The Rapid City Rush 2023-24 season schedule has officially been announced. In the upcoming season, there will be a lot of familiar faces back in the Black Hills, but there are a few new(er) faces that the Rush will see this upcoming season.
October
The Rapid City Rush will start their season on the road against the Iowa Heartlanders on October 20th and 21st. This will be the second-ever meeting between the Heartlanders and Rush. Their first meeting came in the 2021-22 season during Iowa’s inaugural season, where the Heartlanders won two out of three games, including one where they put up nine goals. Then the Rush will travel back home, playing the Kansas City Mavericks on October 27th and 28th. Then they will travel to play the Mavericks on October 31st.
November
The Rush will continue their series against the Mavericks in Kansas City on November 3rd and 4th. The Rush will then have a quick trip to Tulsa to play the Oilers on the 5th. The Rush will return home to continue the series against the Tulsa Oilers, where they will play November 9th, 10th, and 11. Rapid City will have a few days off before they travel to Wichita to play the Wichita Thunder on November 17th, 18th, and 19th. Then on November 22nd, 24th, and 25th, the Rush will face the Idaho Steelheads at home to end November.
December
The Rush will start December on the road in Wichita on December 3rd and will return home to play the Wichita Thunder on the 7th, 8th, and 9th. From there, the Rush will head to Idaho to play the Steelheads on the 13th, 15th, and 16th. The Rush will then face the Allen Americans in Allen on December 20th, 22nd, and 23rd. To end the calendar year, the Rush will welcome the Iowa Heartlanders back to the Black Hills to play on December 29th, 30th, and 31st.
January
The 2024 part of the season will start on January 5th for the Rush, where they will head to Tulsa to play the Tulsa Oilers on the 5th, 6th, and 7th. On January 10th, 12th, and 13th, the Rush will take a break from Mountain Division teams to welcome the Fort Wayne Komets back to Rapid City. January 19th and 20th, the Rush will face off against the Idaho Steelheads at home. The month of January will finish off with the Rush starting their Stock Show road trip by heading to Utah to play the Utah Grizzlies on January 24th, 26th, and 27th.
February
The Rush will start February with a new road trip to finish their Stock Show road trip. For the first time, the Rapid City Rush will travel to Maine to play the Maine Mariners on February 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. They will then return home to play the Kansas City Mavericks on the 9th and 10th. They will continue their homestand against the Idaho Steelheads on the 14th, 16th, and 17th. They will then head to Greenville to play their sister team, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, on February 22nd, 24th, and 25th. The Rush will end February with the first-ever series between the Rush and Savannah Ghost Pirates. The Rush will start their series against the Ghost Pirates at home on February 28th.
March
March will start with two games against the Savannah Ghost Pirates on March 1st and 2nd. They will then travel to Utah again to play the Grizzlies on March 8th, 9th, and 11th. From there, they will travel to Kansas City to play the Mavericks on March 15th and 16th. On March 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, the Rush will return home to play the Utah Grizzlies and continue a short home stand on March 27th, 29th, and 30th against the Allen Americans.
April
The Rush will start April on the road against the Idaho Steelheads on April 3rd, 5th, and 6th. The Rush will then end the regular season at home against the Wichita Thunder on April 11th, 12th, and 13th.
Thoughts on the Schedule
This is a very different schedule than a lot of Rush fans are used to, as there is a lot more traveling back and forth instead of three-in-threes this upcoming season, as well as quite a few two or four-game series instead of the usual three. But there are still a lot of teams that the Rush will see many times.
The Rush will see the Idaho Steelheads 14 times, the Wichita Thunder 10 times, the Tulsa Oilers and Utah Grizzlies nine times, the Tulsa Oilers seven times, the Allen Americans six times, and the Iowa Heartlanders five times. The Rush will see the Fort Wayne Komets, Maine Mariners, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, and Savannah Ghost Pirates three times each.
This season, the Rush will face off against five different out-of-division teams in six different series. Last season the Rush only had two out-of-division series, but they were both Western Conference teams. This upcoming season, the Rush will play against three teams in the Eastern Conference.
