By Scott Zerr
EdmontonRush.com

The 2007 NLL schedule has been rather unkind to the Edmonton Rush so far.

Three straight home games to start the season looked rather good on paper but breaking it down, those matchups included a tough contest with the rival Calgary Roughnecks and a clash with the defending league champion Colorado Mammoth.

That trio of games was followed by a rematch with the Mammoth in Denver and a loss there left the Rush with a 1-3 record. And the schedule-makers aren't making it any easier on the Rush. Up next for Edmonton is a home-and-home series with one of the hottest teams in the NLL, the Arizona Sting. First up is the game in Edmonton which goes Saturday night and it's going to take everything the Rush has to knock off the desert scorpions.

"Defensively, we're probably going to need to play our best game of the season," said Rush GM/Head Coach Paul Day.

"And offensively, we need to finish. I believe that we had about 13 really good chances to finish last week (against Colorado) that we didn't finish. We've got to finish at least half of those. When we get those chances especially against very good teams we have to bury them."

The Rush will have to find a way to shut down Sting sniper Dan Dawson who sits in a tie for fifth in the NLL with 17 goals. Arizona's offence has generated 59 goals in five games - 53 of them coming on their current four-game winning streak.

And to make matters even more difficult for the Rush, Sting goaltender Rob Blasdell is sporting an impressive 9.80 goals-against average - the second-best mark among the NLL's stoppers. Blasdell, who Day considers "the best goalie in the league," also has the third-best save-percentage in the league at .790.

The Rush will hope to counter the Sting by playing the same type of "Canadian-style" lacrosse. The Rush had trouble dealing with Colorado's run-and-gun American approach but with the Sting and Rush both using the halfcourt method of attack, it should come down to who capitalizes on their chances in tight.

rush ramblings
Veteran Jamey Bowen will check back into the Rush lineup and his playmaking skills should come in handy. Mac Allen will sit out ... Both Buck Stobart and Dan Finck are nursing injuries and they are game-time decisions on whether they will play or not.