YORKTON - The Saskatchewan Rush have signed recently acquired forward Brock Haley to a one-year-deal.
The Rush had traded for the right-handed Haley in a draft day deal with the Vancouver Warriors.
“I was watching the draft in my girlfriend’s living room,” Haley told Yorkton This Week, adding he had friends expected to go in the first round.
Then it got to the sixth pick – belonging to the Rush – and they took their time in making a selection – ultimately because they were making the deal for Haley.
“Honestly I couldn’t be happier,” said Haley. “Since Sunday I’ve been treated really well by the Rush organization and everyone in it. I couldn’t be more excited.”
The Rush sent the sixth overall pick this year and a second round pick in 2025 to the Warriors for the Whitby Junior A star, who posted 105 goals and 70 assists in 26 regular season and playoff games in 2022.
In a release Rush GM Derek Keenan stated, “A 23 year old with a tremendous skill set is hard to get in any draft. He scored 105 goals in his last year of Junior A leading his Whitby Warriors to the Minto Cup Championship. He will bring a lot now and for years to come in Saskatchewan.”
For Haley the trade puts him where his heart has long been. He said he has been a Rush fan since the team’s days in Edmonton, adding he had a favourite player he more or less hoped to one day be.
“I really looked up to Mark Matthews,” he said, adding when the Rush were in Toronto to play the Rock tickets were a must.
Now he will be a Rush, and it’s something he looks forward too, from the hugely supportive crowds, to a chance to play with offensive starters like Robert Church and newly acquired Austin Shanks.
“It’s fantastic for me I get to learn from those two in my rookie year,” he said.
Haley said he knows he will be looked to to contribute offensively, something he has done through junior, and now through a summer of high calibre senior lacrosse, the latter giving him added confidence he will be able to score in the NLL.
Haley said the senior experience gives him added belief in himself.
“To be a top player . . . you have to believe in yourself – have that confidence,” he said.
Now it’s the waiting game for training camp to arrive.
“I just can’t wait to get to Saskatoon,” he said.
Haley was the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NLL Entry Draft out of the University of Vermont. The 6’1, 180-pound attacker also posted 20 goals and 34 assists on the Senior A circuit in Ontario this summer.
At the NCAA D1 level with the University of Vernon, Haley was a team captain, posting 175 points in 67 career games.
The Rush also announced the signings of Matt Acchione, Jake Naso, Denton Macdonald, Zach Thompson, Reese Barnes, Marcus Needham, and Garrett Brockmeyer all to one-year agreements.
All seven were selected in the 2024 NLL Entry Draft. Acchione (LH D) in the first round, Macdonald (LH D) and Barnes (RH D) in the second round, Naso (RH D) in the third round, Needham (RH F) and Thompson (LH F) in the fourth round and Brockmeyer (LH D) in the sixth round.
Saskatchewan opens the 2024/25 season on Nov. 30, in Albany, before hosting Halifax in the home opener on Dec. 14.
