Last season the Edmonton Rush went 16-2 in one of the most historic team performances of all time. Now this season after two games, they have already matched their loss total from 2014.
Edmonton played tight in their first game, a road game in Buffalo, where they fell 9-8. Their trademark terrific defense played well to hold the Bandits under double digit goals, but they also couldn’t generate any offense. Their second loss was to Minnesota at home, where they blew a 9-3 second half lead thanks to an 11-1 run by the Swarm.
As a defensive team, that’s where things should be concerning, but the Rush also have struggled to find the back of the net. The Rush have the second least amount of goals in the entire league with just 18, one ahead of the 17 from 1-1 Buffalo.
The Rush are without Curtis Knight, who suffered a knee injury playing in the CUFLA championship this fall. Mark Matthews leads the team with ten points and behind him is Robert Church with nine and rookie Ben McIntosh with six. However, from there, it goes down hill.
Corey Small, just back from missing 2014 with an ACL tear, has only accumulated four points on the season. Zack Greer has just three and Riley Loewen has just two.
Other than Buffalo’s Ryan Benesch with nine points, Matthews has the fewest amount of points to lead a team.
The Rush defense hasn’t been atrocious, despite what happened with Minnesota. They have the least amount of goals against in the west at 23 and have given up the same amount as Toronto and just a few more than New England and Buffalo.
Edmonton has the personnel to be a dangerous team still. They just need to figure out how to get scoring again to contend in a western division where the standings currently look upside down.
