After earning an 11-7 victory on Friday night in Colorado, the Edmonton Rush host the Mammoth on Sunday in the second game of their weekend series. Following Edmonton’s Friday win, they are now tied with Colorado for first place in the West Division, both at 3-2, so this game is of particular importance to both teams. On Friday the two teams had a see-saw battle in the first half with…
As the NLL season approaches the one third point, it’s time to have a look at who is off to a great start and who is off to a not-so-good start. Underachievers 1. The Calgary Roughnecks—Who would have imagined that the Roughnecks, who came within minutes of winning the Champion’s Cup last year, would be in dead last after five games, with an 0-5 record. Granted, three of their losses have…
In the 2014 Champion’s Cup finals, the Calgary Roughnecks came within five minutes of winning their third NLL title in team history. So it comes as a bit of a shocker to say that this year, these same Roughnecks have gotten off to an 0-4 start for the first time in franchise history. While the Roughnecks still have 14 more game to play to earn a spot in the postseason,…
The Calgary Roughnecks are off to the worst start in franchise history, an unprecedented 0-3 In their very first game they were on the receiving end of the most goals surrendered in a single game—but they didn’t start the season 0-3. And here we are in 2015, where the Roughnecks were expected to once again challenge for the Champion’s Cup. Instead, they have the worst record in the NLL. So…
After finishing the 2014 season as the top two teams in the NLL West Division, both the Calgary Roughnecks and the Edmonton Rush have stumbled out of the blocks in 2015. They are currently tied for dead last in the division with 0-2 records. Tonight they face each other in Calgary for the first time this season—one team will break the goose egg and one team will be facing a…
Just two weeks into the 2015 NLL season there are a couple players who are looking like they’re ready to take their games to the next level. Three of the four people on my early season list are members of the New England Black Wolves, a strong indication of why the Wolves have had such a hot start. Kyle Buchanan—New England Black Wolves: Last season Buchanan was a breakout star,…
The Edmonton Rush did not have the start to their season that they were hoping for when they dropped their season opener 9-8 to the Buffalo Bandits. This week they’ll try to redeem themselves when they host their home opener against the Minnesota Swarm. The Swarm also lost their season opener last weekend when the Colorado Mammoth poured in 11 fourth-quarter goals to take a convincing 20-13 win. For the…
The 2015 NLL season is just days away and the Edmonton Rush appear to be tuned up and ready to go. The Rush played two scrimmages in the preseason and won them both decisively. They beat the Vancouver Stealth on Dec. 8 by a 13-6 score, then took out their cross-provincial rivals, the Calgary Roughnecks, by an 11-3 score last weekend. All signs are currently pointing to the Rush looking…
The Edmonton Rush announced their opening day roster on Friday then soundly defeated the Calgary Roughnecks by an 11-3 score, seeming to send a message that the 2015 edition of the Rush were ready for action. The biggest change to the roster will be the absence of forward Curtis Knight, who led the team in goals (35) and was second in total points (72) last year. Knight will be lost…
The NLL preseason is well underway and the Calgary Roughnecks now have two games under their belts, a win and a loss. Roughnecks goaltender Mike Poulin had a string debut, holding the Toronto Rock to just four goals in one half of play. He was a little more shaky the next night against the Minnesota Swarm, getting pulled after giving up five goals in five minutes to start the game….