Written by Shawn Slaght – Senior Correspondent of All Lacrosse All The Time
Zach Manns had six goals in the second half including the overtime winner as the Saskatchewan Rush won their home opener 9-8 against the Halifax Thunderbirds on Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre.
For Halifax, it was the same old story compared to their game last week against the Calgary Roughnecks. At one point in Saturday night’s game, the Thunderbirds led by five goals, yet let the lead slip away in the second half.
Halifax led 6-2 at halftime, yet the Rush defence came up big in the second half by only allowing two goals by the Thunderbirds.
Another shock was at the faceoff dot. Rookie Jake Naso outdueled veteran Jake Withers, winning 12 of 21 draws. In goal, Frank Scigliano had another outstanding performance, stopping 39 of 47 shots. Equally to the task was Warren Hill, who stopped 41 of 50 shots in the loss.
Of concern for the Rush in the health of star forward Robert Church. Church went down in the third period. Co-head coach and general manager Derek Keenan confirmed that Church had a high ankle sprain. He didn’t know the severity, but said Church would be questionable for next week.
First Quarter
It didn’t take long for Halifax to open the scoring. Mike Robinson let a low shot go 25 seconds into the game to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 advantage.
Saskatchewan would tie up the game with Austin Shanks getting revenge on his former team. He scored five-hole on the powerplay at 2:39.
The Thunderbirds ended the first quarter with a three-goal run. Thomas Hoggarth scored up the middle at 3:19 to give Halifax the lead 2-1. Dawson Theede then gave the Thunderbirds a two-goal advantage with a quickstick goal on the power play with 4:41 left in the quarter.
Theeded rounded out the first-quarter scoring as he was all alone at the side of the net and scored with 46.9 seconds left to make it 4-1 for Halifax after one.
Second Quarter
Saskatchewan got back on the board 1:33 into the second quarter with rookie Brock Haley charging the net to make it 4-2.
Halifax’s offence didn’t let up as Theede scored his hat trick goal at 6:32 with Randy Staats finding him wide open.
Staats rounded out the scoring with 3:28 on the clock to give Halifax a 6-2 lead at halftime.
Third Quarter
Bad news for the Rush to start the third quarter as Robert Church took a vicious cross check to the back between whistles and leff the game favouring his left.
Halifax took advantage and extended their lead to five with Theede scoring his fourth with 2:53 left on the clock.
Under 40 seconds later, Manns scored with a low shot to make it 7-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Robinson ripped a shot 2:10 into the fourth quarter shorthanded as Halifax regained their five-point lead.
Then Manns took over the game.
Jerrett Smith found Manns on a breakaway in transition and he scored at 3:31. He followed that up with another transition goal at 5:13 and suddenly the Rush were down by three.
With only two seconds left on the shot clock Brock Haley found Manns in front and he scored at 7:10 to make it 8-6.
Manns wasn’t done yet. He ripped a shot with 6:02 left in regulation.
Levi Anderson scored his first career NLL goal and it was clutch. He dove across the crease with 5:41 to force overtime.
Overtime
It was a back and forth battle as as both teams struggled to find the back of the net.
However, with 7:56 on the clock Mitch Wilde took a slashing penalty to put Saskatchewan on the power play.
And the Rush made no mistake. Who else but Zach Manns scored on an outside shot 7:17 into the final frame to move the Rush to 2-0.
Below are the post-game comments from Saskatchewan Rush co-head coach and general manager Derek Keenan, defenceman Holden Garlent and overtime hero Zach Manns:
Top Scorers
Saskatchewan Rush
Zach Manns, 6g 2a
Jake Boudreau, 3a
Austin Shanks, 1g 1a
Brock Haley, 1g 1a
Levi Anderson, 1g 1a
Halifax Thunderbirds
Dawson Theede, 4g 2a
Randy Staats, 1g 3a
Clarke Petterson, 4a
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