RUSH READY FOR SEASON
Team has bye first week
The Saskatchewan Rush won’t have anybody to play against when the National Lacrosse League kicks off its regular season on Dec. 8.
They’ll be back in Saskatoon, wearing practice jerseys, and wrapping up training camp — the only team not playing a real, live opponent on opening weekend.
“It’s a long off-season,” Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan said on Tuesday. “And training-camp sessions, when you’re going on the weekends, drag on a bit. But we’re getting close to the point of ‘let’s get after it.’ ”
The Rush will hold three training-camp sessions this weekend in Toronto, and wrap up their pre-season preparations Dec. 8-9 in Saskatoon.
The NLL opens with three games on Dec. 8, and one more on the ninth. It’s an earlier start than everybody is used to. Until now, the league commenced play closer to the beginning of January. Saskatchewan’s season opener last season was on Jan. 7.
“I don’t mind (the early start),” Keenan said. “I would have liked to have seen fewer bye weeks for us — we have five (including Week 1) — but we’re not alone. And the early start hasn’t changed anything. It’s still the same process.”
The Rush settled on their roster late last week, releasing four players, including two 2017 draft picks — third-rounder Chris Boushy and sixth-rounder Anthony Hallborg, who hails from Warman. Goaltenders Peter Dubenski and Zak Boychuk were also let go.
Keenan said he plans to take advantage of the settled roster to work through new wrinkles on offence, defence and special-teams in the run-up to the team’s Dec. 16 season opener in Toronto.
“Things get a little finer-tuned when you’re down to your group,” he says.
Saskatchewan’s NLL home opener is slated for Dec. 23 against the New England Black Wolves. It marks a return to Saskatoon for ex-Rush goaltender Aaron Bold, who was traded with John Lafontaine and two draft picks to New England this past off-season for goaltender Evan Kirk.
After those two games, the Rush — who lost last year’s NLL final to the Georgia Swarm — will get another bye before visiting those same Swarm on Jan. 6 and the Colorado Mammoth on Jan. 13. That’s followed by a Jan. 19 home date against the Buffalo Bandits.