The Crease Dive's NLL Week 1 Preview Featuring NLL MVP Mark Matthews From The Saskatchewan Rush

Jordie12/14/2018 6:35 PM

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And here we go. The 2018-19 NLL season is finally here as week 1 kicks off tomorrow with 3 games on the schedule. Obviously there were some bumps in the road as the first 2 weeks of the season ended up getting cancelled due to a lockout but we all survived those 14 days and the season is finally ready to get underway. And getting us started right away is the reigning league MVP hailing from the reigning NLL champs, Mark Matthews from the Saskatchewan Rush. If you’re somebody who hasn’t kept up with the National Lacrosse League lately, the Rush are essentially the Golden State Warriors of lacrosse. They have been to the finals the past 4 straight years and they’ve won the championship in 3 of those years. They won it as the Edmonton Rush in 2015. Matthews was the finals MVP that year, not a big deal.

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Then after winning the championship in 2015, the team relocated from Edmonton to Saskatchewan. They went back-to-back and won the cup their first year in Sask in 2016.

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Then they made it back to the finals again in 2017 but ended up losing to Lyle Thompson and the Georgia Swarm. But last year they were back in the finals for the 4th straight year and won their 3rd championship over the Rochester Knighthawks. Meanwhile, Mark Matthews set an NLL record with 84 assists last season. Again, not a big deal.

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3 rings in 4 years. That what we in the biz would refer to as a “certified wagon”. And meanwhile, Mark Matthews has been there leading the way. He was drafted one one in 2012. He’s had over 100 points in each of his last 4 seasons. And most notably, he had 15 points in 2 games whilst battling a severe case of pink eye back in the 2017 season.

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We discuss his battle with double pink eye, his entire career and more in this week’s episode of the podcast. You can download/subscribe/listen to this week’s episode right here on iTunes right here.

And for those of you who don’t deal with iTunes, you can catch this week’s episode of The Crease Dive right here on SoundCloud.

And you can also watch the majority of the episode right here on YouTube as long as you don’t mind staring at my stupid face and having the audio being just slightly out of synch with the video.

Also in this week’s episode, we discuss the NLL’s new expansion team in New York, and then break down the 3 games on schedule for opening weekend in the league. You’ll have to listen to today’s eppy to get the weekend preview but here’s the schedule for the weekend.

Saturday December 15th: