The Saskatchewan Rush are off to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. With a 10-4 record, it’s the second fastest the team has secured a spot in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) postseason.
“Super excited,” said Zach Manns, who has 30 goals this season for the Rush. “I think the team’s heading in a good direction but still work to be done. We still want to take one of those home playoff games, so we’ve got some work to do.”
Manns says the growing pains experienced by younger players last season in so many close game losses are showing up in the close game wins the Rush are earning this year.
But with four games left on the schedule and a chance at a first round bye and home playoff games, the Rush aren’t able to relax yet.
“It’s super exciting to be able to play a home playoff game for Saskatchewan,” Manns said. “I think the fans have been missing it for a few years now and it’s definitely an exciting thing. So we are just looking to finish the season strong.”
While the Rush are the second best team in the NLL, they stumbled their last time out against the Halifax Thunderbirds, a 19-7 thumping.
Transition player Jake Boudreau says he’d rather learn the lessons from a loss like that in the regular season than in a few weeks’ time.
“I’m almost happy that it happened,” said Boudreau, who is eighth in the NLL with 125 loose balls on the season. “Because how many times do you see teams have great regular seasons, go into the playoffs on a big heater and then first round, one game. So it could be good.”
Going into their game against an injury-stricken Colorado Mammoth squad, Boudreau says their game plan doesn’t change depending on the opponent.
“They have really good shooters,” said Boudreau. “So hopefully we can kind of just limit them to shots off the side and out of the middle. And then just keep playing hard, we never had to change our team based off of who it is.”
Manns says the Rush have been working through different lineup combinations themselves every weekend. But the players coming into the lineup have stepped into their roles seamlessly, both on offense and defense.
“Pretty much anyone on our offense is plug and play, we like to say,” Manns told CTV News. “And I think defensively, we do have some of the top players in the league on the back end on our team.”
When the Rush return to SaskTel Centre on Saturday night to face Colorado, it will be the first time in 28 days.
They will be wearing special edition jerseys that will be auctioned off following the game.
