The Rush overcame a slow start and a good initial push offensively by the Mammoth but came alive in the second quarter, outscoring Colorado 6-2 to to take an 8-6 lead at half time. Even though their offence had to make last minute substitutions for rookie Robert Church (illness) and Dane Stevens (unexpected family matter), they continued to roll in the third, opening the quarter with three straight goals to extend their lead to five, 11-6. After John Grant Jr. brought his team back to within one virtually by himself, the Rush offence responded four on four to extend the lead to two with just over a minute and a half remaining in the fourth. Cory Conway sealed the win with his second goal of the game on a breakaway created by the Rush fast break to make it a 13-10 final.
Why the Rush won
Edmonton’s dominance in the second and third quarter on both sides of the ball put them in the driver’s seat. They outscored the Mammoth 9-3 in that thirty minute span. Their defence, backed by solid play from Aaron Bold, frustrated the Colorado attack and their offence was very smooth, generating most of their scoring chances off of nice ball movement. They finished off the first half with three straight goals and started the second the same way, turning a 6-5 Mammoth margin into an 11-6 lead for the Rush with just over a quarter remaining.
The Game Within the Game – Shutting down #24 and #42
Kyle Rubisch did an excellent job on John Grant Jr. (#24) for the first three quarters as Junior didn’t even record a point until he bombed a shot past Aaron Bold with 2:25 left in the third while Mammoth were on a power play. The newly named Colorado captain simply imposed his will.
First, he drew a holding penalty that led to his aforementioned power play bomb and then he set up Adam Jones with a gorgeous behind the back pass to make the score 11-8 Rush. For an encore, Junior got his team to within one shot of tying the game with two heavy moves to the cage. The first started with a swim move over Nik Bilic and finished with big number 24 diving cross crease, tucking the ball back short side over the shoulder of Bold.
For the second, he fought through a hook by Brett Mydske and bounced an alligator armed shot between Bold’s legs before two more Rush defenders pin balled off him while sliding over to help. In just under fifteen minutes of game time, he completely changed the complexion of the game after being a relative non factor. Why Edmonton didn’t continue to match Kyle Rubisch up against him is a questionable decision that almost cost them.
Mark Matthews’ game was very similar. A combination of Dan Coates and Creighton Reid were very effective against him, keeping him without a goal the entire game. He had only managed two assists and didn’t play a big role in the Rush offence until making a direct impact in the last two minutes of play, just after Grant got the Mammoth back to within one at 11:05 of the fourth. It all started with the Rush short handed and Jeremy Thompson in the box after going off for holding the stick at 11:47. Matthews was fighting to get free off ball and working against Colton Clark. Clark got his gloves up in Matthews’ face and got away with it temporarily until Matthews engaged a bit with Clark after the whistle, which got a reaction from the Mammoth defender putting him in the box for roughing.
That washed out Colorado’s power play with 1:57 left in the fourth and just twenty seconds later Curtis Knight gave the Rush their two goal cushion back off of a feed from none other than his old Whitby teammate, Mark Matthews. Game. Set. Match. A pretty productive thirty seconds put the game away for the Rush when the Mammoth were turning up the heat.
OPOG (Offensive Player of the Game)
Adam Jones (4G, 2A, 3LB, 2FT)
He got the Mammoth going with an assist on their first goal of the game, a nice fall away dish to Jamie Lincoln. His four goals were all beauties, he was a threat all night and his two forced turn overs, highlighted by a sneaky stick check on Chris Corbeil when his team needed the ball in the fourth, helped him edge out Curtis Knight (3G, 3A, 5LB) and John Grant Jr. (3G, 1A, 2LB).
DPOG (Defensive Player of the Game)
Aaron Bold (30 SV, 3LB)
Bold and his defence had a bit of shaky start in the first quarter, but his excellent play in the second fifteen minutes allowed his offence to get into a groove and gave his defence a chance to settle into their pressuring style that caused the Mammoth to make bad decisions and execute poorly. In the fourth quarter he stoned Drew Westervelt on one of his Air Gait attempts by swinging his left arm back over the crossbar and meeting the ball just as Westervelt tried to dunk it from behind the net. Most importantly, when Colorado was just one goal back and on that power play with just over three minutes to go, Bold shut the door.
Next Game – See You Next Year!
Saturday, January 11, 2014. 9pm EST, Rexall Place
The Rush have a week off until the rematch with the Mammoth, which takes place on Crystal Glass Field at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
