Rush tame Black Wolves with offensive explosion
Players break for some Christmas cheer after opening schedule with pair of wins
The Saskatchewan Rush handed 24 gifts to their fans, one by one by one, Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre.
Saskatchewan’s 24-11 win over the New England Black Wolves was a dominant display. They’re now 2-0, and have scored a whopping 41 goals in those two games.
They’d rather not get a bye next weekend, but there’s one on the schedule, so the players head home for some extended time away. Just don’t over-do the Christmas cheer, warns head coach Derek Keenan.
“They have to get to the gym, they have to take care of the bodies,” Keenan said after Saturday’s win before 14,635 spectators. “If they’re nicked up a little bit, they have to take care of injuries. And maybe one or two less scoops of gravy on Christmas Day.”
The Rush — who thumped the Toronto Rock 17-9 last weekend — tied a franchise record with those 24 Saturday goals, scored on brand-new turf. The teams were tied 3-3 early in the second quarter, but Saskatchewan then exploded for 10 straight markers.
There’s a new-found bite to this team, a group that remembers the pain of getting swept by the Georgia Swarm during last season’s National Lacrosse League final.
“The hunger’s back,” said forward Ben McIntosh, and they filled their bellies with a heaping helping of goals and defensive stops.
“When you see (defender) Kyle Rubisch out there in the fourth quarter, and we’re up by 14 goals, flying around and making plays,” Keenan said “That’s the kind of team we are, and that’s the way we want to be for the rest of the season.”
Saskatchewan led 20-5 early in the fourth quarter, but New England — which went into Saturday’s game one man short — collected six fourth-quarter goals to make the gap slightly more palatable.
Mark Matthews scored a teamhigh 13 points Saturday on six goals and seven assists. Ben McIntosh added five goals and four assists, while Robert Church tallied twice and finished with eight points.
Shawn Evans, whose Black Wolves beat defending champion Georgia 13-11 in their opener, tallied three goals and four assists in a losing cause.
“We’ve got to get back to that championship game, and hopefully hoist that trophy again,” Matthews said. “That’s the fire underneath us right now, is getting back there, and getting to that team we used to be.”
Saturday’s game marked the return of goaltender Aaron Bold, who was traded this summer from the Rush to the Black Wolves in a deal that sent Evan Kirk the other way. Bold stopped 25 of 39 shots, and was pulled twice — the first time late in the second quarter after giving up his ninth goal, and again midway through the third quarter. He didn’t return.
Kirk stopped 31 of 42 shots while making his 3,000th career save, and admits that it felt strange to play his old teammates.
“I didn’t like it, to be quite honest,” Kirk said.
“I was thinking about the wrong things. I was kind of downplaying it earlier in some interviews, but that’s a hard, mental game. There was a lot of pressure on me, just as much as Aaron Bold, to do my job. And thank God for the offence and the defence. They carried me, that’s for sure.”
The Rush don’t play again until Jan. 6 in Georgia. They’ll follow that with another road game on Jan. 13 in Colorado. Their next home game is a Friday night affair on Jan. 19 against the Buffalo Bandits.
We’ve got to get back to that championship game, and hopefully hoist that trophy again. That’s the fire underneath us right now ...