Rush continue to be perfect at home fit in Saskatchewan

The Rush celebrate winning the NLL Cup on Saturday.

    The honeymoon is still going strong between Saskatchewan and the Rush.

    On Saturday, the Saskatchewan Rush added to their continually growing list of magical moments at the SaskTel Centre winning their third National Lacrosse League championship in franchise history and third in the last four years. In a series deciding Game 3 of the NLL championship series, the Rush scored the last four goals of the contest to surge to a 15-10 victory over the Rochester Knighthawks.

    The win sent the gathering of 13,645 spectators into a joyful victory celebration. The celebration ran through that night and into a victory rally on Sunday morning at the Delta Bessborough Gardens with the newly minted National Lacrosse League Cup.

Rush goalie Evan Kirk sets to pass the ball to a teammate.

    The Rush captured their first league title in early June of 2015, when the franchise was still located in Edmonton.

    Unable to secure a long-term lease in the Alberta capital, owner Bruce Urban moved the team to Saskatoon in July of 2015. The club was branded as the Saskatchewan Rush aimed at drawing fans from all over the province following a model established by the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

    Now three years after that move, the Rush have become an established part of Saskatchewan’s culture. In the town of Chamberlain located about an hour drive north of Regina on Highway 11 heading to Saskatoon, you can find a billboard that says the road runs south for the Roughriders and north for the Rush.

    The Rush’s rise to prominence in Saskatchewan was aided by the fact the NLL’s championship team was heading to Saskatoon. In their title win in Edmonton, the Rush swept the Toronto Rock 2-0 in the best-of-three NLL title series.

Rush Hulk and Bruiser get the crowd fired up at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Rock have the reputation of being Canada’s most storied NLL team equaling the Philadelphia Wings for most titles in the circuit’s history at six.

    The Rush won their first championship in 2015 with one of the league’s youngest teams. While hope was high the title wins would continue in Saskatchewan, they were tempered with caution that the title win in Edmonton could be a one-year run type thing.

    There was good optimism the Rush could be a success, but the last three years have comfortably passed the most optimistic expectations.

    The Rush capped their inaugural campaign in the “Wheat Province” capturing a second straight NLL crown in 2016 sweeping the Buffalo Bandits 2-0 in the title series. Game 2 of that set at the SaskTel Centre provided a “where were you when” moment, when defender Jeff Cornwall went coast-to-coast to score the series winning goal for the Rush with 12 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.

Rush forward Robert Church (#17) charges towards the Rochester goal.

    Cornwall’s tally broke a 10-10 tie and gave the Rush an 11-10 victory. The noise made by the 15,182 spectators in attendance that night was likely the loudest that was ever heard in the history of the SaskTel Centre for a sporting event.

    Saskatchewan fans had their first opportunity to watch their team lift what is now the circuit’s former championship trophy in the Champion’s Cup on home turf.

    The Rush had a real chance to win the NLL title again in 2017. They advanced to the NLL title series again only to be swept 2-0 by the Georgia Swarm.

    That series ended with a heartbreaking 15-14 overtime loss in Game 2 played at the SaskTel Centre. They were painfully close to forcing a series-deciding Game 3.

Jeff Shattler cheers after scoring a goal for the Rush on Saturday.

    In the aftermath of that setback, the Rush set out to reclaim the NLL championship. They topped the overall NLL regular season standings in 2018 with a 14-4 record and dumped their archrivals the Calgary Roughnecks 15-13 in the West Division final.

    That set up the championship encounter with the Knighthawks, who claimed both head-to-head regular season matches with the Rush.

    The Rush took Game 1 convincingly at the SaskTel Centre 16-9 on May 26, and the Knighthawks returned the favour with a 13-8 victory in Game 2 in Rochester on June 2.

    Game 3 on Saturday was a back-and-fourth affair until the Rush’s final surge to pull out victory. The Saskatchewan side wasn’t going to be denied.

The Crush Dance team entertains the crowd at the SaskTel Centre.

    While the Rush are an exciting and athletic team, they are also a club that is easy to cheer for. All their players are very down to earth including captain Chris Corbeil, top scoring threats Mark Matthews and Robert Church, fan favourite Jeremy Thompson, Kyle Rubisch, Cornwall, Ryan Keenan, goalie Evan Kirk and the list goes on from there.

