The long wait is over as Saskatchewan's newest pro sports team opens their season this weekend.

The Saskatchewan Rush will kick-off the 2016 National Lacrosse League season on Saturday in Calgary against the rival Roughnecks.

It marks the start of an era for the Rush after they moved from Edmonton to Saskatoon during the offseason. It's also the start of the Rush's title defence after the organization captured its first NLL Title in 2015.

“We're excited to get back out there and start battling again,” said Zach Greer, alternate captain of the Rush. “Looking forward to getting the boys back together and get things rolling.”

Coming off a championship in 2015, the Rush packed up and moved to Saskatoon, changing their colours from black-and-grey to black-and-green. The change has the players excited to get the season underway, according to Greer.

“We've had great feedback from people so far in Saskatoon,” said Greer. “We're looking forward to getting in front of the fans, we know how passionate the province of Saskatchewan is about their sports and we're looking forward to putting on a show for them.”

With a new city and new colours, there's been some changes for the Rush, but the team on the court remains pretty much in tact from last season, making Saskatchewan the favourites to repeat as champions.

The Rush will return their top-five scorers from last year, including leading scorer Mark Matthews, who posted 53 goals and 115 points in 18 games last year. Goalie Aaron Bold led the league in goals against average and will also be back in 2016.

“There's been a lot of changes around the league, although we haven't had a ton on our end, everybody is different and everybody is better,” said Greer, who had a career-high 44 goals and 80 points last season. “We know that we're going to have a target on our back and we've got to come ready to play every night if we're going to repeat this thing.”

Last season, the Rush led the league in scoring with 241 goals for, but they also gave up the second fewest goals against, including 40 less than the next closest team in the West Division.

“We did a good job last year from back to front, starting with Boldy in net through the defence is our core strength for sure,” said Greer. “The offence got rolling in the second half of the season, but we've got a lot of roll players, everybody does their job, works hard and is committed to winning.”

It might not be the “Battle of Alberta” anymore when the Rush face-off with the Roughnecks in their opening game, Greer said that there will still be that rivalry feel when they hit the court.

“That rivalry's not going anywhere, so it's always just fun to play in that barn and hopefully we can take this first one here and get started off on the right foot,” said Greer.

The Rush and Roughnecks square off at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday at 8:00pm. You can catch the game live on TSN3.