By: Riley Pollock – 12.03.24
Logan Schuss has finished his long climb back to the NLL.
The Ladner, B.C., native suffered a knee injury last season while playing with Vancouver and hadn’t been in a game until last Friday in Georgia.
Schuss picked up two assists in his first game as a Roughneck and says he is very appreciative for the opportunity to play again.
“I’m just thankful,” he said. “It’s such a big opportunity to play in the league again and I’m thankful for the opportunity not only (Josh Sanderson) but Calgary in general have given me to come back play and prove that I can still play in this league and be a positive member of the Roughnecks.”
Schuss has been practicing for quite some time with the Roughnecks but says there is only so much you can do outside of actually playing the game.
“You can never train enough to feel what it’s like to play an actual game,” Schuss explained. “The only thing you can do to get into game-shape is to get out there and play. I’ve been doing everything I can for the last year, basically, to get ready for that moment.
“I think I did a great job of handling my business and making sure I wasn’t out of shape this time coming back and putting in the work in the off-season and the weeks prior to this to be ready to go.”
The veteran forward has been with the group all season long while getting back to game-shape after eight seasons in Vancouver and says playing in Calgary was always on his mind.
“Calgary has always been a team that I’ve looked at as something that I’d like to be a part of,” said Schuss. “There is a winning culture here. There’s a great group of guys, lots of veteran players who have won at multiple levels.
“It’s definitely different; I was with Vancouver for most of my career and you get relationships, you have a routine, rituals and everything but the first week into training camp and every week since has been building and getting better friendships with the guys on the team. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
The Riggers need to start collecting some wins here over the final third of the season. They sit in 10th place in the NLL standings – which is jam-packed right around the final playoff spot. Calgary faces a familiar foe in San Diego for the St. Patrick’s Day game on Friday (TICKETS) and Schuss says despite playing one of the better teams in the league, he feels they are up for the challenge.
“I think we always rise to the occasion against tough opponents,” he said. “A few weeks prior we got a win on the road against Toronto and beat Halifax as well, which I think are a couple of the top teams in the league. We have to bounce back because we’re starting the final third of the season, we only have six games left.
“All these games need to be must wins and that’s the mindset going into them. Every game needs to be that must win mentality from here on out to make sure we get into the playoffs. If we can get into the playoffs there will be eight great teams in there that I don’t think will have much difference in skill. If we can get into the playoffs anything can happen.”
