PREVIEW: Saskatchewan vs Rochester (Dec.21)
Dec 18, 2024Rochester, NY – Saturday night in New York, the Saskatchewan Rush head east to face off with the Rochester Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena.
Saskatchewan is coming off a second straight overtime win, 9-8 over the Halifax Thunderbirds. After a slow start to the game, Zach Manns stole the show and scored six goals including the overtime winner, while Austin Shanks, Brock Haley and Levi Anderson tallied the others. Jake Naso won 12/21 faceoffs against Jake Withers, while goaltender Frank Scigliano stopped 39/47 for his second win in as many games. The Rush could be without defender Connor McClelland who is on the IR with an upper-body injury from the preseason and Robert Church who suffered a lower body injury on December 14th.
Zach Attack: Saskatchewan’s Zach Manns is just the 5th player in Rush history to have a sock trick, with his memorable night finishing with him sniping the overtime winner 7:17 into the extra frame.
Rochester opened up their season with a 14-12 home win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, before dropping their next two against Buffalo (15-7) and Vancouver (10-7). Ryan Lanchbury leads their offence this year with six goals and nine assists. In goal, Riley Hutchcraft has stole the crease, posting an impressive .806 save percentage despite the losing records.
First Time (sort of): Since the new era of the Rochester Knighthawks began in 2019, the Saskatchewan Rush have never paid a visit to Blue Cross Arena. With the original Khawks (now in Halifax), the Rush were 2-2 in Rochester, with their last win coming February 11th, 2017, when Robert Church had an 11 point night in a 21-12 win.
Faceoff from Blue Cross Arena is at 6:00PM Sask Time. You can listen to the full game, starting with the pre-game show on 92.9 The Bull with Cody Janzen at 5:45PM. Following the game, Cody Janzen will have the fan driven, interactive post-game show on 92.9 The Bull where you can voice all your opinions on the game. Viewers in Canada can watch the game on TSN+ and NLL+, with those in America able to watch on ESPN+ with Craig Rybczynski on the call.
Rush Nation can catch the official watch party at Hunters Bowling in Fairhaven (3401 22 St W, Saskatoon, SK S7M 3Z5).
The Saskatchewan Rush are back at home on December 28th for Sask Vegas night when the Philadelphia Wings are in town! Tickets can be found here.