Saskatchewan Rush not talking three-peat ahead of Champion’s Cup final

While the Saskatchewan Rush are on the verge of reaching some rarefied air, don’t expect to hear much three-peat talk coming from their locker room.

In the 30-year history of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), only one team has won three-straight championships.

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The Rochester Knighthawks beat the Rush in 2014 to complete the feat.

Saskatchewan now has a chance to make it back-to-back three-peats when they take on the Georgia Swarm in the NLL Champion’s Cup.

It’s the kind of success head coach and general manager Derek Keenan had in mind when he was hired in 2010.

He is now seeing that plan come together.

“I always say at the start of the season we’re just like eight other teams in this league trying to win a championship so I don’t ever feel we’re defending anything,” Keenan said.

“I just think that we’re another team trying to win it.”

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The team credits much of its success to staying in the moment and that philosophy isn’t changing any time soon.

“When you’re out there playing, it’s the next five minutes, it’s the next five minutes, it’s the next shift you’re on,” Rush forward Ben McIntosh said.

“You don’t really have that in the back of your mind. Maybe after the fact, we talk about it, we joke about it, but it’s really not when you’re on the floor. It’s all about the next shift.”

The Rush and Swarm meet on Sunday, June 4 at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth, Ga., in Game 1 of the NLL Champion’s Cup final.

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Game 2 goes Saturday, June 10, at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Game 3, if necessary, goes June 18 in Georgia.

The Swarm downed the Rush 18-10 in their only meeting during the regular season.