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Rush win second in a row in front of sold out crowd

Jan 28, 2017 | 9:00 AM

The Rush evened their record at 2-2 last night after a close home game which saw the Saskatchewan team win 16-12 against the visiting Vancouver Stealth.

For the second game in a row Matthew Dinsdale was the first Rush player to score, and it came just 22 seconds into the contest.

“He plays hard and gets his chances,” Head Coach Derek Keenan said. “He doesn’t take a lot of shots, but when he does he can finish.”

Just three minutes later, Robert Church scored his first goal of the night, putting the Rush ahead 2-0.

Vancouver’s Jordan Durston cut the lead to one, but it was short-lived as Church scored his second of the night less than a minute later.

The Stealth briefly tied the game midway through the opening quarter after Vancouver’s Corey Small netted back-to-back goals, but the Rush’s transition game was on fire as Jeff Cornwall netted two breakaway goals in response. Jeremy Thompson closed out the first quarter scoring on a quick transition play, leaving the Rush ahead 6-4 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter the Rush again started strong. Adam Jones made his first of two goals less than 40 seconds in and Church completed his hat trick.

In four games Church has 12 goals, 10 of them on the man advantage.

Also scoring for the Rush in the first half were Adrian Sorichetti and Curtis Knight.

The third quarter was the slowest of the game with just three goals. Curtis Knight scored for the Rush, as did Cornwall who completed his own hat trick.

The Stealth attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals to the Rush’s three, but it wasn’t enough as Saskatchewan came away with the 16-12 win.

“I thought we played really hard, but I thought we made some mental errors that cost us some goals and they got real good shooters so they’re a real hard team to play against,” Keenan said.

The Rush finished five of seven power-plays, compared to four of eight completed by the Stealth. In net, Aaron Bold saved 34 of 46 shots.

While he didn’t get any goals last night, leading Rush scorer Mark Matthews finished the night with seven assists, bringing his point total up to 30 in only four games. The sixth assist was also Matthews’ 400th career point, which he called “just another point.”

The Rush are in action again next weekend when they take on the Calgary Roughnecks Feb. 4. The teams still maintain their Alberta rivalry which dates back to the days when the Rush were based in Edmonton.

 

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW, paNOW and battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.