After 644 days, the Saskatchewan Rush finally made their return to the SaskTel Centre for their home opener.
The NLL season was cancelled because of COVID in March of 2020. Saskatoon’s lacrosse team hasn’t played at home since.
However, their welcome home was spoiled by the Calgary Roughnecks. They beat the home team in a close 11-10 matchup.
The Rush ran into a mighty hot Roughnecks goaltender in Christian Del Bianco, who finished the game with 49 saves.
It wasn’t a perfect start by any means for the Rush. Calgary opened the contest with three goals within the first five minutes of the game, showing some of that same grit they used to hoist the 2019 NLL Championship.
The Rush found their game halfway through the first frame, as Jeff Shattler struck for two goals just over a minute apart to cut the lead to just one.
On the power-play, Robert Church wasted no time knotting the score at 3 apiece to make it a brand new game.
Shattler would add to his goal collection to complete the hat-trick. Mark Matthews scored twice while contributing four assists and Church finished his night with five total points.
Both teams took turns trading goals back and forth, leading up to a 10-10 tie late in the game.
The Roughnecks prevailed as Zach Herreweyers scored the go-ahead goal with 1:55 left that would turn out to be the game-winner.
The Rush fell to 0-2 on the season, despite outshooting Calgary 59-36 in the loss.