The Edmonton Rush enter their bye week, not set to hit the floor until February 13 and 15 with a respective away and home series against the Colorado Mammoth. Despite currently sitting at a subpar 2-2 record, the Rush have shown character throughout all of their games this season. Beginning 0-2, they were only out of those games by a small margin. In Week 3, the Rush rallied to send the Calgary Roughnecks spiraling to an 0-3 record with a strong team performance in an 18-6 win.
The Rush have experienced some intense speed bumps to kick off the 2015 campaign. With head coach Derek Keenan losing his wife Wendy to a battle with pancreatic cancer, he stepped back to take some time with his family. Keenan has since resumed full time duties with the Rush.
“The time now is to focus on the game plan for the 2015 NLL season and bringing the Champion’s Cup to Crystal Glass Field at Rexall Place,” Keenan was quoted saying at a press conference upon his return to the team.
Just prior to the all-important return of Derek Keenan, a key piece of the Edmonton Rush offence was traded to the Vancouver Stealth. On January 19, following a 14-10 loss to the Minnesota Swarm, Corey Small was sent to the Stealth in exchange for first round picks in the 2016 and 2019 NLL entry drafts. Small now works side by side with Victoria Shamrocks counterpart Rhys Duch. Initially, this move seemed strange, as Corey Small was always a contributor offensively. But after sitting out the entire 2014 season with a knee injury, and only providing four points in two losses for the Rush in 2015, the move makes a little more sense for all parties involved.
Since parting ways with Small, the Rush have returned to their winning ways, led by Mark Matthews who has accumulated an impressive 26 points (13 G, 13 A) in 4 games. He is currently tied for second in the league in goal scoring. The Rush’s strong offence has also received strong contributions from Ben McIntosh (11 G, 10 A), Robert Church (6 G, 11 A) and Cory Conway (2 G, 11 A).
The Rush will be looking to take this bye weekend as a chance to observe what is going on in the West Division, and who to take advantage of in order to strengthen their .500 record. Their upcoming rivals, the Colorado Mammoth will also be taking this week as a bye week, so both teams will hit the floor refreshed and well rested. Only two games are going on around the NLL this weekend with the Rochester Knighthawks on the road to take on the Minnesota Swarm, and the Calgary Roughnecks will look for their first win at home against the 3-3 Buffalo Bandits.
