Signed as the biggest off-season splash by the Saskatchewan Rush last summer, Austin Shanks has certainly lived up to that star billing near the midway mark of the 2025 NLL season.
Helping the Rush to the league’s second-best record at 6-2 through their first eight games.
“It’s been awesome,” said Shanks. “The guys have been very welcoming, we’re off to a really good start. We’re still finding ourselves, but that’s the progress that everyone is going through early on in the season. It’s been nothing but really good moments so far and a really good team.”
Signing a two-year contract to join the Rush after six seasons split between the former Rochester Knighthawks and Halifax Thunderbirds, Shanks has been a key weapon on Saskatchewan’s left side.
Moving into an offensive system already featuring stars like Robert Church, Ryan Keenan and Zach Manns, Shanks has incorporated himself with 12 goals in seven games to rank second in team scoring.
“It was pretty flawless,” said Shanks. “We have a really good system here, we do really good work at practice getting to know the system and watch film. It’s been really good getting me into the system and other guys too, we got quite a few rookies in the lineup playing so it’s been really good.”
Of those dozen goals, one has stood out to the Courtice, Ont., product as he gave the Rush their first win of the season on the road in Albany sniping the overtime winner against the FireWolves.
“My first game with [Saskatchewan] was an overtime winner, so that was a good kick start,” said Shanks. “It’s kind of the stuff with the team, the locker room, the winning, that’s what goes far.”
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While he’s become one of the NLL’s most consistent offensive performers in recent years, by day he serves as a first responder with the Toronto Fire Service.
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Two very different career paths, which the soon-to-be 31-year-old has been able to balance over the last handful of years.
“It’s actually something I always wanted to do,” said Shanks. “I always wanted to play in the NLL and be a firefighter. To be in Toronto, one of the best cities in the world, I love it and I have two of the best jobs in the world.”
Coming out of a bye week, the Rush are preparing for their first back-to-back series of the NLL season as they’ll hit the road Friday for a tilt against the Calgary Roughnecks and will follow that up with a home date against the modern Rochester Knighthawks.
Shanks said the team has been playing well over the first half of the season, but feels there’s more room for improvement with a large slate of games ahead.
“We’ve played some really good games but we haven’t played a full 60 [minutes] I think all year,” said Shanks. “If we play a full 60 [minutes], I don’t think there’s too many teams that can stop us.”
It’s an 8:30 p.m. start in Calgary for the Rush looking to improve to 7-2 on the year, while they’ll battle the Knighthawks at SaskTel Centre at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.
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