    Former Roughnecks star Jeff Shattler joined the Rush this season and was immediately accepted into the fold by the Rush organization and the fans for being a beauty character on top of a great player. He cemented his status as a favourite picking up NLL playoff MVP honours with the Rush winning it all.

    Head coach and general manager Derek Keenan is the ultimate player’s coach and success has followed him wherever he has gone in the sport.

Rush Nation has backed the Rush since they arrived in Saskatchewan.

    The 56-year-old has been a part of nine NLL championship wins as a player, assistant coach and head coach, and he has made a total of 13 trips to the league final. 

    Along with assistant coaches Jeff McComb and Jimmy Quinlan, the Rush have the best coaching staff in the NLL.

    Urban made all of this possible by bringing in the right people to coach his club and the right people to run the business side of the operation.
    That helped the Rush franchise become part of Saskatchewan culture with the numerous appearances the team makes across the province.

Mark Matthews raises the National Lacrosse League Cup.

    People have continued to pack the SaskTel Centre for games, and team merchandise has flown off store shelves.
    The Rush logo is showing up in all corners of the province.

    While there will be changes with the Rush set to lose a couple of players in the NLL expansion draft and regular turnover that happens in professional sports, the club’s run to the top likely isn’t over yet.

    Most of the players on the team are in the prime of their careers. The organization is solid in coaching and in the front office.

    The brand new National Lacrosse League Cup might be in for a longer stay in Saskatchewan.

Sight of Dahlgren, Wasserman set Game 3 tone

Kaleb Dahlgren, left, and Jacob Wasserman, centre, sparked the fans.

    The pre-game appearance of two members from the Humboldt Broncos junior A hockey team set the tone for the Saskatchewan Rush and Rush Nation on Saturday night.

    While the Rush put on spectacle during pre-game introductions to get fans into games at the SaskTel Centre, the biggest cheers went to Kaleb Dahlgren, 21, and Jacob Wasserman, 18, when they were introduced as heroes of the game before Game 3 of the NLL championship series. Dahlgren was a right-winger for the Broncos and Wasserman was a goalie.

    Both were on the team bus that was involved in a tragic crash on route to a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game in Nipawin on April 6 that resulted in the deaths of 16 players and team personnel.

    The loud cheers for Dahlgren and Wasserman went on for almost a minute.

    Of course, the Rush went on to claim the back-and-forth contest 15-10.

    The Rush were on board right from the start looking to do their part to help those involved in the Broncos bus crash. A day after the crash, the Rush hosted the Colorado Mammoth in a regular season clash at the SaskTel Centre.
    That April 7 game marked the first big community gathering in the province since the tragedy involving the Broncos. The Rush equipment staff quickly put Broncos logos on the helmets of all the Rush players, and stations were set up to raise funds to help aid those involved with the Humboldt club.

Chris Corbeil and the Rush players wore Broncos logos on their helmets.

    The Rush jumped ahead 10-4 early in the fourth quarter in that clash with the Mammoth and cruised to an 11-8 victory.

    The highlight occurred in the break between the third and fourth quarters when the crowd of 14,971 spectators broke into a chant of “Let’s Go Broncos.”

    During post-game media scrums, Rush captain Chris Corbeil said his team was playing for “our” community, the people of Saskatchewan and Canadians everywhere, and he hoped they did everyone proud.

    The contest provided a first real opportunity for people in Saskatchewan to gather together and collectively start helping each other through the tragedy and healing.

    The Rush took part in various events to help the Broncos as the season went on and visited Broncos players and families at their homes often bringing team merchandise as gifts.

    The Rush were stellar with their efforts in this area.

    On side note, Wasserman returned to the building on Saturday where it appears he might have picked up his lone win of his goaltending career in the WHL. On Feb, 23, Wasserman was called up to play for the Regina Pats against the Saskatoon Blades in a WHL regular season clash at the SaskTel Centre. He made 23 saves going the distance in goal for the Pats, who downed the Blades 7-5.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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The spectacle of the Rush

National Lacrosse League team thrills Saskatchewan fans

Matt Hossack celebrates scoring a goal for the Rush.

    When it comes to providing the ultimate escapism for the sports fan in Saskatchewan, no one beats the Saskatchewan Rush.

