Rush fall to Roughnecks for third straight loss

Entering Saturday’s game, the Rush had won 10 of the last 11 games against the Roughnecks. But all of that was forgotten as Saskatchewan has made a habit out of letting games slip out of reach in advance of the fourth quarter, something Keenan had an explanation for.

“You know what’s happening out there? We get a glaring scoring opportunity at one end… and then it goes down the other end and it’s in the net,” Keenan said.

“That’s happened a lot, too, the last three weeks — we got to fix it.”

Saskatchewan started the game on a 5-1 tear to open the game, as goals from Robert Church and Ben McIntosh produced deafening cheers from the 13, 426 at Sasktel Centre.

Nik Bilic earned the admiration of Rush fans as he ran right through a Calgary defender on his way to the net before dishing a quick pass to McIntosh at the mouth of the goal.

Calgary couldn’t wait til the second quarter to start it’s come back. Dane Dobbie scored his first of the game with 1:41 left in the quarter before three more Roughnecks goals made it an even 5-5 game by the middle of the second quarter.

With the score tied at 7-7 entering the second quarter, Calgary was able to go another run of goals, scoring five straight before Church got one back with one second remaining in the third quarter.

Bilic’s fortunes turned upside down when he landed a booming hit straight to the head of Calgary’s Zach Currier in the third quarter, leaving the Roughnecks forward laying on the floor bruised and bloodied. Bilic was assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for elbowing.

Keenan noted the Roughnecks only scored one goal on the power play, but said: “It really gives you no opportunity to play offence or have any kind of transition.”

Saskatchewan attempted a late come back of it’s own in the fourth quarter, but was unable to erase the 12-8 deficit.

While no team wants to go on a losing streak, Keenan suggested that now is a good time of the season for this to happen, especially considering how blessed his team has been in recent years.

“This team hasn’t faced a lot of adversity recently, so now we’re going to show what we’re made of and I have full confidence in our guys that we’ll turn it around.”

Captain Chris Corbeil knows that a tight race in the Western Division standings means that winning next week’s game on the road against the Vancouver Warriors is a must.

“The words right out of Keenan’s mouth,” Corbeil said when asked if his team has to win next week.

“The one good thing is the year we find ourselves with a 3-4 record seven games into the season is the year four out of five teams make the playoffs.”

Jeff Shattler is a 13-year veteran of the NLL and doesn’t think the three losses will affect the team moving forward.

“It’s just a slump, man,” Shattler said. “In any sport, teams get into slumps.”

“We’re a championship team and I’m not panicking.”

by Keenan Sorokan

Rush fall to Roughnecks for third straight loss

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