It’ll be a night that Saskatoon’s Zack Gould will remember for a lifetime.
A product of the Saskatchewan Junior A SWAT program, the 21-year-old suited up for the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush for pre-season action on Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre against the Calgary Roughnecks and scored his first ever professional goal in front of his hometown crowd in a 17-11 victory.
With two minutes remaining in the game, Matthew (Marty) Dindale fed the ball to Gould and put it passed Roughnecks’ goaltender Christian Del Bianco followed by a standing ovation by the crowd to honour of one their own.
“It was just crazy, nothing I could have ever thought could happen,” Gould said of the experience of playing his first professional game. “It was all unbelievable to me and just everything was new. It was crazy but it was awesome.”
Gould was picked 74th overall in this year’s entry draft by the Rush, but head coach and general manager Derek Keenan said he’s shown he wasn’t just a token pick and is at least practice squad calibre.
“That kid has impressed me,” Keenan said. “Last week, first practice, he was kind of nervous then he just got better and better and this weekend he was really good.”
The Rush will also be young on the back end as well with the absence of Jeff Cornwall and Ryan Dilks on defence, but even the young guys held their own.
“We’ve made leaps and strides and a ton of progress in the short period of time so I think that’s very encouraging,” said Rush captain and veteran defender Chris Corbeil.
“The young guys look good in the new system. I don’t think it’s an easy one to pick up so it says a lot about these guys coming in and playing the system for only the second time.”
Evan Kirk got the start between the pipes for the Rush and was replaced by Adam Shute in the fourth quarter. Backup goaltender Tyler Carlson was released from the active roster on Monday.
The veterans were in fine form as Jeff Shattler and Ben McIntosh each finished with a hat trick, reigning NLL Most Valuable Player Mark Matthews had a pair and Ryan Keenan scored all four of his goals in the fourth quarter.
But goals from young guys like Gould and Connor Robinson make Derek Keenan’s decision a bit tougher. He said as the fifth overall pick in the draft Robinson will be on the active roster.
Teams will have until noon ET on Monday to finalize their rosters.
