Photo Credit: Charlotte Rush

For the Charlotte Rush, they expect to win every game every day they play, always. This past weekend the results did not go the expected way for both teams as they both earned no points to wrap up the regular season. Both teams now head to the playoffs though with everything to play for in two weeks. This team thrives on being greater than the sum of its parts and has a culture of excellence not because of the many banners many have brought back to their rink. They are the standard at this level because of how they handle adversity and develop players as people off the ice as much as they do on it. The playoffs in two weeks is another superb time to show it. Each team needs to win two games on their home rink, in three days in a couple of weeks to earn the right to play in Utica for another national championship. Hear more from Head Coach Troy Schwab on the week that was and what’s ahead for both teams.

“At the Elite level Carolina has a very good time. They have depth throughout their lineup and play extremely hard. You can see why they are one of the top teams in the league at the Elite level right now. For us I felt that for long stretches throughout both games we competed with them. Played really well against them. The positive coming out of the weekend is If we can stay disciplined and put together a 60 minute game, I feel like we can beat anyone.

The premier team is facing a little adversity right now. Not playing our best hockey, having trouble scoring, and not being very good within our structure. You could see that over the weekend with our two games in Carolina. 

The way the schedule played itself out over the last 5 weeks leaves us in a good place from a health perspective. The layoff may have hurt us in the short term, but allowed us time to get some things right and ultimately the hope is it puts us in a good spot for playoffs. 

Over the next two weeks leading up to playoffs, we will work hard at getting better in all areas of our game at both levels. The benefit of knowing our opponents already, allows us two weeks to prepare a game plan and implement that game plan. Coming off our most recent stretch of games and how the schedule laid itself out, the message is that there is a huge importance on how we practice and compete these next two weeks to make sure our game is in a good place going into Game 1 of playoffs. 

The past two weeks allowed players to go and visit schools that they are interested in. Players are getting lots of interest from multiple schools which is very nice to see. Most schools are looking forward to watching our players play at the biggest stage, so the importance of getting our game right and winning hockey games will only help our players as they look to move on to the next level next season. When your team wins, everyone ends up winning and that’s our current focus.”

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