On guaranteed win night the Edmonton Rush came very close to winning their final home game of the season. All year the Rush have kept things close and tonight was no different, but the Portland Lumberjax edged the Rush 15-12. Edmonton never had the lead in the game, despite going 4 for 8 on the powerplay and only giving the Jax one man advantage. It was positive news for the special teams, as both have struggled this year.

Leading the way for the Rush was Jamey Bowen (3G, 2A) and Jason Clark (2G, 6A) while Peter Morgan (5G, 2A) and rookie Brodie Merrill (2G, 4A) lead the Lumberjax to victory. The Rush outshot the Jax 49-48. The Rush fall to 1-13 while the Jax improve to 7-5.

The Rush and Lumberjax exchanged powerplay goals early on, both capitalizing on their first chances. For the Rush, it was Jamey Bowen knocking in his 14th of the year. The Jax then pulled ahead with a pair of goals, one shorthanded, and had the edge in shots midway through the first frame. Desperate for a win, the Rush rebounded, heavily outshooting the Jax in the last half of the quarter. The pressure resulted in powerplay chances and finally a goal by Brad Dairon to pull the Rush to within one.

The Rush struck early in the second quarter on the powerplay to tie the game with a goal by Jamey Bowen, his second of the night. Edmonton had five straight powerplays and ended up outshooting the Jax in the first half 28-22. The effort was good enough for a four-all tie at halftime after the Rush's Jason Clark netted his second of the season.

The Lumberjax came out firing in the third quarter scoring two early goals. The Rush were resilient though as Jimmy Quinlan scored his 17th and then Kerry Susheski got his 11th on a great individual effort to tie it up again. The Jax, looking to make the playoffs in their first season, responded with two goals of their own. Then, the last five minutes had a lot of action. The Rush's Jamey Bowen scored his third powerplay goal of the night to complete his hat-trick. Portland would score twice more while Rush forward Jimmy Quinlan collided with Jax goalie Dallas Eliuk. Quinlan went to the dressing room (and returned later) and Eliuk left the game for less than a minute, but that's all the Rush needed to capitalize on the cold Matt King as Colin Sherbanuk scored on the powerplay. Portland lead 10-8 going into the final quarter of the Rush's home season.

In the first minute of the fourth quarter Ted Jenner used his speed to bring the Rush to within a goal. Mat Giles tied the game for the Rush, but the Jax stormed back with two quick goals to regain the lead. Jason Clark scored his second of the night and Darren Hillier added a late one, but the Jax got three more to make the final 15-12.

This was the first ever meeting between the two expansion teams, and the Rush finish their season playing the Jax twice more in Portland, the first one on Sunday at 3:00.