Sask. Rush captain a defensive headache and offensive threat

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“I was just about to fly out to Langley and I got a call from the assistant-general manager in Buffalo telling me I was traded. I was pretty shocked and I probably shouldn’t have been, I’m sure the writing was on the wall but when you’re young, you tend to be a little naïve. I never envisioned I’d be traded,” the Torontonian said.

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Playing for Derek Keenan, the Rush head coach and general manager, at the 2011 World Championships in Prague the two hit it off instantly. Knowing Keenan had a good group in Edmonton, Corbeil was excited to be brought on board.

Prior to the start of his third season in 2013, then Rush captain Jimmy Quinlan announced his retirement making Corbeil the new captain.

Calling the opportunity exciting, Corbeil was one of the youngest captains in the league at the time.

“Obviously it’s an honour to be named captain of such a talented team and at such a young age it was something I really appreciated. It came with a responsibility I knew I couldn’t take lightly,” he said.

Three years in a row – 2014, 2015 and 2016 – Corbeil was nominated for the NLL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, but has yet to win. Instead, each time Corbeil lost to a teammate; twice to Kyle Rubisch and once to Ryan Dilks.

The biggest thing that says, Corbeil thought, is just how great the Rush defence is.

“It might sound a little cliché, but really it is easy to do really well and thrive on defence when you’re playing within a great defensive system,” he said. “I’m really just a beneficiary of playing with, at all times, four other guys who are really great defenders. I know where they’re going to be, I can rely on them and I know if I make a mistake they’ll clean it up for me and vice-versa.”

In 2016, Corbeil finished first amongst NLL defenceman with three shorthanded goals and was second in total points with 20. Two years prior, in 2014, Corbeil led the NLL in shorthanded goals, points by a defenceman with 27 and goals by a defenceman with 17.

Four games into the 2017 season, Corbeil has two goals and one assist for three points.

Corbeil and the Rush are in action again this weekend when the team takes on the Calgary Roughnecks in the Scotiabank Saddledome on Feb. 4.

Colton.swiderski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @coltonswiderski