TASTE OF THE PROS
Hallborg suits up for Rush
Like most of his fellow Saskatchewan Rush fans, Anthony Hallborg wore a team jersey Saturday night at SaskTel Centre.
Here’s where he did them one better: The Warman resident carried a stick, muscled up against visiting Georgia Swarm players, perched on the bench and carried the ball up-floor. He worked up a nervous, hard-labouring sweat.
“It happened so fast,” Hallborg said Saturday after playing with the Rush during a 24-9 National Lacrosse League pre-season win over the visiting Swarm. “It’s just a roar of ... I don’t know. There’s no words to describe it, honestly. It’s pretty phenomenal.”
Hallborg, a Saskatchewan Swat player who was picked by the Rush in the sixth round of this fall’s NLL draft, has been a regular in the stands since the team moved to Saskatoon two seasons ago. His family has season tickets.
He’s the first Saskatchewan product to hop the glass and play with the local team, and the 6-foot, 165-pound defender didn’t look out of place Saturday night.
“No words can explain what the nerves were like before the game,” said the 21-year-old Hallborg, who played before parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. “They were really high. But they calmed down a little bit after I got a couple hits in and played a couple shifts on defence.
“Everyone’s bigger, faster, stronger,” he added. “And the biggest thing I’ve found, is everyone’s smarter.”
“I thought he played well,” said Rush head coach Derek Keenan, noting that Hallborg faces a steep jump, given that he hasn’t played collegiately or in the high-powered junior leagues in B.C. or Ontario. “He struggled a little bit last week (in Toronto, when the Rush played a preseason road game against the Rock), but I thought he did a good job.”
Keenan faces what he says will be some tough decisions as the cutdown deadline approaches. The Rush must get their roster down to 20 players and four practice-roster players by Friday.
He said he’s pleased with the play of his youngsters: Second-round pick Nick Finlay “has been really good the whole camp”, and thirdrounder Chris Boushy rebounded from a sub-par game last weekend in Toronto, collecting two goals and an assist against Georgia. And he likes what he sees from 6-foot4, 220-pound forward Johnny Pearson, another second-round pick out of Ohio State.
The Rush ran five different goaltenders onto the floor Saturday, and they played 12 minutes each. Keenan will keep three of them, including one on the practice-roster
Evan Kirk, who was acquired from New England this past off-season to be team’s No. 1 goalie, stopped six of the seven shots he faced and left the game with a 5-1 lead.
For what it’s worth: Adam Shute stopped eight of 10, holdover backup Tyler Carlson blocked six of nine, Zak Boychuk stopped seven of nine, and Peter Dubenski stopped five of six.
Saturday’s game was a rematch of last year’s NLL final, swept two straight games by the Swarm.
“We came guns a blazing,” said Rush sophomore Ryan Keenan, who scored three goals and four assists. The Rush also got two goals and five assists from Mark Matthews. Robert Church and Dan Taylor both enjoyed six-point nights.
As for Hallborg, that NLL taste leaves him wanting more. He’ll learn his immediate fate this coming week, and he said that even if he doesn’t make the grade, he’ll work hard and try again for next season, when the league expands.