Edmonton Rush post-game report

By: Bruce Rakoczy

Teat and Dietrich shine for Edmonton

 EDMONTON – Ryan McNish is well-known for using his hands to do his dirty work in National Lacrosse League circles.

 On Friday night, he used a quick shot with 59-seconds remaining to lift the Edmonton Rush to an 11-10 win over the Portland Lumberjax in NLL action Jan. 16 in front of 8,107 fans at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta.

 The win earned the Rush (1-1) its first victory of the season in the club’s home opener and the first of three meetings between the West Division rivals Portland and Edmonton. Portland fell to 1-3 with the loss.

 The new-look Rush, with only five returning members from the 2008 squad, leaned on veteran scorer Dan Teat and goalie Steve Dietrich in the victory, while newcomers Ryan Benesch, Scott Self and McNish made big contributions in their home debut.

 Teat led the Rush with four goals and two assists while Dietrich turned away 39 saves, including a sparkling crease stop on Portland’s Pete Jacobs with one-second remaining in the contest to earn the win. Former Rush netminder Matt Disher backstopped Portland to the loss.

 The first half saw the teams combine for only seven goals scored, while the barn doors opened in the second half as 14 shots found the back of the net.

 “It was a roller-coaster out there,” said Rush GM/head coach Bob Hamley. “We didn’t play the best, but this team gutted it out and worked very hard.”

 Teat, who also tallied three goals in the Rush loss last week at Calgary, was the offensive force against the Jax.

 “Dan’s been great so far,” said a beaming Hamley. “He’s been a great leader for us and I’m very happy for him.”

 And happy for the Rush, as well.

 “We got a win at home and it was a huge win for our organization,” he added.

 Dietrich made several key saves in the first quarter to spark the Rush as Edmonton hit the scoreboard first on the power play as Teat converted a feed from Andy Secore at 7:30. Jason Wulder, in his second stint with the Rush, earned the first assist on the goal.

 Ryan Powell, then tied it up for Portland at 9:05.

 Teat then scored his second of the night 59-seconds later with helpers coming from Secore and Benesch, before Benesch tallied his first goal in Rush silks on a glorious diving effort.

 Portland’s Peter Morgan fired back with two goals of his own at 11:03 and 13:07 respectively, to tie the score at 3-3.

 The opening frame ended with a 3-3 score and Portland outshot Edmonton 15-11.

 A Portland odd-man rush early in the second frame led to the Jax first lead of the night as Tyler Codron parted the Edmonton defence and beat Dietrich at 1:39. That was it for scoring in the period as Portland oushot the Rush 27-22 at halftime.

 Teat earned his hat-trick goal with a deft shot at 4:27 of the third quarter to tie the score 4-4 before Portland’s Matt Brown fired a blast on a delayed penalty, to put the Jax up 5-4.

 Defender Rory Glaves finished off a Rush 3-on-1 at 12:41 with his first goal of the year to knot the score at 5-5 and the clubs each scored late in the frame to end the third quarter tied at 6-6.

 The see-saw battle then saw plenty of scoring early in the fourth quarter as Portland’s Brown, with his second goal of the game, gave the Jax a 7-6 lead at 1:43, while Scott Self - with his first Rush goal at 2:41, and Jimmy Quinlan’s long-range shot just 26-seconds later put the Rush up 8-7.

 Both teams then put the new NLL challenge to good use as Portland head coach Derek Keenan flagged for a review of a disputed save by Edmonton’s Dietrich. After the official’s review the call was changed to a Jax goal by Codron that then sent Rush coach Hamley to toss his flag to challenge the call once more -- only for the goal to stand and remain an 8-8 tie.

 The scoring flurry continued as both teams found the mesh as Powell fired a power-play marker at 4:28 and Teat notched his fourth of the night at 8:40, setting up a wild finish as tough D-man McNish broke the 10-10 tie with an unassisted marker that beat Disher with 59-seconds remaining for the game-winning goal.

 The Rush then travel to Portland and Colorado for consecutive games Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.