Photo Credit: Charlotte Rush

Associate Head Coach Trevor Kleckner took us through a rebound week for the Rush. They came back strong against a Potomac team and nearly won all of the games they played on the weekend. The week also featured a teddy bear toss, a talk from ownership, and much more.

On the Teddy Bear Toas

“We thought that the teddy bear toss was a great success on Saturday night. CJ Bachman buried our first goal on the Power play and the teddy bears came raining down. We’ve collected over 100 teddy bears which will be donated to the Pineville Police Department’s Teddy Bear Foundation. Sargent Josh Harb from the Pineville PD will be meeting with us on Monday to collect them.”

On Hunter Berry who had a great weekend for the Rush:

“One Premier player that comes to mind from this weekend is Hunter Berry. Hunter had 3 Goals and 4 Assists in a breakout weekend. He’s been averaging a point per game for a while but we’ve been waiting for a huge weekend from him like this.

Hunter was a player we’ve had our eyes on since playing against him last season. He loved getting under opponents skin and then backing it up by putting points up on the board. This season, he’s understood even more how to play the mental part of the game while producing. After a great showing tonight against Potomac we expect him to continue that production the rest of the way.”

On Wilder Outman who is continuously developing at the Elite Level:

“One Elite player that comes to mind is Wilder Outman. Wilder had an excellent Saturday night with four assists and a very good showing on Sunday morning as well. He continues to lead by example on the ice and his words of encouragement on the bench carry a tom of weight. He has progressed greatly so far this season and we are excited to see how he continues.”

On Ryan Cruthers coming back and speaking to the team:

“As far as off ice discussions go, the message this week was getting back to the Rush standard. Our details off the ice have been affecting us negatively for the last couple of weeks and that had to be addressed. Having our GM/Owner Ryan Cruthers in town was a huge part of this message. When the message comes from the owner of the organization it means that much more.I thought our response to the message was very good. Everyone was on the same page that as a team we needed to change our habits. It was great to see the players take accountability and commit to being better day in and day out.”

The Rush have had a new player from the NAHL level join them and he has helped a lot over the past few weeks. Kleckner talked about Bryce Battaglia and what the veteran forward brings to the team.

“Bryce has been a huge addition in the previous weeks. He’s contributed scoring in just about every game since he joined, helping us through our slump in the previous weeks. The boys have loved his presence not only one the ice but also in the locker room. We are only better having him apart of our team.”

For next weekend, Kleckner takes us through what each team needs to do for their outdoor game in Charlotte.

“For the outdoor game, for our Elite team, we need to understand what has made us so successful in games that we have won. When we get shots on net and get pucks to the paint we are very very successful. When we want to be perimeter and attack sticks, we tend to lose those games. Reiterating our structure and how that generates success is the plan moving forward.

For our premier team, the message is to stay the course. We are coming off of a very impressive rebound weekend in sweeping Potomac but this season is far from over. Sweeping every weekend is an expectation around here and anything less than that in unacceptable. It doesn’t matter if we’re home, away, or outdoors, we bring our best and continue to play our game.”

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