Rush on the Road to Philly Going for 6th Win
February 7, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---As far as the Edmonton Rush may go in 2014, there's a pretty good chance they'll look all the way back to a game in late January for a sign of how far they've come as a team.
With the newly expanded 18-game regular-season schedule adopted this year, it won't necessarily be an easy thing to pinpoint when something good happened along the way. But last Saturday's dramatic victory over the two-time defending champion Rochester Knighthawks is the kind of game the Rush can delve into as a good resource. The Rush's 8-7 overtime win was an important victory on many fronts.
The victory kept the Rush unbeaten so far in 2014, the league's only undefeated team as they head into this Saturday's road clash in Philadelphia against the Wings. The win was a big result in front of a home crowd which the Rush players have focused on this season, and it also was a critical result in a tight game.
"We have to learn to win these types of games. We need to win these," said Rush GM/Head Coach Derek Keenan. "You look around the league, there's a lot of one-goal games and as a young team winning these games is part of the maturation process.
"It's take a while for us to get there but we're maturing and we're where we want to be right now. But it's still early in the season. We want to keep getting better and we're seeing things every week that we can still get better at."
The players are seeing their fruits of their labor and are loving the results. Yet they too know that it's a long way to the end result they truly want. The Rush came within a handful of goals of winning the Champion's Cup in 2012 and then fell well short of their target last season. They're also well aware that regular-season success doesn't mean a thing if you are ousted from the playoffs before reaching the final. The Rush's two playoff runs - 2012 and 2010 - came on the heels of mediocre regular-season outputs.
"We're excited about the win but at the same time we're trying to focus on being the best team in the league," said Rush forward Cory Conway. "That's something that doesn't happen during the regular season. We're working towards something special."
The Wings and the rest of the NLL aren't going to let the rising Rush have a free walk through the rest of the schedule. Paying a visit upon the Wings means the Rush are going to see some familiar faces in former teammates Brodie Merrill and Ryan Ward along with ex-Calgary Roughneck Tracey Kelusky.
That trio along with the rest of the Wings are going to try to knock the Rush off their league-leading perch and also spoil the evening for Keenan, who will make his 150th appearance behind an NLL bench on Saturday, becoming just the fifth coach in league history to reach that milestone.
"I guess it means I've been at it a long time," chuckled Keenan when informed of his coaching benchmark.
"It's nice to be around that long and I've been fortunate to be involved in this great league for that long."
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National Lacrosse League Stories from February 7, 2014
- Philadelphia Wings Outmatched by the Rock in 20-10 - Philadelphia Wings
- Rock Dismantle Wings 20-10 - Toronto Rock
- Mammoth Back to Canada, Seeking Third Straight Win - Colorado Mammoth
- Vancouver Stealth's Tyler Garrison Goes First Overall in 2014 WLA Draft - Vancouver Stealth
- Rochester and Buffalo Meet in WNY Lacrosse Showdown - Rochester Knighthawks
- Toronto Rock vs. Philadelphia Tonight at ACC - Toronto Rock
- Rush on the Road to Philly Going for 6th Win - Edmonton Rush
- Thank You, Sarah - Toronto Rock
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