    After winning a league championship in 2015 in Edmonton, the National Lacrosse League franchise relocated to Saskatoon for the 2016 season after owner Bruce Urban was unable to secure a long-term lease in the Alberta capital. In June of 2016, the Rush repeated as NLL champions, and local fans from around the province had the opportunity to experience the thrill of championship victory first hand.

    Leading the best-of-three NLL championship series 1-0 against the Buffalo Bandits, the Rush hosted Game 2 at the SaskTel Centre on June 4, 2016. Locked in a 10-10 draw, a crowd of 15,182 gleefully watched Rush defenceman Jeff Cornwall bolt coast-to-coast and tuck home the winning goal with 12 second to play to give the host side an 11-10 victory in the game and a 2-0 sweep of the series. 

A mini-monster truck shoots sparks at the Rush game.

    In the aftermath of that exciting finish, it seemed the Champions Cup found its way to numerous parts of Saskatchewan.

    Now in their second season in Saskatoon, the excitement around the Rush hasn’t diminished. On Saturday, they improved to 11-5 and locked up first place in the NLL’s West Division with a 15-10 victory over the storied Toronto Rock before a raucous crowd of 15,045 at the SaskTel Centre.

    During their nine regular season home dates, the Rush are averaging just under 15,000 per game, and the ticket buyer is enjoying every minute of the action.

    The action isn’t limited to the game itself. It also includes all the entertainment aspects surrounding the contest.

    Last year, I went to games were the Rush locked up the West Division final series and the NLL championship game as a ticket buyer. On Saturday, I ventured to the SaskTel Centre on the media end to get my feet wet with another side of the Rush experience.

Members of the Crush Dance Team entertain the SaskTel Centre crowd.

    I took my camera and expected to shoot photos of the game and likely write some sort of story about the night. The Rush victory allowed head coach Derek Keenan to become the all-time leader in NLL career wins at 122 surpassing the previous mark of 121 held by Darris Kilgour, who coached the Bandits from 2003 to 2013.

    Keenan’s record win provided the perfect bailout story for me. I became so involved with the picture taking aspect of the night I was really oblivious to the blow-by-blow of how the Rush won by a 15-10 final.

    I remember the Rush bolting out to a quick 2-0 lead, when Ben McIntosh scored 47 seconds into the contest and Mark Matthews tallied at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter. From there, half of pictures I took were of the game and half were of things that happened around the game.

Rush fans do the chest beat celebration after one of the team’s goals.

    I took cool shots of the mini-monster truck shooting out huge sparks during the pre-game and was taken in by the skill displayed by the Crush Dance Team during their performances. I found myself in the party zone set up in the one corner of the facility and wandering the concourse checking out the various displays the Rush staff set up through the facility.

    It was also a 1980s promo night on Saturday, and considering I love 80s music, I was grooving pretty good to the tunes Trystan Meyers , who is also known as “D.J. Anchor,” was cranking out. The Nightrain, which is a Guns N’ Roses tribute band, was pretty sweet as well.
    In between, I was able to capture a couple of shots of Bruiser the Rush bulldog mascot.

Rush mascot Bruiser waves a team flag.

    On the floor, I loved the up tempo pace of action the NLL presents. Being at the contest in a media capacity, I really took in and was in awe checking out how much the fans reacted and enjoyed the night. While there are obvious fan favourite players like goalie Aaron Bold, Jeremy Thompson, Matthews and Robert Church, the fans were soaking in the pure fun.

    Even if the Rush had lost, you felt like the fans wouldn’t be over dissecting the game, which commonly happens when the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders come up on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

    The announcers do their best to get the crowd revved up into the game like noting the Toronto Rock come from a city that considers itself “the centre of the universe.”

    When the Rush score, everyone get super intense into the chest beat celebration.

    Behind the scenes, the Rush game day staff are first class to deal with. It seem like they are upbeat all the time, which adds to the fun.

    At a Rush game, it feels like all your daily troubles go away for the two to three hours you are there.
    For the ticket buyers that are coming from all over Saskatchewan, that feeling of euphoria is priceless.

    If you have any comments would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Rush deliver wins record to coach, first place to fans

Ryan Keenan celebrates his goal with Robert Church (#17).

    Derek Keenan was the man of the hour on dads’ night for the Saskatchewan Rush.

