Sellout crowd at the Civic Center Ice Arena.--------  Rush trailing 1-0 and Denver on a power play, Markus Lauridsen with the feed for the one-timer, but Tim Boron is there to deflect it out of play.---------  Rush on the move later, Jared Brown lays it back to John Snowden, but it's brushed off to the side by Kieran Millan.---------  More pressure from the rush, Alex Penner is blocked out front on his initial shot, but gets a second attempt, but that one is smothered by Millan.---------  Later, on a delayed penalty, things get chippy, Michael Couch unloads, Jordan Baker can't finish it, then throws out a leg on Mario Boilard who takes exception and hammers Baker in the leg. Baker is sent to the sin bin along with a different Cutthroat on the initial penalty.-----------  Denver counterpunching later in the first, Jamie MacQueen gets a step and gets pulled down resulting in a penalty shot.---------  MacQueen gets a little too cute and Boron shuts him down in front.-----------  Huge chance for the Rush a little later on a power play, Snowden with a shot that is deflected twice, Damian Surma tries to shove it home, but Millan survives, leading it 1-0 after one.  Final Score 3 to 2.

Jamie Zepp