Breaking down the Rush schedule with Janner
Sep 18, 2024The Saskatchewan Rush’s 2024/25 season schedule is out and there’s 18 thrilling matchups to breakdown!
November 30 @ Albany – The long ride out to Albany is going to be very interesting for two major reasons. First, Saskatchewan will be out for revenge after an overtime heartbreaker last year on Co-op Field. Second, lacrosse fans will get their first look at 2023 first overall pick Dyson Williams who will suit up for the FireWolves.
December 14 vs Halifax – Austin Shanks revenge game? The biggest name on the free agent board this summer ended up ditching the purple and orange, which is sure to draw a lot of eyes on the Rush home opener. Despite being 4,349 kilometers apart, the Halifax vs Saskatchewan rivalry has heated up since the Tbirds entered the league back in 2019/20.
December 21 @ Rochester – What feels like one of many payback games, the Knighthawks stole one in Sask last year. They boast Connor Fields who should have been the league MVP last season as he dragged Rochester to the playoffs, but the Rush defence looks a lot different this year compared to the squad that allowed 16 goals a year ago.
December 28 vs Philadelphia – Bring on Brennan. 2024 first overall pick Brennan O'Neill steps foot on Co-op Field for the first time his career. The highly touted American was teammates with Rush draft picks Josh Zawada and Jake Naso at Duke last season. Saskatchewan is 3-0 all time against the Wings, with the last home win coming on April 13th 2019 in a 16-11 fashion in front of 14,005 fans.
January 11 vs Las Vegas – No New Years Eve game this season, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see fireworks between these two teams once again. The Rush are 3-0 against the Dogs, scoring 45 goals in those three wins all in a calendar year, with no love lost in the latest penalty filled affair that saw 15 minor penalties and a major handed out last season.
January 18 @ Toronto – Mark Matthews ended the Rush season last year, and now Saskatchewan gets a chance to respond on enemy territory. Ryan Keenan had a five-point performance against the Rock last year, with Mike Triolo, Nathaniel Kozevnikov and Robert Church putting up multi-goal performances.
January 25 vs Albany – Again? Yup. Albany is one of five teams the Rush will play twice this upcoming season! Marshall Powless and the wolves will head to Saskatchewan to take on Zach Manns on Co-op Field. Manns had three goals and three assists last season against Albany in their lone meeting.
February 1 @ San Diego – The Rush slapped the Seals around last year in a 13-8 win. Frank Scigliano stopped 40/48 against his former team while Zach Manns stuffed five behind Chris Origlieri. This is such a sneaky good rivalry that doesn’t get the respect it deserves, because you can feel the true hatred when these two teams touch the floor and the Rush’s 6-5 career record shows just how close it’s been.
February 14 @ Calgary – Come for the party? We'll be there. Battle of The Prairies is back after a longgggggggg wait. After being one-sided for a few years, both rosters look drastically different, and the Rush snapped the losing skid last year at home in a punch out. We all know Scigliano loves playing his former team and going into the dome provides a welcomed challenge for the green machine.
February 15 vs Rochester – Battle of the Greens? Ya our shade is way better. Both of these teams play with a ton of pace and after putting up a combined 30 goals last season, the speed is bound to continue. That should favour the Rush and players like Jake Boudreau, who had two goals and two assists last year against the Knighthawks. But, this is the second half of a back to back and Saskatchewan is going to have to take the red eye from YYC the night before, while Rochester will be getting a full eight hours of sleep.
February 21 @ Vancouver – Only meeting of the season between a handful of former Rush players who now rep the gold and white. Saskatchewan struggled to crack Aaron Bold last year in their first outing, but captain Keenan carried the team to victory with six points in a 13-9 road win to split the season series last year. Vancouver added Cornwall, Saskatchewan added Hossack. Both teams took huge strides forward in the offseason and this is certainly a game to circle on your calendar.
March 1 vs Buffalo – These two teams played the closest game in NLL history last season, rotating goals 29 times before Tehoka Nanticoke iced the game in overtime. Any time you get to welcome the defending champs you welcome it, and the Rush know to be the best you have to beat the best, which is the ultimate task to start March.
March 8 @ Georgia – Saskatchewan has only won once in the peach state. Why? Well, my best guess is it’s one of the hardest travel destinations in the league, that generally involves 2-3 flights, and for a fourth straight meeting, it’ll happen at GAS South Arena. Last year, the Rush got out to a great start in the second half of a wild eastern road trip back-to-back, before the Swarm scored nine second half goals to steal the win. No matter what the career stats show, ever since 2017, this has been a rivalry fans look forward to and you’ll never see any love lost between these two opponents.
March 14 @ Halifax – Just six days after making the trip to Georgia, Saskatchewan will have to make the journey to Nova Scotia. To put it in perspective, a player travelling from Victoria would have to travel almost 21,000 kilometers (basically 31 hours on a plane best case scenario) in a span of eight days. Adversity builds character and after the last outing inside Scotiabank Centre, this is a game you’ll need to tune in to.
March 29 vs Colorado – I feel like this rivalry cooled off a bit in the past 365 days. They only met once last season where the Rush dominated to the tune of 15-7 in front of almost 11,000 fans in Ball Arena, so will the Mammoth be out for revenge? Does Will Malcom make them a contender once again? One thing you can guarantee is Pat Coyle’s squad will take no prisoners and with both teams being in the playoff race, tensions will be sky high.
April 4 vs Calgary – Friday Night Lights. Ok well it’s not football but damn the schedule makers did us a favour with this one. Run, don’t walk to Co-op Field because we saw how crazy the Battle Of The Prairies got last year in the heat of a playoff race, and despite each team looking different, the goal hasn’t changed. All time, Saskatchewan is 12-10 against the Roughnecks and 8-4 on home turf.
April 13 at Colorado – A mammoth Sunday afternoon? Good thing the Rush have players who love playing in the mile high city. Ryan Keenan and Robert Church both had eight-point games their last season. Frank Scigliano posted an 82.1 save percentage, Jake Boudreau scooped up 11 loose balls and Connor McClelland caused four turnovers.
April 19 vs Ottawa – New kids on the block. Well, they’re not really kids and they ain’t really on our block, but Rich Lisk is going all in during season one in Ottawa. The Black Bears have loaded up around Jeff Teat and will certainly be one of the toughest opponents the Rush will face, which feels like the perfect playoff tune up and who knows, maybe even a first-round matchup. Before they pulled the plug on the RipTide, the Rush topped their eastern opponents 17-15 on Co-op Field last season thanks to a Zach Manns hat trick.