    Before Saturday night’s National Lacrosse League regular season game at the SaskTel Centre, Keenan, who is the Rush’s veteran head coach and general manager, escorted son and Rush rookie forward, Ryan, on to the floor during pre-game festivities. The Rush had all their players introduced with their fathers and walk on to the SaskTel Centre floor to pay tribute to their dads in the club’s final regular season home game of 2017.

    After the festivities wrapped up, the Rush turned a 7-7 draw into a convincing 15-10 victory over the visiting Toronto Rock. The win moved the elder Keenan into top spot in NLL career coaching victories with 122. 

    The 55-year-old Oshawa, Ont., product passed Darris Kilgour, who piled up 121 victories guiding the Buffalo Bandits as head coach from 2003 to 2013.

    The Rush improved to 11-5, and with the aid of a Vancouver Stealth 13-7 home victory over the Colorado Mammoth, Saskatchewan clinched first place in the NLL’s West Division.

Rush HC and GM Derek Keenan holds court during a media scrum.

    The Rush bench boss said the important thing was his club locked up first place in the West Division before reflecting on his wins record.

    “It was a nice milestone,” said Keenan, whose Rush existed in Edmonton before moving to Saskatoon for the 2016 season. “We’ve won a lot of games the last four or five years.

    “Certainly, the credit goes to the players and my assistant coaches and the organization as a whole. You don’t get to this milestone without having around you, and I have a whole bunch of them.”

    Son Ryan chipped in a goal and a pair of assists in the Rush victory before a raucous sellout crowd of 15,045 at the SaskTel Centre. Derek admitted it was cool to get the wins record on the Rush’s dads’ night.

    “It was kind of weird that I had to go out on the floor before the game,” said Keenan with a laugh. “There was some kind of strange quirky things this weekend that we kind of worked through. It was fun.”

Robert Church had two goals and five assists for the Rush.

    Saturday’s encounter with the Rock had some momentum swings early. The Rush scored two early goals to go ahead 2-0, but Toronto answered back with four straight tallies to vault to a 4-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

    After the teams entered halftime tied 7-7, the Rush surged ahead 12-7 with five unanswered goals in the third quarter. They cruised to victory from there.

    “It was unbelievable,” said Keenan of the third quarter. “I think the biggest thing about it was we’ve done OK in third quarters, but we haven’t scored a lot.

    “We kept teams to low numbers in third quarters, but I think our offence really got going. Defensively, I think they ran out of gas a little bit. They were really pushing the transition game the first half.

    “I think they ran out of gas a little bit, so we were able to get to run our offence. I thought defensively we smothered them for most of the night.”

    Star forward Mark Matthews powered the Rush with four goals and three assists. Robert Church piled up two goals and five assists for the hosts. Ben McIntosh, Matt Hossack and Adam Jones all had two-goal nights for Saskatchewan, while Dan Taylor and Curtis Knight added singles.

Mark Matthews (#42) had four goals and three assists for the Rush.

    Brett Hickey led the Rock with four goals. Tom Schreiber and Dan Lintner both had two-goal nights for Toronto, while Jesse Gamble and Reid Reinholdt had singles.

    Tyler Carlson turned away 40 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rush. Nick Rose turned away 34-of-49 shots to start and take the loss in goal for the Rock (8-9). Brandon Miller stopped the only shot he faced in a short relief appearance for Toronto.

    Carlson didn’t know he was going to get a rare start in goal in place of Rush star goalie Aaron Bold. Keenan informed Carlson of the decision on game day.

    “It means a lot especially coming from Derek (Keenan),” said Carlson. “He has so much confidence in Boldy (Aaron Bold). We all have confidence in Boldy.

    “I was there to step in. It is an amazing honour to be able to be in there with those guys.”

    The Brampton, Ont., product was pumped to help Keenan get the NLL’s career wins record.

The Rush salute the SaskTel Centre fans after their win on Saturday.

    “Keenan is just a classy guy,” said Carlson. “You are not going to find a coach like that.

    “He is our father figure in there when we come here. It is nice to have our fathers in the stands, but Keenan, he is just an amazing coach, and he is an amazing human being too.”

    The Rush return to action on Friday, when they travel to Denver, Colorado, to face the Colorado Mammoth.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.