Ontario and British Columbia are the traditional lacrosse hotbeds in Canada, but the best professional indoor team in the country right now calls Alberta home. Seahawks #15 Jersey . The undefeated Edmonton Rush improved to 5-0 over the weekend, the only National Lacrosse League team yet to taste defeat so far this season. In fact, the Rush are the only Canadian club with a winning record as Toronto (2-3), Calgary (2-3) and Vancouver (2-5) all lag behind Edmonton. "Its early still and you dont want to get too high or too excited but were playing well," said Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan. "Its a process of maturity." Edmontons defence was been exceptional so far, led by Kyle Rubisch. "Hes a bulldog," Keenan said of the two-time reigning NLL defenceman of the year. "He takes away opponents space, he picks off passes and hes a beast when the ball is on the turf. His gap closure is scary good. Guys think they have a step on him or an opportunity to get by him and hes in their face and theyre on their butt. "Hes a shut-down guy. Hes got great vision and good hands, too. He fits our system so well. Hes a good team guy. Were lucky to have him." Meanwhile, Chris Corbeil was named captain when Jimmy Quinlan moved behind the bench as an assistant coach this year. "I loved the kid when I watched him play in junior and I continued to watch him when he was in Buffalo," added Keenan. "Hes a real quality person, a great teammate, and hes super fit. He sets an example on the floor both in games and practices. And hes young, too. "Thats the M.O. of our whole group. Were a young group, but pretty experienced for a team so young -- a lot of Canadian championships (in summer lacrosse), a lot of experience in big-game situations." Rubisch, Corbeil and Brett Mydske were good enough to be on Canadas team that won the most recent world indoor championship. "Weve got all three of them on our back end and theyre three of the best in the business," said Keenan. The whole defence-transition corps has been together for three years now, with the addition this year of Nik Bilic, and that continuity has resulted in a league-best 7.8 goals-against average. Top-notch goaltending is a must in lacrosse and Aaron Bold, who gets most of the starts, and Brodie MacDonald supply it for the Rush. "Hes been awesome," Keenan said of Bold. "Hes made big saves at key times. Last game, Rochester tied the score late and he made two big saves on Dan Dawson in the closing minute of regulation time. Hes really raised the level of his game." Up front, second-year forwards Mark Matthews, who was 2013 rookie of the year after being the No. 1 overall draft pick, and Curtis Knight are maturing impressively in the pro game. The former Whitby, Ont., junior teammates share the team goal scoring lead with 12 each. It was Matthews who scored the overtime winner in a thrilling 8-7 home triumph last Saturday over two-time defending champion Rochester. At six-foot-five, hes a superstar in the making. "Hes got a great passion for the game," said Keenan. "One thing about him Ive found different from so-called premier players is that hes willing to do a lot of the dirty work, too. A lot of his big plays in games are without the ball. Hes willing to do that. I look at (Buffalo forward) John Tavares who is 45 but who can still play because hes changed his game 10 times. You can constantly try to get better, and Mark is willing to do that." Add it all up and it is clear to see that Keenan has been putting a complete package on the green carpet. "Its my fifth year in Edmonton and weve had ups and downs," he said. "This is the first year you feel such positive vibes. You hear people talking about us. Everybody loves a winner. Winning consistently was a problem for us in the past. We were 2-6 at home last season. That was a problem. This season were 3-0 at home so far. You can feel a different kind of vibe in the city -- that theres some belief in us. Again, its early in the season, but theres progress there." Average attendance in Rexall Place is 7,695 through three home games, which is less than what owner Bruce Urban needs to break even. So, everybody in the Rush organization is hoping the winning ways will fill more seats. "We play an exciting brand of lacrosse people should want to see," said Keenan. "Bruce is a committed owner. Weve worked together on finding the right formula and we seem to be getting there. "The tempo of play is so fast these days. We dont designate one or two or three guys as transition players to move the ball quickly up the floor. We expect our entire defence group to contribute that way because we think they are capable of that. Skill levels across the league are phenomenal now and we fit that mould well." Edmonton began NLL play in 2006 but it wasnt until 2010 that the Rush won more games than it lost. Last years 9-7 record was the teams second .500-plus showing, although the 2012 lineup managed to get as far as the title game despite a 6-10 regular season. Winning the Champions Cup that year would have been a colossal