Weekend seres split: Saskatchewan Rush, Calgary Roughnecks trade wins

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Rush 12, Roughnecks 9

Their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the Saskatchewan Rush rallied for a 12-9 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday night.

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The Rush never trailed for the entire game after going up 2-zip early before a crowd of 7,245 fans at SaskTel Centre watching the National Lacrosse League’s Battle of the Prairies.

“I think (a good start) is the most important thing in this league, having a good strong first five minutes and then letting the game progress after that,” said Rush forward Zach Manns, who paced the Rush attack with a hat-trick and four assists for a seven-point night.

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“I thought we were due for a good performance. Our previous game against them, I thought we put together a pretty strong effort and, if we shot the ball better, we would have maybe had a little better luck. But we were going into this game with the exact same mindset as last game: get to the middle, work hard and just do all the little things right and it worked out for us in the end.”

With the win, Saskatchewan improved its NLL record this season to 7-9, while Calgary slipped to 7-9 as both teams are chasing the eighth and final playoff spot.

The two teams split a weekend home-and-home series, with the Roughnecks winning one night earlier in Calgary, 12-10.

The difference Saturday?

“Honestly, just hitting our shots,” replied Manns. “We put over 60 on Della (Christian Del Bianco) last game and didn’t score that many. (Saturday), we shot with a purpose early right from the start and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Robert Church tallied twice and added six assists for eight points, while captain Ryan Keenan had two goals and four assists for Saskatchewan.

Cam Wengreniuk, Clark Walter, Mike Messenger, Mike Triolo and Keegan Bell had one goal apiece for the Rush.

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Frank Scigliano made 42 saves in the Rush net for the win Saturday. Del Bianco, who was sensational one night earlier in Calgary, stopped 31 shots for the Roughnecks.

Jesse King led the Roughnecks with two goals and four assists. Haiden Dickson chipped in with two goals and two assists. Tyler Pace had a goal and three assists.

Tanner Cook, Shane Simpson, Ethan Ticehurst and Thomas Hoggarth had one goal each for Calgary, which trailed 4-2 after the opening quarter, 9-5 at the half and 11-7 after three quarters of play.

“We said we needed to play desperate and we played desperate,” said Rush co-head coach and associate GM Jimmy Quinlan.

“Our start was crucial. We had a really good start and did a good job with our game plan and shooting the ball. Then we never really took our foot off the gas. I think that’s probably our best 60 (minutes) of the season and we desperately needed to keep our lives.”

Saskatchewan has two games remaining in the regular season, both on home turf at SaskTel Centre where the Rush will play host to the San Diego Seals next weekend, April 13, and the Toronto Rock the following weekend on April 20.

San Diego and Toronto are currently the top two teams in the NLL standings.

dzary@postmedia.com

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