Six-goal second half from Zach Manns leads Sask. Rush to comeback victory

A comeback for the ages was completed by the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday night at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

After trailing 8-3 early in the fourth quarter to the Halifax Thunderbirds, the Rush offence was stuck in neutral and didn’t want to shift into drive — that was until Zach Manns regained his scoring touch.

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Manns scored the overtime winner and six of his team’s seven goals in the second half to help overcome the deficit and turn it into a 9-8 victory in its home opener.

Manns said after the game that he didn’t think he had a six-goal performance in him, especially with how he played in the first half.

“I can say that was probably the worst first half I’ve ever played,” he said. “And that turned into the best second half I played in my life. It just shows what sticking with it will do.”

Manns also had two assists, resulting in an eight-point night for him.

The boys pulled it off in a THRILLER last night!

Roll the highlights 🎥 pic.twitter.com/nvSkUVFSIS

— Saskatchewan Rush (@SaskRushLAX) December 15, 2024

He admitted his team was not good after the first half.

“We played a terrible first half. I thought the defence was not bad. Frank Scigliano was great in that first half,” Manns said.

“He made a lot of saves, kept us in it and we were lucky that they were only up four (at the half).”

Manns credits his team’s young legs and their conditioning for the reason the Rush was able to stage the five-goal comeback in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got legs for days. Everyone on this team can run for a full 60,” Manns said.

“We knew we were in way better shape than they were and we knew that if we stick to the game plan, kept running, kept pushing the ball up the floor, that within that last 30 things were going to click — and they did.”

Hear from Co-head coach Derek Keenan following a 9-8 win in our home opener last night! pic.twitter.com/cD6e0W4BI6

— Saskatchewan Rush (@SaskRushLAX) December 15, 2024

Co-head coach Derek Keenan reiterated that conditioning was a big factor for why his team did what it did.

“I thought we could see it in the fourth quarter. We had more energy. They were tired. They were tired on D, they were tired on offence and I thought we were the better team in the latter part —but we certainly weren’t great for almost three quarters,” Keenan said.

The Rush’s slow start could be attributed to them not having seen the floor for a couple weeks.

The Rush opened the season at the end of November in Albany and had a bye last week before playing in Saturday night’s home opener.

Keenan suggested that could’ve been a factor in the slow start.

“We weren’t sharp. We dropped passes, we didn’t shoot the ball well, we missed the net on really good looks, our timing was a little bit off and then as the game went on we got better.”

Long-time Rush player Robert Church went down with an injury in the third quarter and had to be carried off by his teammates.

Keenan said he suffered a high ankle sprain and the team would have a better idea on how serious his injury is later in the week. Church is doubtful for next Saturday, when the team travels to Rochester, NY, to face the Knight Hawks.

“After Robert went down, I think they just sucked it up and said, ‘Let’s go,’” Keenan said.

“Defensively, I thought after they got seven we were outstanding. We set the tempo and that’s what we talked about. We want to dictate tempo and dictate the pace of the game, especially on defence. I thought we really did that in the second half.”

The win on Saturday night puts the Rush at 2-0 on the season. Manns is hopeful their comeback victory can lead to some momentum going forward.

“It’s massive. We know we can play a hell of a lot better than we did tonight and we still got the two points at home and that’s a great team over there,” Manns said.

“We believe in our group. We have great coaching, great goal-tending and those are the two fundamental things you need to have a great team. So we’re just looking to build.”

The Rush’s next home game is scheduled for Dec. 28 against the Philadelphia Wings.

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