RAPID CITY, SD – Call him Atlas. For it was upon the titanic shoulders of Allen goaltender Chris Whitley that the Americans rode upon to defeat the Rapid City Rush in impressive fashion in game one of the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals. Withstanding a massive offensive assault by a determined Rapid City offense, Whitley turned aside all but one of the 49 pucks sent at the Allen net. In contrast, Rapid City’s goaltender Danny Battochio was chased from the net near the end of the second period after allowing 3 goals on just 12 shots.
Everyone is expecting this to be a tough series and the first meeting between these two teams fully lived up to that billing. The game moved at a frenetic pace at both ends of the ice in the opening frame with very few whistles blown and both teams having some good tries at the net. The first and only penalty of the period went to the Rush when Colt King was called for tripping at 15:08.
The Americans power play wasn’t able to move the puck well, in part due to solid checking by the Rush who forced a turnover and attempted a short handed run at the net that seemed to push their level of play higher. Back at full strength, Rapid City went on to take 5 unanswered shots in the closing minutes of the period to outshoot the Americans 13-7.
Rapid City carried the momentum from their late first period run into the middle frame and denied Allen any chances at the net for the first four minutes, while getting four tries of their own. The strong start for the Rush however was cut short by Allen’s Nathan O’Nabigon at 3:49 when he picked up a rebound between the circles and snapped the shot home, giving Allen the 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Nino Musitelli showcased his great speed breaking into the Rapid City zone and scoring on a wraparound that was a thing of beauty, on Battochio to give the Americans a two goal cushion. Musitelli’s goal ignited a blitzkrieg from Rapid City who launched 9 shots at the Allen net over the next six minutes, refusing the Americans any opportunities in their end.
With just under four minutes remaining in the middle frame, Tobias Whelan intercepted a puck at the Rush blue line and went in on the breakaway and scored on just the twelfth shot of the night on Battochio. Rush Head Coach Joe Ferras decided that Battochio had seen enough and replaced him with backup goaltender Miguel Beaudry who fared better allowing only one goal on nine shots for the remainder of the game.
That one goal came three minutes after Beaudry stepped between the pipes when Musitelli one-timed a centering pass from the slot, burying it past Beaudry at the 19:06 mark to get his second tally of the game. A late goal has the potential to be a backbreaker against any team, but the Rush don’t subscribe to that notion and instead, cranked the intensity level to 11.
Try as they might, Rapid City could not penetrate the force field Whitley had around the Allen net. The netminder was on top of his game, giving one of his most impressive performances of the season and what a performance it was. Whitley looked poised and confident in the net, calmly making save after save, wrangling in loose rebounds and working in concert with his defense to hold the Rush at bay.
The Rush fired another 18 shots at the Americans net in the final period, matching their second period number. Inspired by the play of Whitley, the Allen defense matched his example and held firm, diving to block passes and shots all over the ice to aid the stellar goaltending by Whitley. It was an excellent demonstration of complete team defense by the rookie club.
It would take the Rush 47 shots at the Americans net before Whitley finally surrendered the lone goal of the game to Rapid City when Dave Grimson rifled a blast from the left circle to light the lamp for the Rush for the first time at 16:50. Rapid City would manage two more shots before the buzzer sounded and the Americans took away game one on the road in impressive fashion.
Game two is Saturday night at 8:05PM.
Contact Maurice.Fitzgerald@prohockeynews.com
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