More than in any other year, the Saskatchewan Rush will have a lot of tough decisions ahead to get down to their 2024-25 regular-season roster.
NLL training camps opened across North America on Friday and in Saskatoon, the Rush hit the floor with 37 players on the floor.
“It’s a record number that this organization I think has ever had,” Rush co-head coach and general manager Derek Keenan said. “For myself too as a GM and coach, it’s the most bodies we’ve ever had.”
After falling one goal short of clinching a playoff spot in their final game last April, the Rush are back and are now preparing for their season opener at the end of November.
Co-head coach Jimmy Quinlan said the tempo of their first practice session was frantic at times, but added that the buy-in is immediately apparent.
“Words can only go so far,” Quinlan said. “It’s the actions. We saw guys diving in front of shots and crease-diving in the scrimmage. You got to pay a price both on and off the floor, and we saw a lot of that.”
Taking part in his first session in a Rush jersey on Friday was free agent splash Austin Shanks, who signed a two-year contract with Saskatchewan this summer after putting up 85 points in 17 games with the Halifax Thunderbirds last year.
Shanks, expected to be a key difference maker on the right side of the floor, said it was a productive first day getting to meet his new teammates.
“To see guys at the hotel early on and now on the floor, the floor and locker room stuff is the best part,” Shanks said. “Today was really fun to get out there for the first time and wear some green.”
He’ll be paired with longtime Rush star Robert Church on the right side of the floor this season after he signed a one-year contract extension to return.
Reaching the 100-point plateau for the second season in a row in 2023-24, Church is also fresh off winning gold with Team Canada at the 2024 World Box Lacrosse Championship.
“After the last one in Langley I didn’t know if there would be another opportunity to do it,” Church said. “It was an honour to represent the country and get a gold, and play with such a great group of players in some of the league’s best.”
The Rush will also be running back their tandem of Keenan and Quinlan behind the bench, as the pair will continue to share head coaching duties this winter.
With the Rush closing in on five years since their last playoff game, moral victories aren’t holding much weight this season as the team begins the process of getting back to contender status.
“I think the message is clear,” Church said. “We want to make playoffs and anything short of that will be a disappointment.
“That’s the goal going in.”
The Rush will have to reduce their group to 21 main rostered players, with another five practice squad players over the coming weeks.
Training camp runs over the next three weekends for the Rush in Saskatoon and Oakville, Ont., with their first game of the 2024-25 NLL coming on the road Nov. 30 against the Albany FireWolves.