Rush Sweep Home-and-Home Series with Halifax

Shawn Slaght

The Saskatchewan Rush were able to sweep their home-and-home series with the Halifax Thunderbirds with an 11–7 win on Friday night in Saskatoon.

It was Rush co-head coach and general manager Derek Keenan’s 300th game behind the bench, setting a new NLL record.

Once again, the Thunderbirds ran into penalty trouble. Saskatchewan went 4-for-8 on the power play and finished 8-for-16 in the series.

It was Halifax goaltender Warren Hill who kept the game close. He faced 51 shots and stopped 41. Meanwhile, at the other end, Frank Scigliano stopped 30 of 37 shots for the win.

This time, Jake Naso got the better of Jake Withers at the faceoff dot, winning 12 of 21 draws.

First Quarter

Saskatchewan opened the scoring just 53 seconds into the game, with Zach Manns finding a hole in the defence and scoring shorthanded.

Manns struck again with 4:32 left in the quarter on a near carbon-copy play to make it 2–0.

Then came a bizarre finish to the quarter. Ryan Terefenko tried to shoot at the empty net, but the ball hit Warren Hill in the back and bounced in. After review, it was deemed no goal as the clock had expired, and Saskatchewan held a 2–0 lead.

Second Quarter

Halifax got on the board 22 seconds into the second quarter when Randy Staats flipped the ball to Clarke Petterson for the goal. After a Rush challenge, the goal was upheld.

The Rush restored their two-goal lead at 2:13. On a three-on-one, Josh Zawada found Clark Walter to make it 3–1.

Ryan Keenan went short-side, top corner on Hill at 6:41 to extend Saskatchewan’s lead.

The Thunderbirds responded at 7:16, with Terefenko and Tyson Bell playing pitch-and-catch before Bell converted shorthanded to make it 4–2.

Already on the power play — and with a delayed penalty making it six-on-four — Keenan scored at 8:11 to put the Rush up 5–2.

Cody Jamieson got Halifax back within two with a power play marker that just slipped past Scigliano with 3:31 left in the half.

Fifteen seconds later, Brock Haley’s bouncing shot made it 6–3.

However, the Thunderbirds came storming back. Dawson Theede fed Petterson across the crease with 1:25 left to make it 6–4.

With the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, Petterson’s shot through traffic with 3.9 seconds remaining cut the Rush lead to 6–5 at halftime.

Third Quarter

The Rush were able to regain momentum 4:12 into the third, with Keenan finding Robert Church for a power play goal.

Halifax replied at 9:17 on the power play when Theede found the back of the net.

Saskatchewan answered quickly, with Manns flying through the crease at 10:01 to make it 8–6.

Theede made it a one-goal game with 30.6 seconds left, as the Thunderbirds trailed 8–7 heading into the final frame.

Fourth Quarter

The Rush took control in the fourth. Keenan split the defence up the middle at 3:13 to score. The goal was challenged but upheld on review.

Keenan then struck again with an outside shot on the power play with 3:32 remaining, and Jake Boudreau went coast-to-coast for the empty-netter with 1:06 left as the Rush completed the sweep with an 11–7 victory.

Derek Keenan, Ryan Keenan and Clark Walter commented after the game: