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| The Rush salute the fans at the SaskTel Centre. |
On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Rush faced the
Colorado Mammoth in showdown between the top two squads in the National
Lacrosse League. The contest was played in the shadow of a province and a
country that was coping with the aftermath of an accident near Tisdale, Sask.,
on Friday involving the team bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos, who play out of
the junior A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The Broncos were on their way to Nipawin to play the Hawks
in Game 5 of a best-of-seven league semifinal series. Humboldt’s bus collided
with a semi-trailer truck just north of Tisdale, and 15 people on the bus died as a result.
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| A few people wore Humboldt Broncos jerseys to the Rush game on Saturday. |
Other reminders of what happened could be seen in the crowd,
where a sparkling of spectators wore Broncos hockey jerseys among the 14,971
people in attendance who mainly wore Rush jerseys.
During the break between a third and fourth quarter, a loud
“Let’s Go Broncos” chant broke out and echoed through the building.
On this night, the Rush were not going to be denied in their
effort to try and help the province they call home. They jumped to a 5-2 lead
at halftime, led 10-4 early in the fourth quarter and cruised to an 11-8
victory to claim all three head-to-head meetings with the Mammoth this season.
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| Robert Church had seven points for the Rush. |
While locking up first overall in a league’s regular season
standings usually creates reason for a big celebration, it felt secondary
compared to the horrific events involving the Broncos.
“You spend a lot of time on a bus in college with a team,”
said Rush forward Robert Church. “It is just such a tragedy.
“I don’t even have words today. It was just everyone do
whatever we could to go out there and try and honour those that we lost and
just play with passion.”
Church had a monster night for the Rush netting a hat trick
and four assists. Star forward Mark Matthews had a big game as well netting one
goal and six assists.
The Mammoth had a short-lived 1-0 lead, when star forward
Ryan Benesch scored at the 6:58 mark of the first quarter. He netted a hat
trick and an assist to pace the Colorado offence.
Just 40 seconds after Benesch’s first tally, Rush forward
Ben McIntosh fired home his first of two goals on the night to tie things up at
1-1. The Rush exited the first quarter holding a 3-1 lead.
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| Evan Kirk makes one of his 34 saves playing goal for the Rush. |
Jeremy Noble, Joey Cupido, Zack Greer, Brad Self and Bryce
Sweeting all had singles to round out the scoring on the night for the Mammoth.
During the Rush’s pre-game huddle around their net, Corbeil
said he told his teammates they were playing for something bigger than just
locking up first place. He wanted his team to play a small part in helping the
province cope with the Broncos bus accident.
“Tonight, we were playing for our community,” said Corbeil. “We
were playing for Saskatchewan. We were playing for Canadians everywhere.
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| Grandma Rush and the SaskTel Centre crowd cheer a Rush goal. |
“I know they were in our minds and in our hearts tonight.”
Goalie Evan Kirk had a solid game for the Rush turning away
34 shots to pick up the win in goal. Goalie Dylan Ward stopped 35-of-45 shots
to take the setback in goal for the Mammoth.
The Rush capitalized on 3-of-4 power-play chances, while the
Mammoth went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
Rush head coach Derek Keenan was pleased with the
performance of his team.
“I thought both goaltenders played great,” said Keenan. “They
got back at it a little bit at the end there. We stuck with it.
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| The Original 16 Crush Dance Team entertains the SaskTel Centre crowd. |
“It was tough to get through the middle. We kept grinding
and drew a few penalties and were pretty good on the power play. I am pretty
happy with the effort.”
Keenan became emotional reflecting on the Broncos.
“We talked about it a lot,” said Keenan. “It just kind of
puts thing into perspective.
“It is just horrible what happened to those kids and those
families. It is just tough. We just asked our guys tonight what can we do to
make it better and that was to go out there and play really, really hard.
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| Ben McIntosh (#90) scored twice for the Rush. |
After the pre-game tribute for the Humboldt hockey team,
Corbeil said he heard someone yell “Let’s Go Broncos” in the crowd. After
taking a moment to realize what that meant, Corbeil said he got goosebumps and
chills when that happened.
The Rush captain added he wasn’t surprised to see the
outpouring of support that has been shown for the Broncos. Since the Rush moved
from Edmonton to Saskatoon for the start of the 2016 campaign, Corbeil said he
has been impressed with how close the community in the province is.
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| Mark Matthews netted a goal and six assists for the Rush. |
“The entire province is just always there backing each other
up. These are the best people in the country. I’ve had the pleasure of
experiencing it for the last three years playing here.
“It has been incredible. It is a tragedy what these people
are going through, but they probably have the best support system you could ask
for out of their community. They are fortunate in that respect.”
The Rush return to action on Friday when they travel to
Vancouver to take on the Stealth (2-13). The next home game for the Rush is
Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre, when they host the
Georgia Swarm.
SOUND ON. pic.twitter.com/oDfjbTtZt2— Saskatchewan Rush (@SaskRushLAX) April 8, 2018
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