For the fourth straight year, the Saskatchewan Rush are playing for the National Lacrosse League championship. Game 1 of the 2018 NLL Final between the Rush and Rochester Knighthawks goes on Saturday night at SaskTel Centre.

"Everybody has dreamed about playing in the NLL Final and we've been fortunate enough over the last couple of years to make it there, but you never know when you're going to get another chance, so every time you get there, you have to make the most of your opportunity," said Rush defenceman Brett Mydske.

There's a tough task in front of the Rush if they hope to capture their third title in the four years.

Saskatchewan lost just four times during the regular season on their way to a 14-4 record and first place overall. However, two of those losses came at the hands of the Knightshawks.

"We had a tough time against them in the season this year, the games were relatively close, but they outplayed us in pretty much every area of the game," said Mydske.

The Rush are going into the final off a 15-13 win over the Calgary Roughnecks in the Western Final two weeks ago. The Knighthawks went into Georgia and beat the Swarm, 9-8, in the Eastern Final.

Mydske said he felt like the team played a complete game against the Roughnecks and that should serve them well going into the final.

"We always know that no matter what the lead against Calgary, they're always going to end up coming back and making a good push back, but everyone was confident enough that we controlled that game from start to finish and it was a good game to get us ready for this season," he said.

Experience will be a huge factor for the Rush in the final, they played last season with a number of rookies on the squad, who received the experience of playing, and losing, a championship final.

The Rush are hoping that experience will help them this season.

"They've got a year under their belt now and they're all playing tremendous, so that experience definitely did help them, and we've kept the same core together, our core defence has been together since the first time that we played Rochester in the final, so we've got chemistry there, so we're in good shape," said Mydske.

This final is the meeting of two teams that have played in the last six league finals overall, starting with Rochester beating the then Edmonton Rush in the 2012 final. That was the first of three straight title wins for the Knighthawks. The Rush have played in the last four finals since, winning in 2015 and 2016 before losing to the Swarm last season.

Saskatchewan will have home field advantage in the final and Mydske feels that will be a big advantage for the Rush.

"Playing in front of our fans, every team knows how hard it is once we get on a run and the fans start going crazy, so if we can get a win on Saturday, that would be huge for the momentum going to Rochester," said Mydske. 

The Rush and Knighthawks hit the field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night at SaskTel Centre.