Rush Have Stingiest Defense
March 19, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---As a key component of their undefeated start to the season, the Edmonton Rush boast the National Lacrosse League's stingiest defense.
The Rush enter Game #11 of the season on Friday night against the Buffalo Bandits having assembled a perfect 10-0 start during which they've allowed an average of just eight goals per game. There's was never much of a mystery going into the season - everyone knew the Rush would put a premium on rock-solid defensive play. But the combination of goalie Aaron Bold's play between the pipes and the Rush defenders acting like concrete walls has meant the twine in Edmonton's net hasn't been stretched very much.
Edmonton's defense will get maybe its stiffest test of the year when they host the Bandits on Crystal Glass Field at Rexall Place. After the unbeaten Rush, the Bandits the next hottest team in the league and have a pack mentality offense that still features NLL scoring legend John Tavares.
"The last four or five games, they've had the best offense in the league so we're going to have to be at our best to compete with them," said Rush GM/head coach Derek Keenan. "They've been getting a lot of contributions in transition and they've had very balanced scoring so it's going to be a tough test for us."
The Rush are certainly doing a lot right as their unblemished record would indicate. They're also the first team to clinch a spot in this year's Champion's Cup playoffs.
"Check one off the list but we've got a lot bigger goals moving forward," Keenan noted."
One specific area the Rush have far exceeded their opposition in so far this season is forced turnovers. If this was football, every insider would be having a field day talking about the ball-hawking backfield who are compiling an impressive list of interceptions. In lacrosse, the "interception" is the forced turnover and yet it's a relatively quiet stat compared to its football counterpart.
The Rush as a whole are front runners in this category. So far this season they've racked up 132 forced turnovers for the third-highest total in the league. But a closer look will indicate that the two teams higher than Edmonton - Colorado with 150 and Vancouver with 140 - have played more games than the Rush. The Mammoth have played 13 games already while the Stealth have played in 11.
"It comes a lot from the defensive scheme and unit we have," said Edmonton's Kyle Rubisch, who is the two-time defending NLL Defensive Player of the Year.
"Our pressure defense allows us to get more out on the offensive players and play more aggressive. And we're playing as a unit and being in the right spot. You know you've got back up with you and that makes it easier to try and take the ball away."
Rubisch certainly knows a thing or two about stealing from the enemy invaders. Just as the brother combination of Calgary's Geoff Snider and Vancouver's Bob Snider are the sure-things to lead the faceoff stats each season, and Philadelphia's Brodie Merrill will be in the loose ball hunt alongside Snider, it's Rubisch who will undoubtedly dominant the realm of the forced turnover.
Since the NLL has taken more note of the category, Rubisch has been the trendsetter. He set the league record in 2012 with 43 only to topple it himself last season with 44. Rubisch leads the NLL with 23 takeaways so far in 2014, and the Rush are the only team in the league with three players in the top 10 - Jeff Cornwall (sixth - 17), Jeremy Thompson (eighth - 16), and Brett Mydske (10th - 15).
Edmonton has racked up more forced turnovers than its opposition in all but one game this season, and since the sixth game of the year, the opponents have only been close one time in this category.
*Game 6 - FTs - Edmonton 16, Philadelphia 8
*Game 7 - FTs - Edmonton 14, Minnesota 12
*Game 8 - FTs - Edmonton 16, Toronto 5
*Game 9 - FTs - Edmonton 21, Vancouver 14
*Game 10 - FTs - Edmonton 18, Calgary 9
Despite the stellar numbers in this category, the Rush aren't preaching about it in the locker room. Far from it, actually. They don't even come close to forcing the forced turnover issue.
"We don't emphasize it all. It's just a result of the personnel we have and the system we play," said Keenan. "It's part of our system.
"We have the right guys playing our system. The guys are familiar with each other and confident about themselves, and in each other, and in the system."
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National Lacrosse League Stories from March 19, 2014
- Toronto Rock Sign Free Agents Jimmy Purves and Kevin Ross - Toronto Rock
- Rush Have Stingiest Defense - Edmonton Rush
- Philadelphia Wings Hope for a Little Help from their Four-Legged Friends against Toronto - Philadelphia Wings
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