Saskatchewan Rush fighting to keep playoff hopes alive

With a 9-8 win over the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday the Saskatchewan Rush moved to 6-10 on the season, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

On Saturday April 16, it was like the calendar had been turned back on the Saskatchewan Rush, back to the championship pedigree team that Saskatoon has come to know and love since the Rush moved from Edmonton in the 2016 season.

The Rush battled hard in a back-and-forth affair with the division-leading Colorado Mammoth as the team rode a gritty fourth quarter performance, including a three goal-in-51-second outburst to a 9-8 victory.

It was the team’s first back-to-back wins of the season, both wins coming under the tutelage of newly named associate head coach, Jimmy Quinlan.

“Now I think everybody’s just kind of loosened up with Jimmy’s attitude in the room, and everybody is, you know, having fun now and it shows out there,” veteran forward Mark Matthews said. “We’re playing with a lot more speed and celebrating goals and it’s fun to play.”

“I don’t know if there’s one thing,” forward Robert Church added. “Maybe we’re just playing a little more confident in the fourth quarter, third quarter, you know, no self doubt in our minds.”

With the win, the Rush now sit with a record of 6-10 on the season, and hold a very narrow possibility of making the playoffs.

However, the team knows the only chance they have of playing in the second season begins with them winning their remaining two games this year.

“They’re a confident group, they’re a resilient group, they’re a proud group,” Quinlan said. “We’ve asked some things of them, to finish the season and just to really focus on what we need to do and they’ve been full value.”