Saskatchewan Rush fighting to keep playoff hopes alive

On Saturday April 16, it was like the calendar had been turned back on the Saskatchewan Rush, back to the championship pedigree team that Saskatoon has come to know and love since the Rush moved from Edmonton in the 2016 season.

The Rush battled hard in a back-and-forth affair with the division-leading Colorado Mammoth as the team rode a gritty fourth quarter performance, including a three goal-in-51-second outburst to a 9-8 victory.

It was the team’s first back-to-back wins of the season, both wins coming under the tutelage of newly named associate head coach, Jimmy Quinlan.

“Now I think everybody’s just kind of loosened up with Jimmy’s attitude in the room, and everybody is, you know, having fun now and it shows out there,” veteran forward Mark Matthews said. “We’re playing with a lot more speed and celebrating goals and it’s fun to play.”

“I don’t know if there’s one thing,” forward Robert Church added. “Maybe we’re just playing a little more confident in the fourth quarter, third quarter, you know, no self doubt in our minds.”

With the win, the Rush now sit with a record of 6-10 on the season, and hold a very narrow possibility of making the playoffs.

However, the team knows the only chance they have of playing in the second season begins with them winning their remaining two games this year.

“They’re a confident group, they’re a resilient group, they’re a proud group,” Quinlan said. “We’ve asked some things of them, to finish the season and just to really focus on what we need to do and they’ve been full value.”

“It just goes to show the character that we have. I mean, we could’ve mailed it in a while ago and just kind of dumped the guys away at the trade deadline, and like I said just mailed it in on the year,” Matthews explained. “But we keep fighting and obviously we’re still alive here by the very slim chance, but as long as we keep winning we’re helping ourselves out.”

“We’ve just got to keep winning, whether we make it or not we want to end on a high note and represent this organization and you know, get wins and set the bar for next year,” Church added.

Despite the length of time this year it’s taken the Rush to string together multiple complete games, they know that if given the opportunity they could go on a run well into the spring.

“We’re still playing for playoffs. I don’t think anyone wants to see us in the playoffs, especially if we’ve won four or five straight to get in,” Church said.