Rush Take Unbeaten Mark against Defending Champs
January 29, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---The hottest team in the NLL matching up head-to-head against the two-time defending champs.
Without question, the Edmonton Rush, front-runners with the league's only unbeaten record, are viewing Saturday night's clash with the Rochester Knighthawks as a measuring stick to see how far they've truly come in 2014.
The Rush host the two-time defending Champion's Cup winners on Crystal Glass Field at Rexall Place where they've suddenly found some long-awaited home-turf success with victories over Calgary and Colorado. The Rush have also topped Rochester in four of five regular-season meetings, but the Knighthawks hold the only playoff win when they've matched up and that was the 2012 title game.
Just five weeks into the NLL campaign, the Beasts from East are coming to fight the Best in the West.
"One of the most-disciplined, well-coached, and well-structured teams in our league," surmised Rush GM/Head Coach Derek Keenan of his club's opposition.
"They make it hard to play all over the floor. We're going to have to be at our best to beat these guys."
Maybe the Rush weren't at their best last Saturday in Vancouver but they still managed to pull out a come-from-behind 9-8 win over the Stealth. While it was far from their best outing of the year, the victory was a sign of growth for the Rush - being able to storm back in the second, outscoring the Stealth 7-2 over the final 30 minutes and taking home the win.
"In this league you have to win games in a lot of different ways," noted Keenan. "(The Stealth) did a lot of nice things on offense early and we had to make adjustments. We had to stick with our game plan and we were able to grind away and pull out a big comeback win. It was a real character win."
The Rush set their sights on improvement from 2013's disappointing end especially the fact they had such a dismal home record which ultimately cost them a home-floor playoff game. Continuing their winning ways, especially at Rexall Place, remains top priority.
"There's no doubt that was a big win. Our focus was going into each game individually and that's coming out with a win," said Rush sniper Zack Greer.
"Being 4-0 is nice for us but this is a big test this weekend going up against one of the best teams in the league, a real complete team from the goaltending all the way out. We're looking forward to it."
The Rush and Knighthawks match up very well. The teams both boast strong goaltending in Edmonton's Aaron Bold and Rochester's Matt Vinc, brick-wall defenses, and enough scoring to light the lamp on a frequent basis with go-to, featured players up front in Rush standout Mark Matthews and Knighthawk gunner Cody Jamieson.
Being unbeaten through four games - the best start in franchise history - is certainly a feather in the cap for the Rush, but Keenan has talked right from the first win of the year about not getting too high on their success considering there is so much season still to come. It's hard not to be standing a little taller, but while 4-0 is perfect when looking at wins versus losses, the Rush haven't been perfect and that's what they are striving for.
"We look for things we can improve on and we saw a lot of little things from last weekend that we can be better at," said Keenan. "We were a little complacent on offense and finishing. There were a lot of little things that we can do better that we kind of got away from.
"They were minute things but they're really important. We want to continue our objective of wanting to get better every week and we're working on that. Sometimes they're small things but those small things can also can also turn out to be game changers."
Tickets are available by calling the Rush office at 780 732-RUSH.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from January 29, 2014
- Rush Take Unbeaten Mark against Defending Champs - Edmonton Rush
- Powell's Return, Wooly's Birthday Highlight Mammoth's Saturday Home Game - Colorado Mammoth
- Philadelphia Wings Meet Vancouver Stealth for Initial Matchup of 2014 Season - Philadelphia Wings
- Bill Greer Activated from Injured Reserve - Toronto Rock
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