Saskatchewan Rush look to 'better mentality next year' as they miss playoffs again
The Saskatchewan Rush are absent from the National Lacrosse League playoffs for a third straight season, a difficult end to an postseason push born out of a rocky start.
“It’s an empty feeling,” Head Coach Jimmy Quinlan said following Saturday’s 12-11 loss to the league-leading Toronto Rock that sealed the team’s fate.
“It's just tough, because no one wanted to go out that way,” said veteran forward Robert Church.
The team finished the 2023/24 season with an 8-10 record, bouncing back from a 1-4 start in their first five.
Ultimately, they finished in eighth place league-wide, but sit out of the playoffs due to the NLL’s tiebreaker rules.
A narrow playoff miss is far from ideal for the team in lime green, but coaches say they witnessed a level of improvement in the team’s play over the course of the season.
“The last month of the season where we were playing do or die lacrosse. I think there's a lot that that group can learn from and take moving forward, and they'll be better in the future," Quinlan said.
“There wasn't one player who didn't get better as the season went on, and that's again what you want to see. The future's bright, it's just unfortunate we're not playing next week."
Early season struggles were also not without blame, but it’s one of the lessons Quinlan hopes the team will carry into next year.
“You want those ones back, but you don't get those ones back,” Quinlan said. “So it's that idea of making sure that right from the get go, and in every game, you're playing with that urgency and that desperation that we showed over the last half of the season."
"We got to come in next year and have a better mentality of winning games and knowing what it takes to win games,” Church said. “You can look back at any game throughout the year and kind of say ‘if we didn't blow that lead, or if we would've gotten one more goal, we'd be sitting in a pretty good position,’ where it came down to the last game and unfortunately weren't able to get it done."
Church, who’s closing off his tenth season with the Rush organization, said he’s looking forward to seeing more of what the young team can do together.
“We have our heads high because we showed we can play with the best teams,” Church said. “We're a young squad and we really grew throughout the year with guys improving big time. I think we're going to be a good team for years to come.”
The Rush have not made the playoffs since 2019, but they were sitting in first place when the COVID-19 pandemic cut the 2020 season short.
The 2024 NLL postseason begins Saturday, with the bottom seed Rochester Knighthawks taking on the Toronto Rock.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Princess Anne to take part in B.C. ceremony bringing new ship into Pacific fleet
Canada's first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel will officially be brought into the Pacific fleet today and Princess Anne, the sister of King Charles, is scheduled to take part in its commissioning ceremony.
NEW Biscuits with possible plastic pieces, metal found in ground pork: Here are the recalls for this week
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
More than half of Canadians say freedom of speech is under threat, new poll suggests
A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians feel their right to freedom of speech is in danger.
How falling for a stranger she met on a beach led this woman to ditch the U.S. for the French Riviera
Niki Benjamin, from the U.S., had travelled to a paradise island to do some soul searching, and her life ended up going in a very different direction when her dog ran up to a stranger.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Feds giving Toronto more than $104M to host 2026 FIFA World Cup
The federal government will provide Toronto just over $104 million in funding to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Police move in to clear NYU encampment, U.S. campus arrests grow to 2,200 in pro-Palestinian protests
Police moved in to clear an encampment at New York University on Friday at the request of school officials, a move that follows weeks of pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses nationwide that have resulted in nearly 2,200 arrests by police.
Wally, the emotional support alligator once denied entry to a baseball game, is missing
Emotional support animal registrations in the United States reached 115,832 last year, by an industry group’s count. But in the eyes of reptile rescuer Joie Henney, there’s only one: 'Wally Gator.'
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.