The Rapid City Rush are back home this week to host the Idaho Steelheads after spending last week on the road.
Last Week
Last week, the Rush traveled to Wichita to face the Wichita Thunder in a three game series. The Rush lost 4-2 on Friday night, but then they won 3-2 Saturday night and 7-5 on Sunday. The Rush saw many improvements this past week, especially with special teams. The Rush went 4/11 on the powerplay after going 0/8 the week before. While the penalty kill went 1/3 on Sunday, the overall penalty kill for the weekend was 9/12. The Rush really looked like they are starting to find their game in this past series as they also started to shoot the puck more and ended up outshooting Wichita in all three games: 33-23, 31-21, and 39-36.
Possible Milestone
The Rapid City Rush could see Brett Gravelle hit 100 ECHL career points this week as he currently sits at 97. This season, Gravelle has played in 14 games where he has three goals and five assists for eight points. He has four penalty minutes and plus/minus +3. Gravelle has played in 132 ECHL games where he has 45 goals and 52 assists for 97 points. He has 24 penalty minutes and a plus/minus of +14.
Hot Starts
The Rapid City Rush currently have two players that are off to pretty hot starts this season. The first player is defenseman, Jarrod Gourley. In five games, Gourley has four goals, which is second amongst all ECHL defensemen. Those four goals have been scored on seven shots giving him a shooting percentage of 57.1%, which is first among defensemen, and the entire ECHL.
The second player is forward, Blake Bennett. Through 14 games played, Blake Bennett has scored seven goals which is tied for second among all ECHL rookies. This season, Bennett has 26 shots on net with his seven goals which gives him a shooting percentage of 26.9%, placing him at fifth among all rookies.
Both of these players are ones to keep an eye on this weekend to see if their hot start could potentially help the team get their first home win of the 2023-24 ECHL season.
Call-Ups and Trades
The Rapid City Rush announced earlier this week that defenseman Tyson Helgesen has been called up to the Tucson Roadrunners in the AHL. Helgesen was arguably one of Rapid City’s most physical players and best defensemen as he is not afraid to drop the gloves or finish his checks and can also set up plays for the team. This season, Helgesen has played in 14 games for the Rush where he has one goal and three assists for four points. He has a plus/minus of -1 and 16 penalty minutes.
The Rush also announced that they acquired James Hardie in a trade with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Hardie is a 21-year-old rookie forward from Barrie, Ontario. This season, Hardie played in six games with the Cincinnati Cyclones where he had one goal and four assists for five points. He had two penalty minutes and a plus/minus of -1. Last season, he started the season with the Mississauga Steelheads, then later joined the Cyclones and played in two regular season games where he did not register a point and had a plus/minus of -3. He played ten games in the playoffs with the Cyclones where he had one goal and one assist for two points. He had two penalty minutes and a plus/minus of -2. Hardie spent five seasons where he played in a total of 255 games. He had 128 goals and 116 assists for 244 points. He had 88 penalty minutes and a plus/minus of +21. He also got to play in the playoffs with Mississauga three times. He played in 20 playoff games where he had 12 goals and five assists for 17 points. He had four penalty minutes and a plus/minus of -7. In his final season in Mississauga, Hardie played in 66 games where he had 38 goals and 44 assists for 82 points. He had 25 penalty minutes and a plus/minus of +6.
Hardie seems like he could be a great addition to the Rush as he seems to be a pretty good goal scorer. Hardie could be one of the players that really helps the team if any of the top players end up going through droughts and are not producing. He is still a young player, so it may take a little bit of time for him to settle in with the team and build chemistry with them. He may make some of those young, rookie mistakes, but once he finds how his style of play fits in with the Rush, he could be a pretty lethal guy on the ice.
This Week
The Rapid City Rush enter their series against the Idaho Steelheads with a record of 6-7-1 this season and are 4-6 in their last ten games. Rapid City is currently sitting at third in the Mountain Division with a win percentage of .429, right behind the Steelheads who have a record of 11-2 and a win percentage of .846. The Steelheads are coming to Rapid extremely hot as they are 9-1 in their last ten games and are currently on a four game win streak. Idaho’s powerplay is currently eighth in the league at 22.4% and their penalty kill is 13th in the league at 80.3%. But their road penalty kill is sixth in the league at 88.0% and their road powerplay is second in the league at 37.5%. Meanwhile, Rapid City’s powerplay is 22nd in the league at 16.2% and their penalty kill is 17th in the league at 77.8%. Their home powerplay sits 24th in the league at 9.1% and their home penalty kill is last in the league at 61.5%.
This week is going to be a really big test for the Rush as Idaho is almost always a good team and they are coming into Rapid on a hot streak. Rapid is currently 0-4-1 at home and are still looking for their first home win of the 2023-24 ECHL season. Not yet having a win in front of their own fans could really help motivate the Rush to potentially get their first home win of the season. The Rush will have to make sure they tighten up on defense, control the puck, have crisp passes, and continue to shoot pucks on the net if they want to get their first home win this week. Idaho is not an unbeatable team and if the Rush are able to control the puck and get shots on the net, they could beat the Steelheads. These two teams will see each other a total of 14 times in the regular season, which could allow for some very physical and fun to watch games.
