By Colton Swiderski

Rush look to make it two in a row vs. Stealth

Jan 27, 2017 | 4:00 PM

The 1-2 Saskatchewan Rush are looking for back-to-back wins on home field tonight when they welcome the Vancouver Stealth, a team which has given the Rush problems despite having a poor overall record.

The Stealth, who joined the National Lacrosse League (NLL) to start the 2014 season, have missed the playoffs in each of their first three seasons. They had dismal records of 5-13, 5-13 and 4-14 in 2016, 2015, and 2014 respectively.

Despite these poor records, Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan said the Stealth have always been a menace to the Rush, especially in 2016.

“They haven’t had a great overall record but last year we lost to them twice,” he said. “One of the things we talked about [was] in the first two games I don’t think we respected our opponent and [it’s the] same thing this weekend, we have to respect our opponent.

The Rush have a 7-2 record versus the Stealth the past three seasons with both of Vancouver’s wins coming in 2016.

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Leading the Stealth in points through four games are Rhys Duch and Corey Small, who each have 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points. Right behind them are Logan Schuss and Keegan Bal with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

“Their offence is high-octane,” Keenan said. “They’ve got a lot of real good shooters so that’s where it’s got to start, in our own end and we’ll go out from there and make things happen.”

Meanwhile, after three games, the top three point-scorers for the Rush are Mark Matthews with 23 points, Robert Church with 13 and rookie Ryan Keenan with 10.

On Jan. 21, the Rush played its home opener in front of a sold-out crowd of over 15,000 fans. The Rush bounced back from a discouraging first two games for a dominant 16-8 win over the visiting Rochester Knighthawks.

“That was an exciting night on Saturday with the ceremony before and I think the guys were pretty fired up,” Keenan said. “We’re a little more [back] to normal this week, which is a good thing too because when we do those pre-game things the guys stand around quite a bit and get a little tight but certainly it didn’t affect us on the weekend.”

During the game, two players reached career milestones. Ryan Dilks played in his 100th career game while Robert Church scored his 100th career goal.

This weekend, Adam Jones has an opportunity to reach a milestone of his own, as he only needs three goals to reach 200 for his career.

“It’s not something we really pay attention to and I don’t even think Robert [Church] knew it was his 100th goal but those things are nice,” Keenan said. “Ultimately our guys just care about winning and doing it as a team. The individual stuff is nice but it’s not really something we focus a lot on.”

The Rush will look to make it two in a row in front of what appears to be another sold out crowd tonight. Opening face-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.