RUSH-MAMMOTH NLL WEST SEMIFINAL GAME NOTES

Photo: SaskRush/Terry Jenson

Saskatchewan Rush (W1) vs. Colorado Mammoth (W4)

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THE MATCH-UP: The drive for back-to-back NLL championships begins for the Saskatchewan Rush Friday night as they take on the Colorado Mammoth in a West Division Semifinal.

The three-time champion Rush are the reigning NLL title-holders after winning the NLL Cup a year ago, taking a best-of-three championship series from the Rochester Knighthawks 2-1. The Rush have won the league title in 2015, 2016 and 2018. The road to the 2019 title begins in Saskatoon with a one-game semifinal showdown against the Mammoth. Last Saturday, the Rush (11-7) completed the regular season with a 13-8 win over the Mammoth (6-12). Saskatchewan enters the playoffs with seven wins in their last 10 games, while Colorado enters on a four-game losing skid. The Rush also have won seven straight and 12 of the last 14 regular-season games against the Mammoth.

MILESTONE MINUTE: Robert Church collected his 200th career regular-season goal last Saturday against Colorado … Ben McIntosh passed Zack Greer and moved into third place on the Rush’s all-time leaders list in both points (359) and goals (192), while Curtis Knight (185) dodged past Ryan Ward and moved into third on the all-time assist list. Meanwhile, Kyle Rubisch (137) and Chris Corbeil (133) moved into second and third spot, respectively, on the Rush’s all-time games played list, moving past both Jimmy Quinlan and Ryan Dilks. Brett Mydske leads the way with 170.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The Rush’s Mark Matthews finished in a tie for third in the NLL scoring race, knotting Georgia’s Lyle Thompson with 105 points. They finished 10 behind scoring champ Dane Dobbie of Calgary. Matthews finished tied for seventh in assists (64) and tied for fourth in goals at 41 with teammate Ben McIntosh … Jeff Shattler of the Rush led the NLL with five game-winning goals. He also finished the regular season tied for 15th with 34 goals and tied for sixth in shorthanded goals with two … Saskatchewan ended the season with the top-ranked power play at 57.4%, scoring 31 goals on 54 power-play opportunities. That was the fewest opportunities in the league - 10 less than Georgia … Mark Matthews finished tied for seventh with nine power-play goals with Ben McIntosh right behind with eight. Matthews also finished tied for sixth with 17 power-play assists … The Rush drastically improved their penalty kill down the stretch and wound up moving from last to seventh at 52.1% with seven shorthanded goals … Colorado got 10 power-play goals from Kyle Killen during the season, but still wound up last in the league on the man-advantage at just 37.5% (30-for-80). The Mammoth did have the sixth-best penalty kill at 52.8% with four shorthanded goals, three coming from Ryan Lee … The Rush’s Jeremy Thompson led the NLL with 208 loose-ball scoops and he wound up third in faceoff wins with 263 … Rush defenceman Kyle Rubisch was tops in the NLL with 45 caused turnovers. Teammates Mike Messenger (fifth, 31), Jeremy Thompson (eighth, 25) and Chris Corbeil (11th, 24) were also amongs the league-leaders. Colorado’s Joey Cupido finished fourth with 33 caused turnovers … The Rush’s Matt Hossack finished tied for fifth amongst defencemen with 17 points and tied for fourth with 14 assists … Rush goalie Adam Shute ended the regular season second in the league with a 10.30 goals-against average. Colorado’s Dillon Ward was fourth at 10.84 … The Mammoth’s Kyle Killen finished third in rookie scoring with 49 points and second with 28 goals … 2018 Regular Season: Rush star Mark Matthews completed the regular season in style as he set a new NLL record for assists in a single season with 84, and captured the league scoring title with 116 points, which also broke his own team record for points in a season. Matthews led the NLL with 33 power-play assists and was tied for the league-lead with three game-winning goals … The Rush’s Robert Church finished second in league scoring with 107 points and tied for second in the league with 47 goals, one up on teammate Ben McIntosh … Saskatchewan finished the regular season with the top-ranked power play at 67.8% (59-for-87). Robert Church, Ben McIntosh and Ryan Keenan all tied for third in the league with 14 power-play goals, and Church also finished second with 27 power-play assists … Rush goalie Evan Kirk led the league with 12 wins.

BY THE NUMBERS: Saskatchewan won the NLL attendance derby again this season with an average of 13,459 which was 413 better than Buffalo … The Rush finished the season first in the West with 222 goals. They were third in goals scored per game average with 12.33 and fourth in goals allowed at 11.22 per game. Colorado was one of only two teams in the league this season that scored less than 200 goals.

(Brandon Urban/Rush PR)

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