Sask. Rush aims to end playoff drought as training camp begins

Members of the Saskatchewan Rush returned to Bridge City this past weekend to begin its 2024-25 season.

The Rush will be looking to end a playoff drought that has stretched over the past three seasons — an odd position for a team that was among the class of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) from 2016 to 2020.

Heading into 2024-25, General Manager Derek Kennan said his group is looking to return that winning culture to the Rush organization.

“You have to have consistency. I think last year in particular we saw really good stretches during the season and during games — but it’s putting that whole 60 minutes together in all aspects of the game,” he explained.

“With the growth of our younger core guys on the defensive end and with the additions we’ve made on offence, we’re getting closer to being there.”

At training camp this season, the Rush brought in a record 37 players to Saskatoon. That’s a large number considering the regular-season roster will only house 21 spots on its active roster and four people on its practice roster.

Despite the large group at camp, Head Coach Jimmy Quinlan thinks it’s a good thing to have so many players looking for jobs.

“The energy, speed of the play and competition of the guys was exactly what we wanted,” said Quinlan after the first session of Rush training camp last Friday night.

“We’re trying to get back to that winning culture and the things that we saw are things we want to see. It was fast, sometimes too fast, but we’d rather have to pull the reigns back as opposed to kick the horse.”

Quinlan is hopeful the work ethic and actions from the first weekend of training camp will follow the Rush into the season.

“Well done is better than well said. For us, words can only go so far, it’s the actions that (people see),” Quinlan explained.

“We saw guys diving in front of shots and crease diving in the scrimmage. You’ve got to pay a price both on and off the floor and we saw a lot of that.”

The Rush should get a big scoring boost to its lineup this season after Austin Shanks signed a two-year contract with the club in the off-season. The Ontario product is coming off a great three seasons with the Halifax Thunderbirds which saw him register 149 points in only 38 games.

Shanks said he’s excited to be a member of the Rush and can’t wait to see what the offence will bring.

“We’re very rounded. I think we have a very good core. I think anyone can score, anyone can pass and everyone works hard. It’s going to be an exciting year for the offence,” he explained.

“I love Derek (Keenan’s) offence. I played it my whole life. It’s not for one guy, it’s team ball,” Shanks added.

“It’s a dangerous offence because you can’t play one guy and shut it down — it’s set moving around — both Jimmy and coach Keenan really have the respect of the entire team — so I know there’s a good culture here and I’m excited to be apart of it.”

Zach Manns is happy that Shanks is now on his team.

“It’s going to be good to have him on my side. I played against Austin quite a few times when I was in Toronto playing against Halifax,” Manns said.

“I’ve seen him score a lot of high-level goals and he’s one of the smartest lacrosse players out there. I think he’s going to fit in seamlessly.”

Manns added the biggest thing the Rush will have to work on is flipping the script on those one and two-goal games they lost and converting them into wins.

The Rush will hold training camps every Friday to Sunday until their first game of the season in Albany on Nov. 30.

The Rush will return to Saskatoon this upcoming weekend and will host its first-ever intra-squad game at SaskTel Centre on Saturday. They then travel to Oakville, Ontario for two exhibition games against Las Vegas and Toronto on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.

The final weekend of training camp is set for Nov. 22-24 back in Saskatoon at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.