To say I am excited by the Saskatchewan Rush would be an understatement.
Lacrosse is Canada’s official summer sport, and whether box, or field, it is exciting to watch, so having a professional National Lacrosse League team here is in my books about as good as it gets sports wise.
The NLL season is already past the one-third mark and the Rush, defending NLL champions (based in Edmonton last season), are off to a solid, if not spectacular start.
The Rush are 4-2, and are coming off an 11-8 win Friday over Rochester, in a game played before more than 11,000 fans in Saskatoon.
While I am sure the Rush would like to eclipse the 10,000 fans mark on average, given the team is building a base in a new city, in a province where lacrosse has never been a major participation sport, the early numbers are encouraging.
It helps in building a fan base that the Rush has some of the league’s top players who can be ambassadors of the sport.
One of those players is Kyle Rubisch.
Rubisch has won the last three defender of the year titles in the NLL, which rather succinctly sums up just how good this guy is.
Born in Brampton, ON, Rubisch is a graduate from Dowling College. He was named to the 2010 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Star Team and was a First Team All American.
Rubisch has also received several accolades with his hometown team, the Brampton Excelsiors of Major Series Lacrosse.
Rubisch was the second overall draft pick, going to the Boston Blazers in the 2010 NLL Entry Draft.
From Wikipedia; “in his rookie season Rubisch headed the Blazers defense recording a team-high 143 loose balls and 20 forced turnovers. Rubisch also netted his first NLL goal against Rochester on April 2…. Rubisch was named to NLL All-Rookie Team.
When the Blazers suspended operations Rubisch was picked second overall in the dispersal draft by the Edmonton Rush where he subsequently was named the NLL Defensive Player of the year in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Rubisch also represented Canada on the 2011 FIL World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in Prague. He helped his team to win gold medals and he was also named to tournament All-Star Team.
Given how good Rubisch is, it was a huge thrill to arrange a telephone interview with him recently.
The star defender said the Rush move to Saskatchewan has been a positive one.
“It’s been a great experience so far. The city has really embraced us,” he offered.
Rubisch said the experience in Saskatoon does show, at least so far, that a smaller city can support lacrosse adding the sport is allowed to shine because it is not necessarily in the shadow of other, longer established pro sports, as it would be in most larger cities.
“Saskatoon has really come out to support us,” he noted a second time, suggesting as they promote the sport more he is confident the fan base, and interest in lacrosse will grow too.
But that does put some added onus on Rush players. Rubisch said the team recognizes they are ambassadors for lacrosse, and have to play a role in growing the sport overall in a relatively new market.
“We want to be a staple in the community for a long time,” he said.
As for the start to the season, lingering around .500 might not be what was expected for the defending champions, but Rubisch said there is no panic from a veteran team.
“The coaches did a good job of putting a championship team together last year,” he said, adding that has helped with the transition to Saskatchewan. “We don’t really have the growing pains a typical new team would have.”
And it is that veteran experience which keeps the team from worrying about their start to this season.
At times the team has risen to the occasion for big wins, such as a 12-10 victory over Colorado in Saskatoon Jan. 29.
“We knew from the start we had to keep the pressure on, that it was a big game,” offered Rubisch. “We wanted to keep pace with them, especially when playing in front of our fans.”
The same Mammoth should defend their home floor Feb. 11, a game shown on TSN here in Canada, defeating the Rush 9-7.
Both games were low-scoring for lacrosse, and that plays to Rubisch’s strength, although he was quick to spread the success of the Rush keeping offence’s at bay, starting with netminder Aaron Bold.
“He sets the pace for us,” said Rubisch, adding after that team defence takes over. “… We have one of the best defensive units in the game.”
Rubisch said it takes a team effort to defend the NLL’s best shooters, the likes of Colorado’s Adam Jones and John Grant Jr.
“The key thing is dictating the pace of play,” he said, adding the shooters in the NLL are too good is allowed to do what they want. “If you give them time and space to do what they want, to play their own game, it can really hurt you.”
And if the defence does falter, Rubisch reiterated “Bold backs us up when he needs too.”
From a stingy defence, an offence can flow too.
“We try to push the pace as much as possible when the opportunity is there,” said Rubisch, but added the Rush have a talented cadre of snipers, so it’s never a bad plan to pass the ball off and let the offence work from set plays.
