Rapid City continues its rush on the Northern Conference

RAPID CITY, South Dakota — The Rapid City Rush are finding that hard work and team cohesion are taking them to great places. The Rush (12-6-1, 25 points) are in second place in the Central Hockey League’s Northern Conference, just four points behind the perennial conference leading Colorado Eagles.
 
The Rush currently have the league’s longest active winning streak at five games, thanks to a two-game sweep of the Tulsa Oilers at home this weekend. The wins, 5-2 on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday, have brought the Rush to a tie in points with the Oilers, who are one of the great turn around stories of the season, having pulled themselves from three seasons of relative obscurity to become a scoring power house.
 
Despite their recent successes, the Rush have suffered a loss. Left wing Colt King, who has accounted for 19 points (12 G, 7 A), including three game-winning goals, was recalled by the Rochester Americans (AHL) on Saturday.
 

Even with the loss of King, Rapid City has a balanced offensive core, led by forwards Les Reaney with 26 points (11 G, 15 A, +11),   Brendan Cook with 22 points (9 G, 13 A, +4) and Scott Wray with 22 points (7 G, 15 A, +4). Reaney scored the first ever hat trick on home ice for the Rush on Saturday night.
 
Last year, Rapid City was an expansion franchise and ended their inaugural season with a 22-33-9 record. Head coach Joe Ferras brought back just a handful of players and spent the off-season re-building the Rush into a completely different team based on what he learned in 2008-09.
 
The 2009-10 season began with a 5-5-0 record through the first 10 games but they have gone 7-2 since, including two wins each against Colorado, Tulsa and Mississippi; a respectable feat for any team.
 
All of Rapid City’s games this season thus far, have been against Northern Conference rivals, except for a two-game series against the Arizona Sundogs in October. They won’t see another Southern Conference team until December 31^st when they travel to Amarillo to take on the Gorillas. After the New Year, they will have 14 games against the South.
 
In the meantime, the Rush will travel to Independence, Missouri on Tuesday for their third game against the expansion Mavericks and then to Wichita for a two-game series against the Thunder next Friday and Saturday. They have beaten both teams twice, and with their recent successes, the opportunity exists to push forward and challenge the Eagles for the lead in the Northern Conference.
 
Contact the author at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at les.stockton@prohockeynews.com