1A) and Jeremy Noble (3G/3A) led the Mammoth. Dillon Ward stopped 35 of 50 shots for his first loss of the year. Steve Fryer saw his first action of the season for the Mammoth as he relieved Ward with 6:36 remaining. Fryer stopped two of the three shots faced.
These teams will face each other twice more: Their next match-up is February 2nd back in the Loud House, before facing each other on April 7th at SaskTel Centre.
Prior to their rematch, Saskatchewan will return home to host Buffalo on Friday night in the Twitter game of the week at 8:30 p.m. EST. Colorado is off until they host the Vancouver Stealth on January 26th at 9:30 p.m. EST.
