Menei’s hat trick leads Rush to game one victory

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Rapid City Rush took game one of the “Battle of the Champions” on home ice Friday night at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Arena, led by Ryan Menei’s hat trick and a stellar performance by Danny Battochio in front of the net. Following teammate Colt King’s lead, Menei, who led the Rush during the regular season with a career-high 87 points (39 G, 48 A, +25), exploited the weakness of the Fort Wayne Komets’ defense and quickly solved net minder Nick Boucher, taking command of game one of the Turner Conference semi-finals with a 5-2 win. Both teams had a extended layoff entering the contest. The Komets were off for nine days after sweeping the Bloomington PrairieThunder in three games and the Rush were off for 10 days after taking out the Dayton Gems, also in three games. Fort Wayne failed to gain any momentum despite two early scoring opportunities – Sean O’Connor’s wraparound attempt was stopped short by Battochio and Derek Patrosso’s shot hit the post on a 2-on-1 rush, opening the door for the home team to take control of the game.

After Dustin Molle was called for tripping at the 7:57 mark, the Rush needed just 26 seconds on the man-advantage to take a 1-0 lead. Les Reaney’s shot from the right circle bounced into Boucher’s five hole and Colt King powered forward into the crease and poked the puck into the back of the net, igniting an already boisterous crowd of 3,994. Rapid City struck again after the Komets turned the puck over in their own zone. Menei tallied his first of the evening, sneaking the puck past a screened Boucher at the 12:01 mark to give the Rush a 2-0 lead. When Tab Lardner was called for hooking with 54 second remaining in the first frame, Menei scored his second goal of the game, sending in his own rebound to give Rapid City had a commanding 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Komets were stymied early into the middle frame when Derek Patrosso was whistled for interference, erasing a Colin Chaulk tally at the :25 mark. Chaulk made up for it though, when his pass out of the defensive zone set off a 3-on-1 rush that he finished by slapping the puck just inside the right goalpost to make it a 3-1 contest.
Battochio, living up to his all-star status, stopped eight additional shots to maintain the Rush’s 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
19 seconds after exiting the penalty box on a roughing call, Menei earned his hat trick, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush by sending in Josh Beaulieu’s feed to make it a 4-1 game at the 5:05 mark.
Later in the period, with Boucher pulled in favor of an extra attacker, Chaulk deflected a P.C. Drouin shot to make it a 4-2 contest, but defenseman Dave Grimson tacked on an empty net goal to register the final score at 5-2.
The Komets were 0-for-3 on the powerplay while Rapid City went 2-for-9.
Nick Boucher stopped 21 of 25 shots in the loss. Danny Battochio stopped 21 of 23 shots to earn the win.
Game two will be played this evening at the Civic Arena with a 7:05 MST start. Contact the writer/photographer at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com