(RAPID CITY, SD) – Michael Young continued his scoring outburst, Winston Day Chief scored his 50th goal as a professional hockey player, and Dan O’Donoghue found the back of the net as the Rapid City Rush, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, won their home-opener against their archrivals, the Colorado Eagles, in a 3-2 victory at Premier Home Mortgage Ice in Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Friday night. The win is the first between clubs in the Crystal Cup Series.
After both nemeses went scoreless in the first period, the back-end of the Rush got things started. Rush Captain Winston Day Chief chipped the puck in the far wall of the neutral zone to Rush defenseman Michael Young. Young was on a 2-on-1 break with his teammate Zach Cohen, but kept the puck himself and ripped a wrist shot past Eagles goaltender Kris Lazaruk to put the Rush on the board first at 1-0 with 7:48 gone by in the second. Following the Rush tally, Kriz Lazaruk was removed from the game, and Jacob DeSerres took over goaltending duties for the Eagles. Roughly ten minutes later, the Eagles special teams equalized the game. With 2:50 to go in the second, Rush netminder Danny Battochio made an incredible save on Eagles Captain Trent Daavettila, but Kyle Ostrow grabbed the loose puck and wrapped the puck around the net and in, tying the game at 1-1.
The Rush’s transition game broke the tie in the early stages of the third period. Zach Cohen powered through neutral ice and found Day Chief in front of the net. Cohen threw the puck on net, off of Day Chief, and in, allowing the Rush to retake the lead with 13:51 left in the game. . With 4:00 remaining in the game, Dan O’Donoghue capitalized on a miscue by DeSerres and stuffed the puck in an open net, doubling the Rush lead to 3-1. The Eagles power play struck again 55 seconds later, with Eagles forward Jesse Mychan poking a loose puck by Battochio in his crease to bring the Eagles within striking distance at 3-2. Battochio and company held against Colorado’s extra-attacker onslaught for more than 90 seconds, and celebrated their second win in three games, and their first win in the Crystal Cup series.
Danny Battochio earned his second win of the season, stopping 24 of 26 shots faced (2-0-0). With his goal in the second period, Winston Day Chief scored his 50th goal as a professional, all with the Rush, and became the sixth player in Rush history to accomplish the feat.
The Rush will rematch the Eagles in less than 24 hours at the Budweiser Events Center, with puck drop slated for 7:05 p.m. MST.
