THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Rush are in possession of something they haven’t seen in three years — a winning record.
Ryan Ward had four goals and added four assists as the Rush won their home opener 11-7 over the Buffalo Bandits in National Lacrosse League play Saturday night.
Andy Secore also scored three and Dean Hill, Jimmy Quinlan, Corey Small and Brodie Merrill had the other goals for the Rush, who improved to 2-1 on the season. The llast time Edmonton had a record above .500 was January 2007, the only other time the team has had a positive record.
"I wasn’t aware of that," admitted new head coach and G.M. Derek Keenan. "It’s been key for us to get off on the right foot. We had a tough first game and then bounced back really well in our second and kept the momentum going tonight. It’s still a learning curve with this group with a lot of new players but a lot of good players. I think the learning curve will be short. We still have a few things to work on but I can’t imagine being a whole lot better than we were defensively."
Ward, who leads the team with 18 points through three games, says his success thus far has been an offshoot of the assistance of others.
"I owe a lot of credit to the coach who has instilled a lot of confidence in me and the rest of the team," he said. "He brought in guys that are winners and have a lot of experience. It’s nice to be playing with winners because a lot of the guys just make my job all that much easier."
Sean Greenhalgh, Brett Bucktooth and Mike Accursi each scored twice and Billy Dee Smith added a single goal for the Bandits who are off to a disappointing 0-4 start.
Buffalo head coach Darris Kilgour certainly wasn’t happy after the game as he tersely answered questions.
"We couldn’t score. Played stupid. It’s the same thing as the first three," he said. "If I knew how to turn it around I would have done it already. It’s starts with working hard and we’ll see where it goes from there."
The Rush started the scoring just over a minute in as Ward tucked his team-leading seventh goal of the season over the shoulder of Bandits goaltender Ken Montour.
Edmonton made it a 2-0 game on the power play five minutes into the game as Ward made a perfect pass to Hill at the side of the net and he wasted no time stuffing the ball into the net.
The Bandits came back to tie the game with goals 36 seconds apart as Greenhalgh scored on Rush goalie Matt Disher on a tough angle shot and Smith was awarded a goal after a Buffalo challenge.
Ward scored scored a power play goal to put Edmonton ahead 3-2 after the first quarter.
Both teams’ defences stood tall to start the second quarter as the game went more than 15 minutes without a goal before each team struck 26 seconds apart.
Edmonton went back up by two with three minutes left as a Merrill shot rattled around in Montour’s pads before trickling across the goal line.
The second quarter ended up with a six-player pile-on behind the Edmonton net and a 5-3 Rush lead.
Edmonton made it a three-goal game six minutes into the third quarter on a power play goal by Secore but the Bandits bounced back shortly thereafter as a backhand shot by Greenhalgh snuck past Disher.
The Rush struck again on a beautiful play by Ward with three minutes left in the third and were awarded another one after a challenge to a Secore goal less than a minute later to lead 8-4 heading into the fourth.
Buffalo cut into the lead on a Bucktooth goal early in the fourth but the Rush replied quickly as Small scored off of a rebound.
The Rush put the game out of reach with three minutes left on Secore’s third of the game and got added insurance a minute later as Ward scored his fourth as the Rush were able to withstand two late goals by the Bandits to hang on for the win.
Notes: It was only the second ever meeting between the two teams. Buffalo won the lone game against the Rush 13-8 in Edmonton last year … It’s been almost a complete rebuild in Edmonton for this season with 14 new players and a new head coach and GM in Derek Keenan … It was the fifth ever home opener for the Rush who have failed to make the playoffs in their four previous years in the league, starting at 0-6 in both 2006 and 2008 … Bandits stars forward and 19-year veteran John Tavares missed the game due to a lower-body injury and will likely be placed on the IR on Monday and gone four-to-six weeks. The NLL’s career scoring leader is the uncle of namesake 2009 NHL first overall draft pick John Tavares … Buffalo defenceman Chris Driscoll played in his 600th career game in Friday’s loss to Washington. Driscoll has played 17 seasons in the NLL … A portion of merchandise sold at the game was donated to helping Haiti in the aftermath of its devastating earthquake.