Edmonton Rush

Founded	2005
Division	Western
Team history	Syracuse Smash (1998–2000) Ottawa Rebel (2001–2003)
Based in	Edmonton, Alberta
Arena	Rexall Place
Colours
Championships	1 (2015)
Division titles	2 (2014,2015)
Local media	Shaw TV Edmonton,Global Edmonton,CTV Edmonton,City Edmonton,CBC Edmonton,Edmonton Sun,Edmonton Journal
Later	Saskatchewan Rush

TheEdmonton Rush were a professionallacrosse team in theNational Lacrosse League (NLL) that played from the2006 to2015 NLL seasons.

The team announced on July 20, 2015, that they would be relocating toSaskatoon,Saskatchewan, for the2016 season, where they would play at theSaskTel Centre as theSaskatchewan Rush.^[1]

The NLL announced thatEdmonton,Alberta would receive an NLL franchise on May 5, 2005. They played their home games atRexall Place. The Edmonton team was owned by businessman Bruce Urban,^[2] who purchased the dormantOttawa Rebel to start the Edmonton team.Although early reports suggested that they would be playing as the Edmonton Speed, they selected the name Rush on June 9, 2005.

On February 17, 2006, the Rush recorded the first victory in their franchise history, defeating theCalgary Roughnecks 12–11 in a thrilling game, scoring the winning goal with only 0.2 seconds left in the game. Their firsthome victory didn't come until their second season, when they defeated thePhiladelphia Wings 13–12 on January 6, 2007, in the season opener.

After starting the2008 NLL season with an 0–5 record, the Rush fired the franchise's original head coach and general manager, Paul Day, and replaced him with formerNLL Coach andGM of the Year,Bob Hamley.^[3] The Rush finished the season last in the West with a 4–12 record, and after rebuilding much of the team in the off-season, the Rush struggled again in2009. After finishing last in the West for the second straight season, Hamley was fired.^[4]

During Edmonton's playoff run in 2015, Urban began threatening to move the team, telling theEdmonton Sun "It appears that it's coming to an end."^[5] After much speculation, the team officially announced they'd be moving toSaskatoon,Saskatchewan to play as theSaskatchewan Rush beginning in 2016.^[6] Urban cited the lack of a long-term deal atRogers Place, which was slated to replace Rexall Place as Edmonton's main arena. Additionally, the Oilers refused to let the Rush put any of their signage at Rexall Place, a move that Urban claimed harmed the Rush's marketing efforts.^[7] By the end of the season prior to relocation, the Rush won theChampion's Cup for the first and only time in franchise history, defeating theToronto Rock 11-10 in Game 2.^[8]

The arrival of the Rush created another version of "TheBattle Of Alberta". The head coach of the Edmonton Rush however, has come under fire by theCalgary Roughnecks. The Rush took out ads in Calgary newspapers before their first meeting that the Rush would "Open a Can" on the Roughnecks.^{[citation needed]} This proved to backfire as the Roughnecks defeated the Rush in their first meeting. The tactic continued though when the Rush were playing theToronto Rock, but once again it proved to backfire as the Rock easily won.

However, Calgary tried this tactic against Edmonton before the April 5, 2008 game by taking an ad in theEdmonton Sun saying that Edmonton was a "City of Losers" instead of a city of champions. Just as it had for the Rush, the plan backfired as the Rush won 11–9. The rivalry heated up March 13, 2009 in Edmonton as Calgary built up a 14–3 halftime lead over the Rush. At the one second mark of the 3rd quarter, a line brawl broke out between the two teams resulting in nine fighting majors and nine misconducts.^[9] Edmonton did get the upper hand in the first playoff meeting between the teams as the Rush won 11–7 in Calgary on May 1, 2010.

Edmonton had played four games against the Calgary Roughnecks in the 2012 season. The Rush went 0/4 in the regular season when they faced the Calgary Roughnecks. Calgary ended their season with the record of 12–4, while Edmonton dominated the second ever playoff Battle Of Alberta with a win over Calgary 19–11. Edmonton went on to the Western division final against the Minnesota Swarm toward another win, 15–3, and headed to the NLL finals.

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NLL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; G/G = Goals per game; A/G = Assists per game; * = current Rush player

Points Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G Ryan Ward F 64 96 168 264 4.13 Mark Matthews* F 52 122 140 262 5.04 Zack Greer* F 72 142 105 247 3.43 Jimmy Quinlan F/T 127 100 119 219 1.72 Corey Small F 64 88 129 217 3.39 Robert Church* F 34 58 86 144 4.24 Andy Secore F 44 57 87 144 3.27 Jarrett Davis* F 51 45 95 140 2.75 Cory Conway* F 42 27 103 130 3.10 Curtis Knight* F 34 54 64 118 3.47

Goals Player Pos G G/G Zack Greer* F 142 1.97 Mark Matthews* F 122 2.35 Jimmy Quinlan F/T 100 0.79 Ryan Ward F 96 1.50 Corey Small F 88 1.38 Robert Church* F 58 1.71 Andy Secore F 57 1.30 Curtis Knight* F 54 1.59 Scott Evans F 50 2.00 Dan Stroup F 50 1.56

Assists Player Pos A A/G Ryan Ward F 168 2.63 Mark Matthews* F 140 2.69 Corey Small F 129 2.02 Jimmy Quinlan F/T 119 0.94 Zack Greer* F 105 1.46 Cory Conway* F 103 2.56 Jarrett Davis* F 95 1.86 Andy Secore F 87 1.98 Robert Church* F 86 2.53 Brodie Merrill T 74 2.31

Single seasongoals - Mark Matthews, 53 (2015)
Assists - Mark Matthews, 62 (2015)
Points - Mark Matthews, 114 (2015)
PIM - Jamie Floris, 67 (2009)
Loose balls - Brodie Merrill, 190 (2010)
Forced turnovers - Kyle Rubisch, 61 (2014)

• Edmonton Rush seasons

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