Rush in rebound mode as team works to stave off elimination
Coaching staff cites lack of consistency as cause of late-game collapse in opener
Saskatchewan Rush coaches are poring over film, seeking the how and the why, after a rough Sunday in Georgia.
Next: Sending 25 to 30 video clips to each player, currently scattered across the country, along with detailed notes. At the heart of that labour is one simple concept: Staying alive one more week.
“We’ll be better,” vows Rush head coach Derek Keenan, whose team faces elimination after Sunday’s 18-14 loss to the Georgia Swarm in their National Lacrosse League championship series. “We’re going to need to be, or we’ll get the golf clubs out.”
The Swarm lead the best-ofthree title series 1-0, and can clinch if they beat Saskatchewan — winners of the last two NLL championships — Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at SaskTel Centre. If the Rush win, Game 3 goes June 18 in Duluth, Ga.
Saskatchewan needs to rectify a late-game collapse Sunday that saw Georgia erase a four-goal deficit with seven straight markers late in the third quarter and into the fourth. The Swarm outscored the Rush 11-3 in the last 21 minutes.
“It was our first playoff loss (in a few years), and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Keenan said. “It’s like a loss during the regular season, when you’re rolling along, and you think you’re special and great. Then you suffer a loss, and you go, ‘OK, let’s regroup here; let’s get our feet back on the ground.’ That’s what we’re looking at with this — first playoff loss in a long time, let’s get our feet back on the ground and realize we’re playing a really good team, and it’s not going to be easy.
“I don’t think our guys feel pressure this weekend, because most of them have been there before, and we’re excited. It’s another challenge for this group. I like our chances because of our leadership, and the fact we’ve had some success in the past. But I also recognize we’re playing a really good team, and we have to be better than we were.”
Saskatchewan didn’t face elimination in the previous two championships. They swept Toronto in 2015, and Buffalo in 2016.
But now, the end of their season beckons — Georgia will try to hasten that process, while Saskatchewan tries to slow it down.
Keenan said his team — which went 12-6 during the regular season — controlled the tempo in much of Sunday’s clash with the 13-5 Swarm. They were “in a good spot,” he says, then suddenly, it all fell apart. There was not, Keenan said, enough consistency.
“We’ve had stretches where we’ve been inconsistent, but this team rarely loses two games in a row. That’s been going on four or five years, and we like going home. We like the spot we’re in, even if we’re down 1-0.”