upset. Now, Keenans crew looks more ready than most other NLL teams to push Rochester off the top of the heap. Rush players are from either Ontario or B.C. except for defenceman John Lintz, a local who attends the University of Alberta, and faceoff specialist Jeremy Thompson, who is a First Nations player from upstate New York. A home playoff date for the first time in franchise history seems likely come spring. "Weve established a fan base and, to get more people out to games, they just need to see some results," said Lintz. "Getting a home playoff date would be amazing. If we get that, it would really cement us in the eyes of a lot of fans." The West Division leaders play in Philadelphia on Saturday and at Minnesota on Feb. 15. They are at home against Toronto on Feb. 28 and against Vancouver on March 8. A March 14 game in Calgary precedes a March 21 home game against the Buffalo Bandits (5-1), who currently hold down first place in the East Division. Cortez Kennedy Seahawks Jersey .Y. -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday that J. Christine Michael Seahawks Jersey . Louis Cardinals open the season on top of the TSN.PITTSBURGH -- Lyle Overbay didnt take it personally. Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle decided to have Edinson Volquez intentionally walk Scooter Gennett, a .287 hitter, to pitch to Overbay with the score tied runners on second and third in the fourth inning Saturday. With good reason. The Milwaukee Brewers first baseman was hitting just .213. Overbay came through, hitting a tiebreaking two-run single to centre field that made it 4-2 and sent the NL Central-leading Brewers on their way to a 9-3 victory. Just before Gennett was walked, Khris Davis hit an RBI single to tie the score at 2-2. "I wasnt really surprised that they walked Scooter in that situation," Overbay said. "Volquez has a good sinker and theyre looking to get a double play there. What I need to do there is make sure I dont swing at a sinker low and away and hit into the double play." Milwaukee had lost three of its previous four gamers, including getting routed 15-5 by the Pirates on Friday night. "This was a good win," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "It feels good to come back the next day and play well. We got some big hits, took advantage of some opportunities they gave us and got solid pitching." Matt Garza (4-4) got through six shaky innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time since last July. He allowed five walks and six hits while striking out one, yet limited the Pirates to three runs a day after they scored a season-high. Rob Wooten, Will Smith and Brandon Kintzler each pitched an inning of scoreless relief. "Personal wins are nice, but the team winning is what really matters, and all I want to do is keep stacking up those team wins," Garza said. Davis and Jonathan Lucroy had two hits each for the NL Central-leading Brewers. Ryan Brauns two-run double in a four-run eighth inning extended Milwaukees lead to 8-3. Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez had two hits each for Pittssburgh, which committed five errors. Luke Willson Seahawks Jersey. First baseman Ike Davis made two of the errors on one play in the first inning when he failed to catch a pickoff throw then threw wildly to second base. "We gave up a lot of free bases with the errors," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "From a fielding perspective, we were all over the place. We made it a lot tougher on our pitchers than it needed to be." Volquez (3-5) lost for the first time in four starts, giving up four runs and four hits in six innings. "I left a couple of pitches right in the middle of the plate in (the fourth) inning," Volquez said. "Ive got to do a better job than that. I let them have a big inning and that was the ballgame." Pittsburgh got within 4-3 in the sixth inning on a double play grounder before Milwaukee put the game away in the eighth on Brauns double and an infield RBI single by Jean Segura. Irving Falu added a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Alvarezs two-run single in the second inning put the Pirates ahead 2-1 after Lucroy hit a sacrifice fly in the first. The Pirates Josh Harrison extended his hitting streak 10 games, tying a career high, with a two-out double in the ninth inning NOTES: Milwaukee placed RHP Tyler Thornburg on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right elbow after the game and recalled RHP Mike Fiers from Triple-A Nashville. . Pittsburgh RHP Gerrit Cole was scratched from his scheduled start Monday night against the Chicago Cubs. LHP Jeff Locke will be recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis and start Sunday against the Brewers Yovani Gallardo (3-4, 4.08) in the finale of the three-game series. RHP Charlie Morton will start Monday instead of Sunday. . Pittsburgh LF Starling Marte, mired in an 0-for-20 slump, was not in the lineup for a fourth straight game. ... Milwaukee rookie LHP Wei-Chung Wang bruised his right knee Friday night but X-rays showed no broken bones. ' ' '
