Last September, the Saskatchewan Rush made one of the most significant splashes of the NLL offseason, inking a two-year deal with star forward Austin Shanks. The 31-year-old spent the first six seasons of his career with the Halifax Thunderbirds, collecting 135 goals and setting up one of his Nova Scotia running mates with the assist 199 times.
A cadre of NLL observers looked on with a level of puzzlement when attempting to decipher why the Courtice, Ontario product would take his talents from a perennial playoff contender in the Maritimes to a Prairies-based organization that had finished the last three seasons with an underwhelming record of 8-10 each season. Despite the detractors, Shanks was nothing short of prophetic when eyeing what he believed was a sleeping giant of a lacrosse club.
“I knew they had a good and hungry group,” analyzed the Ohio State alum. “Last year, minus Halifax, their biggest loss was two goals. They had all the parts. Coach Keenan and Jimmy Quinlan know how to win. Coach Keenan wins everywhere he goes. I saw the writing on the wall and wanted to be a part of something special. This group is a special group, and I’m pumped to be a part of it.”
Building on a period of years that featured the acquisition of talents like Frank Scigliano, Zach Manns and Matt Hossack, Shanks quickly emerged as the perfect antidote for a roster that simultaneously contained franchise stalwarts Robert Church and Ryan Keenan, along with younger brutes going by the monikers of Jake Boudreau, Jake Naso and Brock Haley.
After sustaining a triple-season holding pattern of two games below .500, it was finally time for the men in green and black to push the throttle forward and hit those afterburners. With all the pieces in place, the Rush finished the regular season with a 13-5 record, tying the two-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits for the best mark in the world’s foremost box lacrosse league.
According to Shanks, the key to Saskatchewan’s sterling success centers around the duelling concepts of a sharing-the-load, balanced offense, co-existing with a stifling, never-giving-an-inch defensive approach to the sport.
“We don’t have an MVP candidate. We don’t have the guy,” said Shanks. “We had four guys above 70 points, but no one at 100. We had an incredible and consistent goalie this year in Frank Scigliano. He’s been so good, game in and game out.”
Shanks elected to point out that the Rush have many offensive stars, seemingly proven by the statbook as Shanks himself secured 72 points, with Manns attaining 74, while Church and Keenan weighed in at 73. Though Saskatchewan finished middle of the pack in total goals scored, the club’s proclivity for spreading the wealth and finding the back of the net at the most critical moments of the game propelled them to lofty regular-season heights.
When it comes to the defensive structure of the indoor game, Shanks could spend the entire day singing the praises of the men tasked with keeping the opponent from tickling twine when it matters most on the scoreboard.
“They’re really suffocating and they don’t stop,” beamed the former Buckeye. “You think they can’t hold this? They can. They’re young, hungry and want to win. They’re so good as a unit. They don’t yell at each other. They talk through things. We have beast athletes who are smart players.”
The “beast athletes” completed the 2024-2025 campaign second in goals against, finishing with a meager 179 goals against, trailing the league-leading Vancouver Warriors by just seven goals. This is no debate when it comes to the fact that defense is the undisputed Saskatchewan calling card.
With the regular season tales of astonishment now officially an engraving in the history books, Shanks and the Rush are absolutely rolling since the parchment has turned to the postseason, with Shanks totalling four points in an opening-round victory over the Georgia Swarm.
(Photo: James Bennett)
This scenario set the stage for the Halifax legend’s triumphant return to Scotiabank Centre, where the righty sniper dispensed a whopping six goals in the Rush’s 16-7 blowout of the Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the Semifinals.
As is often the case with Shanks, sharing the love was the first order of business, even when discussing a Halifax homecoming built more for the soundstages of Hollywood.
“The beauty thing about our offense is that it can be anyone’s night. We really move the ball around and everyone works for each other. It happened to be my night on Saturday,” shared Shanks.
The sock-trick supplier later added, “we grind and work hard for 60 minutes. We want to win and don’t care how it’s done.”
The series now moves to SaskTel Centre, with Game 2 instigating Saturday at 9:30 ET/7:30 MT on TSN, ESPN+ and NLL+. Game 3 (if necessary) is slated for Sunday evening at 8:00 ET/6:00 MT, on the same selection of platforms.
One win from a trip to the NLL Finals, Shanks is crystal clear when assessing the consequences of the Rush playing a lacrosse game on their terms.
“If we go in and play our game for 60 minutes, I don’t think there’s a team in this league that can beat us in a best-of-three.”
