'We still have a chance': Sask. Rush playoff hopes slim, but possible, with three games left
'I think there's a lot of positives we can take each week, but it's a results business and we need to start winning games.'
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The Saskatchewan Rush are deep into calculator season.
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The struggling National Lacrosse League team wouldn’t make the playoffs if the season ended today, but they’ve got three weeks of jockeying and number-mashing yet to do. The one sure-fire certainty is this: They’ve made it tough on themselves.
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“We still have a chance,” says Rush head coach Jimmy Quinlan, whose team hosts the Halifax Thunderbirds Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at SaskTel Centre. “We understand we’ve got to win out, and we’ve had that mentality the last little bit. Mindset-wise, I think we’ve been playing well. We just haven’t been able to find the start we needed or play for 60 minutes. I think there’s a lot of positives we can take each week, but it’s a results business, and we need to start winning games.”
The Rush, who started their season with promise, has lost six of the last seven games. That included a 13-9 setback against the host Georgia Swarm this past weekend, dropping Saskatchewan’s record to 6-9.
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The top three teams in the West Division make the playoffs, and the Rush trail San Diego (12-3), Calgary (11-5), Panther City (9-7) and Colorado (8-7).
In the bigger East Division, the top four teams advance.
Saskatchewan’s other route, outside the West Division, is the one available wildcard berth. It will be given to either the fifth-place team in the East or the fourth-place team in the West, depending on who has the better record.
Front-running teams in the East are Toronto (12-4), Buffalo (11-4), Rochester (9-7), Georgia (7-8), Halifax (7-8) and Philadelphia (7-8).
In other words, no shortage of scenarios and permutations.
“It’s like a playoff series for us,” Quinlan says of Saskatchewan’s last three games. “We’ve got to win the first one, and then we’ve got to win the second one. But we’re not looking past Halifax. They pose lots of problems, and if we’re not at full value, we won’t get the result we want.”
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Saskatchewan’s next two games, both at home, are against teams fighting for playoff spots — Halifax and then Colorado. They’ll finish their season on April 29 in Las Vegas against the Desert Dogs, who are currently 5-10.
The Rush won NLL titles in 2015 (while in Edmonton), 2016 and 2018, but they’re now trying to avoid missing the playoffs for a second straight season. Last year’s team went 8-10, with the one bright spot being a four-game win streak to end the season.
“Saturday night against Georgia,” says Quinlan, “I thought we brought the energy and the effort. We didn’t come out of the gate as strong as we needed to, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.
“The biggest thing we’ll take from last year, those last four games, is it got back to being fun. And it was like that at the beginning of this year when we had success. It’s got to be a little bit of a workman-like attitude, and just really enjoy the game. We all get into it because it’s fun, and it’s always fun when you’re winning, and that takes a lot of work.”
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