Edmonton's Hill and Disher come up big in Battle of Alberta contest

Edmonton,AB -- The Edmonton Rush took round one of the Battle of Alberta Jan. 30, defeating the Calgary Roughnecks 14-11 in National Lacrosse League action, before 7,815 fans at Rexall Place.

Thanks to the efforts of Rush forward Dean Hill and goalkeeper Matt Disher -- among many others -- Edmonton won the first game of a home-and-away series between the two teams and improved to an unprecedented 3-1 mark in the club’s history

The Rush, riding a three-game win streak, dropped Calgary, the defending Champion's Cup winners, to 1-3 in the loss.

Edmonton's Hill, acquired from Rochester in the off-season, fired a hat-trick and added an assist for four points, while Disher made 29 saves in the second half and 45 overall, earning the win and the game's top star.

"We talked about how big this game was for the organization and our fans," said Hill, who has nine goals and 11 points this season. "It was a good team effort for our team tonight.

"The guys did a real good job of getting me the ball and now we're just going to keep trying to get more wins."

"It is very huge," said Disher, about the club's third consecutive win in four starts. "It makes us feel a lot better about ourselves and all the confidence will hopefully carry from here."

Ryan Ward (1G, 4A) lead the Rush with five points, while Andy Secore (2G, 2A), Gavin Prout (2G, 1A), Scott Stewart (2G) and Brodie Merrill (1G, 2A) also scored. Merrill paced the Rush transition with a monster 18 loose balls.

Rush rookies Brett Mydske (2G) and Scott Tinning (1G, 1A) each collected their first NLL goals in the win.

Josh Sanderson lead Calgary with two goals and five assists for seven points.

The rough and tumble contest featured two fights, 61 minutes in penalties and one ejection, while special teams played a factor in the decision as Edmonton fired two power-play markers and two short-handed goals in the win.

The Rush power play went 2-3 and Calgary was 4-7 on the PP.

"We're trying to play physical every night and they matched our physicality, for sure," said Rush head coach/GM Derek Keenan. "It was a very physical and well-played game tonight.

"This is obviously our biggest rivalry and it hasn't gone all that well in the past, but we tried to move forward and got the win."

The Roughnecks outshot Edmonton 56-34 in the game and despite the loss, Calgary holds a 10-4 advantage in the rivalry between the two teams.

Edmonton's Stewart scored just 39-seconds in on a crease-dunk feed from Ian Hawksbee before Calgary fired back on the power-play at 1:34 as Sanderson scored with Merrill in the box.

The Rush went on a three-goal run on tallies from Merrill at 6:23, Hill at 6:32 and Mydske's first NLL goal at 8:18.

After the tally, former Rush 'keeper Chris Levis replaced King in Calgary's net and the Roughnecks responded with three goals of their own, highlighted by Tracey Kelusky's blind backhander on the power-play, that tied the score 4-4.

In the second quarter, the Riggers continued their run as Calgary went up 5-4 on Kaleb Toth's first of the year at 1:15, that was followed by a scrap between Toth and Edmonton’s Ian Crashley, with Crashley receiving an extra major and a game misconduct on the play.

Edmonton came back with two consecutive shorthanded markers, from Prout at 2:11 and Ward at 3:27, to move ahead 6-5, before Calgary's Scott Ranger fired back-to-back goals of his own, putting Calgary up 7-6.

Secore pulled Edmonton even at 12:09 on the power-play to end the first half's scoring at 7-7.

Edmonton's Disher made several key stops early in the third frame before Secore made the score 8-7 at 5:19 with assists from Ward and rookie Tinning's first NLL point.

After a spirited scrap that featured Prout and Calgary's Craig Conn, the Riggers answered back at 10:51, tying the score 8-8, before Hill's second goal of the game, at 11:45, put Edmonton back up by one score.

Tinning found mesh for his first career goal with only six-seconds remaining closing the score in the quarter at 10-8 in Edmonton's favor.

The Rush continued their run into the fourth quarter as Mydske notched his second of the game just 11-seconds in, before Calgary fired back twice to pull within one marker at 11-10.

Both teams traded goals as Prout hit for Edmonton and Sanderson found mesh on a Calgary power-play before Hill notched his hat-trick tally at 8:16 to put Edmonton up 13-11.

Edmonton's Stewart fought off two Riggers and fired his second goal of the game at 11:14 to close out the scoring.

The two teams meet again next weekend in Calgary as the Rush and Roughnecks battle at Pengrowth Saddledome Friday, Feb. 5th.

The next home contest for Edmonton is Feb. 21 at 1:30 at Rexall Place in the back-half of the club's home-and-home series against the Toronto Rock.