The long wait is almost over for the Sydney Rush. And it’s been long in more ways than one.

Almost five years after the 2021 TELUS Cup was first awarded to the Rush, the puck will finally drop on Canada’s Men’s U18 National Club Championship at the Membertou Sport & Wellness Centre, thanks to the cancellation of the 2021 tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sydney did participate as the “host” team in 2022, but that tournament was played in Okotoks, Alberta, more than 5,000 kilometres from Cape Breton.

So the wait to welcome the nation has been a significant one.

But when the tournament gets underway on April 22, it will also have been a long wait for the Rush to resume their season; Sydney was unceremoniously dumped from the postseason on March 3, swept by the Valley Wildcats in the first round of the Nova Scotia U18 Major Hockey League (NSU18MHL) playoffs.

That’s a 51-day break between games, which can be a good or bad thing.

The Rush played to a 12-20-6 record in the NSU18MHL during the regular season, good for sixth in the eight-team loop. They potted 118 goals in 38 games, the fifth most, but allowed a league-high 183, plus 17 in three playoff games.

Two players remain on the Sydney roster from the 2022 TELUS Cup team – leading scorer Tyler Seymour (17-24—41 in 38 GP) and captain Keegan O’Neill.

The Rush are looking to end a very long drought for host teams; not since the Calgary Northstars in 1991 has the hometown side been the last team standing, and only six in the 30 tournaments since then (most recently the Gaulois de Saint-Hyacinthe last year) have reached the gold medal game.

HOW THEY GOT TO MEMBERTOU

Nova Scotia U18 Major Hockey League
Quarterfinal: lost to Valley Wildcats 3-0 (2-6, 4-6, 3-5)

REGULAR SEASON

Record (W-L-OTL): 12-20-6 (6th in NSU18MHL)
Goals for: 118 (5th in NSU18MHL)
Goals against: 106 (8th in NSU18MHL)
Longest winning streak: 4 (Jan. 28-Feb. 17)
Top 3 scorers:
- Tyler Seymour – 17G 24A 41P (8th in NSU18MHL)
- Keegan O’Neill – 12G 20A 32P (15th in NSU18MHL)
- Malcolm MacDonald – 14G 17A 31P (17th in NSU18MHL)

PLAYOFFS

Record: 0-3
Goals for: 9
Goals against: 17
Top 3 scorers:
- Brody Ford – 2G 2A 4P
- Rory Pilling – 2G 2A 4P
- Braylan Fitzgerald – 1G 2A 3P

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

2022 – Sydney Rush | 5th place | 1-4-0 | 13GF 34GA
1999 – Cape Breton Jeans Experts | 5th place | 1-4-0 | 10GF 29GA
1982 – Cape Breton Colonels | bronze medal | 3-4-1 | 26GF 37GA
1978 – Sydney Steelers | 12th place | 1-4-0 | 15GF 32GA
1975 – Sydney Legionnaires | 10th place | 1-5-0 | 12GF 28GA

QMJHL DRAFTED PLAYERS

Rory Pilling – Cape Breton Eagles 2023 (2nd round, 34th overall)
Jonathan Coombs – Cape Breton Eagles 2023 (13th round, 228th overall)