The beginning of December means two things throughout Saskatchewan: the holidays are quickly approaching and the arrival of lacrosse season for the Saskatchewan Rush.
On Saturday, the Rush will open their 2024-25 National Lacrosse League season on the road visiting the Albany FireWolves after cutting down to a 24-man roster last week to wrap up training camp.
That included saying goodbye to players like Laine Hruska, Nathaniel Kozevnikov and Jeremy Searle, as well as releasing former Panther City Lacrosse Club defender Evan Messenger.
“I think every guy who is still here deserves to be here,” said Rush co-head coach Jimmy Quinlan. “I like that they can all play.”
While still a young team with limited playoff experience, the Rush have grown a year older together and wrapped up their largest training camp in franchise history.
Veteran defenceman Mike Messenger said the tempo at practice has been high ahead of the NLL season and is showing encouraging signs for where the team could be headed.
“We brought a lot more guys to camp this year,” said Messenger. “Having that scrimmage, that intersquad [game] and really pushing each other to fight for spots for some of these younger guys is good for us.”
The Rush are desperate to get back to the NLL post-season for the first time since 2019, after completing their third consecutive 8-10 season.
That included a 12-11 loss at the hands of former star Mark Matthews and the Toronto Rock in their season finale, coming up one goal short 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 tough few years, but I’m hungry for it. I want it more than anything and I think this group does as well.”
To address their right-side attack and defence over the off-season, the Rush added former Halifax Thunderbirds sniper Austin Shanks and saw 2018 NLL champion Matt Hossack return to Saskatchewan through the Panther City Lacrosse Club dispersal draft.
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That’s being combined this season with a rookie class featuring a trio of first-round picks in Levi Anderson, Brock Haley and Matt Acchione, as well a new weapon in the faceoff dot courtesy of Jake Naso.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Quinlan. “We’ve asked that we get better each practice, each session we’ve been together and so far it feels like we’re doing that.”
The Rush played behind the eight-ball throughout the 2023-24 season after winning just one of their first five games, something that they can’t afford again according to netminder Frank Scigliano.
“We have a game and then we have a bye right?” said Scigliano. “You don’t really want to have to sit on that for two weeks and we kind of know what that’s like from last year. Hopefully we’ve learned our lessons and we’re going to be ready for Week 1.”
Pre-season play went well for the Rush going 2-0 earlier this month in Ontario against the Rock and Las Vegas Desert Dogs in a pair of tune-up games.
Restoring the program to championship-calibre position will take more than a few exhibition wins, however, as the Rush get ready for their first test of the year in Albany.
“We got to see how this first game goes,” said Garlent. “Get our minds right and be ready for it. Pre-season is one thing, but when the ball drops for the regular season it’s a different animal.”
Opening faceoff between the Rush and FireWolves goes at 6:00 pm CST on Saturday, with the first home game of the season at SaskTel Centre set for Dec. 14 against Halifax.
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