Sask. Rush hope for first win at home opener

The 0-2 Saskatchewan Rush are hosting the 1-1 Rochester Knighthawks in National Lacrosse League action tonight. Tonight’s game, the Rush home opener, also features the banner raising from last year’s league championship.

Off to a rocky start to the 2017 NLL season, head coach and general manager Derek Keenan said both he and the team are looking forward to playing at home.

“It’ll be great. Our fans, I can’t say enough about them and the support they give our guys, and I think they’re looking forward to being home,” he said.

When the team started playing in Saskatoon last year Keenan said there were good crowds, both loud and supportive. He said the crowds may have energized the players a bit too much at times.

“We need to play our roles, understand them, buy into them and not try to do too much,” he said. “Play with energy, which we’ll probably get from the crowd, but let’s play within ourselves as well.”

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In order to win against Rochester Keenan said the Rush need to stay out of the penalty box. In the Knighthawks’ last game against New England, Keenan pointed out, they went nine for 10 on the power play.

“We need to be more disciplined. We’ve spent way too much time in the penalty box,” he said. “We’re the second most penalized team in the league and that’s completely uncharacteristic of our team. We’re usually at the bottom of the league.”

Keenan said the Knighthaws are always tough opponents, with a lot of new faces in their line-up bringing youth, and offensive quickness mixed with defensive athleticism and led by veteran player Dan Dawson.

While they may be a tough team, one has to go back to 2011 to find the last time the Rush lost to the Knighthawks. Going 7-0 in the past five seasons, the Rush last lost to Rochester Feb. 26, 2011 when the Rush were located in Edmonton.  

The Rush, Keenan said, will also have to win the transition battles to take the win tonight.

“We’ve yet to do that. We gave up six against Toronto in the first half – that’s unacceptable. We were better in the second half and didn’t give up any.” He said. “We have to win the transition battle and have to be better at five-on-five… We’ve played out of character and outside of our principals on defence.”

Opening face-off for the game is 7:30 p.m. at SaskTel Centre. A sold-out crowd is expected. As of publishing, fewer than 200 tickets were still available.

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW, paNOW and battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.