The Rapid City Rush’s 2020-21 campaign got underway Monday with the first day of training camp, featuring several returning players, a handful of veterans and a pair of tryouts.
Leading the training camp roster is 2020 Blaine Jarvis “Heart and Soul Award” recipient Tyler Coulter, whose 24 goals last season tied a team-high and were fourth among ECHL rookies, and whose 11 power-play goals led all league rookies.
Peter Quenneville is back for his second year with the Rush after earning 58 points in 51 games before appearing in seven contests for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Brennan Saulnier will also suit up for Rapid City again, as he is on assignment with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Saulnier scored 22 goals during the 2019-20 season, was January’s ECHL Rookie of the Month and made the ECHL All-Star team.
Mark Auk, who appeared in one game for the Rush last year, and Eric Israel are returning for their second seasons as well, while Cedric Montminy and Brandon Fehd are back for their third seasons.
A number of league veterans have also joined the Rush for the upcoming season, but not all are strangers to Rapid City. 30-year-old Mason Baptista is entering his sixth year in the ECHL but first with the Rush, 32-year-old Garrett Klotz played with the Rush during the end of the 2017-18 season and all of the following season before joining division rival Utah Grizzlies last year and 34-year-old Joey Sides is back with the team for the first time since 2014-15.
Sides was a member of the Rush during its inaugural ECHL season before competing for several other league teams and one Elite Ice Hockey League program over the past five years.
The Rush’s lone goalie, Adam Carlson, was on the team during the 2018-19 season, accumulating a 21-17-6 record with 1,382 saves, 126 goals against and a .916 save percentage, before playing in 41 games for another ECHL team and two for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Former goalie Gordon Defiel was released from his contract.
Six rookies are set to begin their pro hockey careers in Rapid City, including Gabriel Chabot, who was a member of Boston University’s 2018 Hockey East Championship team, and Griffin Luce, who made 131 appearances and earned a plus-nine rating over four years at the University of Michigan.
Tyson Empey and Tanner Salsberry, both SUNY-Geneseo alumni, are the two rookie tryouts. Empey scored 54 goals and added 49 assists in 92 games during his college career, and Salsberry collected 15 assists along with a trio of goals in 24 games in his senior campaign with the Knights, a Division III program.
The Rush’s season-opener is slated for 7:05 p.m. Dec. 11 at home against the Utah Grizzlies.
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