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The goals, the noise and the talent.
All that and more was on display as lacrosse made its return to Saskatchewan with a 17-11 Rush victory over the Calgary Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League (NLL) pre-season action.
A work stoppage pushed the NLL season back a few more weeks than originally planned, but none of those distractions — or a condensed training camp — showed as Saskatchewan’s offence picked up right where its championship 2018 season ended by scoring waves of goals.
Head coach Derek Keenan vacated his spot on the bench to make room for his expanded 22-person roster and get a better view from the press boxes high above field level.
Want any indication it's the pre-season? Take a look at the benches. #RushNation pic.twitter.com/bi9kABVMZW
— Keenan Sorokan (@KeenanSorokan) December 9, 2018
He liked what he saw, and that only makes his task of slimming down the roster more difficult.
“It’s going to be hard to decide on these guys because I think they’re all really good players ” Keenan said of his roster deliberations. “It’s tough.
“I can’t think of any one of them that weren’t good.”
With a Monday deadline (5 p.m. EST) to select his final roster, Keenan has a few spots on the defensive side to fill thanks to off-season movement.
There’s also holdouts Robert Church, Nik Billic and Mike Messenger remaining without contracts for the upcoming season.
“If they’re not signed then we’ll have three guys on our roster that may be with us on Dec. 28,” Keenan said. “One thing is, time is on our side a little bit in terms of getting these guys signed, so we hope to do that this week.”
Keenan couldn’t think of a young player battling for a spot that played his way out of contention, and he applauded each of them for their smarts, tenacity and competitive play.
Captain Chris Corbeil agrees.
“I was happily surprised,” he said after the team’s lackluster defensive play in a 12-12 draw to the Toronto Rock in a scrimmage last week.
“The young guys looked good in the new system.”
Another young player that stuck out to Keenan was Saskatoon’s Zach Gould. The former Saskatchewan SWAT player was the team’s last selection in the 2018 NLL Entry Draft at 74th overall.
While many could look at is as the big club taking a local talent, his training camp has suddenly bumped him up the roster.
“I think he’s definitely a practice player,” Keenan said of the 21-year-old. “That kid has impressed me.”
“He’s got really good instincts. He’s got really good stick skills. The kid can play.”
Gould scored in the waning minutes of the game to send the crowd at Sasktel Centre into a frenzy as the public address announcer introduced Gould to the fans.
“That was definitely the coolest part when they announced my name” Gould said of his favourite memory in his NLL debut. “I love the SWAT program, so it was great that they acknowledged that and said that I came from there.”
“It was awesome,” Keenan said of the massive roar from the crowd. “To see stuff like that is great.”
“It really gives other kids in the province something to look forward to.”
Forward Ryan Keenan had four goals, Jeff Shattler and Ben McIntosh had hat tricks, while Marty Dinsdale added two goals of his own.
Saskatchewan led 6-5 at halftime and were propelled in the second half by a natural hat trick from Keenan that distanced the Rush for good in the latter stages of the third quarter.