Another special night in a short history filled with them goes on Saturday at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Rush will raise their 2018 NLL Cup championship banner to the rafters during Saturday's home opener, bringing the number of championship banners to three in just three seasons in Saskatchewan.

"It never gets old," said Rush forward Ben McIntosh on the banner-raising ceremony. "We're looking to add as many as we can, that's the plan."

The Rush will square off with the San Diego Seals for the home opener. The Seals are one of two expansion teams joining the National Lacrosse League this season.

McIntosh said San Diego won't be a pushover, "It's always great to see the league expand and watch it grow, and this San Diego team is not your typical expansion team, they've got some veteran guys, they're a very good team already," he said.

The Rush are coming off a 12-11 loss to the New England Black Wolves in their season-opening game last weekend. It wasn't the start that the Rush were looking for, but McIntosh said they're ready to rebound on their home turf. 

"We would have liked to have won that one last weekend, but we all have our routines and that’s a tough travel day for us to New England, so we're happy to be home and back to our routines," he said.

"We love playing at home, we're excited and we'll be ready on Saturday night."

Last season, the Rush were a complete and dominant team as they lead the league in goals for (254) and goals against (196). While the team has went through some changes over the offseason, they remain a title contender.

McIntosh said the experience that the Rush have gained over the past few seasons will make them a threat.

"We learned our lesson the hard way two years ago, we came in with a bit too much confidence and thought we could win some games without giving 100-percent, so we know what we've got to do because every team is so good in this league," he said.

McIntosh will be leaned on to help power the offence as he heads into his fifth season and is coming off a career-year in which he posted 46 goals and 80 points in 18 games.

The Coquitlam, B.C. product will be aiming to build off his impressive season.

"2018 was a big lacrosse year for me, I just played a lot with the summer, the NLL and playing some field lacrosse, so it hasn't really stopped and I'm just hoping to pick up where I left," he said.

In order for the Rush to perform at the level that they did during the 2017-18 season, the team will need to settle in defensively with Ryan Dilks and Jeff Cornwall not with the team this season.

"It's going to take some time for our defence to fully gel and get to the standards that we've had for the past few years," said McIntosh.

The Rush and Seals face-off at 7:30 p.m. at SaskTel Centre on Saturday night.