Saskatchewan Rush embark on 2024-25 NLL season with playoff-focused mentality

The opening of December means 2 things passim Saskatchewan: the holidays are rapidly approaching and the accomplishment of lacrosse play for the Saskatchewan Rush.

On Saturday, the Rush volition unfastened their 2024-25 National Lacrosse League play connected the roadworthy visiting the Albany FireWolves aft cutting down to a 24-man roster past week to wrapper up grooming camp.

That included saying goodbye to players similar Laine Hruska, Nathaniel Kozevnikov and Jeremy Searle, arsenic good arsenic releasing erstwhile Panther City Lacrosse Club defender Evan Messenger.

“I deliberation each feline who is inactive present deserves to beryllium here,” said Rush co-head manager Jimmy Quinlan. “I similar that they tin each play.”

While inactive a young squad with constricted playoff experience, the Rush person grown a twelvemonth older unneurotic and wrapped up their largest grooming campy successful franchise history.

Veteran defenceman Mike Messenger said the tempo astatine signifier has been precocious up of the NLL play and is showing encouraging signs for wherever the squad could beryllium headed.

“We brought a batch much guys to campy this year,” said Messenger. “Having that scrimmage, that intersquad [game] and truly pushing each different to combat for spots for immoderate of these younger guys is bully for us.”

The Rush are hopeless to get backmost to the NLL post-season for the archetypal clip since 2019, aft completing their 3rd consecutive 8-10 season.

That included a 12-11 nonaccomplishment astatine the hands of erstwhile prima Mark Matthews and the Toronto Rock successful their play finale, coming up 1 extremity abbreviated of clinching a playoff spot.

“I haven’t been to the playoffs yet since I’ve entered the league,” said Rush defenceman Holden Garlent. “It’s been a pugnacious fewer years, but I’m bare for it. I privation it much than thing and I deliberation this radical does arsenic well.”

To code their right-side onslaught and defence implicit the off-season, the Rush added erstwhile Halifax Thunderbirds sniper Austin Shanks and saw 2018 NLL champion Matt Hossack instrumentality to Saskatchewan done the Panther City Lacrosse Club dispersal draft.

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That’s being combined this play with a rookie people featuring a trio of first-round picks successful Levi Anderson, Brock Haley and Matt Acchione, arsenic good a caller limb successful the faceoff dot courtesy of Jake Naso.

“We’re moving successful the close direction,” said Quinlan. “We’ve asked that we get amended each practice, each league we’ve been unneurotic and truthful acold it feels similar we’re doing that.”

The Rush played down the eight-ball passim the 2023-24 play aft winning conscionable 1 of their archetypal 5 games, thing that they can’t spend again according to netminder Frank Scigliano.

“We person a crippled and past we person a bye right?” said Scigliano. “You don’t truly privation to person to beryllium connected that for 2 weeks and we benignant of cognize what that’s similar from past year. Hopefully we’ve learned our lessons and we’re going to beryllium acceptable for Week 1.”

Pre-season play went good for the Rush going 2-0 earlier this period successful Ontario against the Rock and Las Vegas Desert Dogs successful a brace of tune-up games.

Restoring the programme to championship-calibre presumption volition instrumentality much than a fewer accumulation wins, however, arsenic the Rush get acceptable for their archetypal trial of the twelvemonth successful Albany.

“We got to spot however this archetypal crippled goes,” said Garlent. “Get our minds close and beryllium acceptable for it. Pre-season is 1 thing, but erstwhile the shot drops for the regular play it’s a antithetic animal.”

Opening faceoff betwixt the Rush and FireWolves goes astatine 6:00 p.m. CST connected Saturday, with the archetypal location crippled of the play astatine SaskTel Centre acceptable for Dec. 14 against Halifax.