ECHL: Rapid City Rush Announce Season-Opening Roster

The Rapid City Rush have announced their season opening roster for the 2025-26 season.

All ECHL teams can have up to 21 players on their active roster during the first 30 days of the ECHL regular season, with no more than 19 being skaters. After 30 days, active rosters have to be cut down to 20, of which no more than 18 can be skaters.

For reserve, teams can have up to two players on reserve, one player on the 30 day injured reserve, and an unlimited number of players on the 14-day injured reserve.

Rapid City’s opening roster includes 13 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders. The Rush has ten returning players and 15 new players. They also have ten players on AHL contracts with the Calgary Wranglers.

*AHL Contract

Forwards

The Rush have brought back some of their top offensive players from last season and added some players who can provide a lot of offense. The major growing pain with Rapid City’s forwards is going to be finding which lines work together and making sure they have players who want to shoot, not just pass.

Briley Wood *

Blake Bennett * (A)

Parker Bowman * (A)

Cameron Buhl

Ryan Chyzowski *

Brett Davis * (A)

Rasmus Ekström

Seth Fyten

Quinn Olson *

Chaz Smedsrud

Ryan Wagner * (C)

Jared Westcott

Carter Wilkie *

Defensemen

Rapid City saw the biggest shake up on defense as only three of their defenseman from last season returned. But they are bringing in some experience as only two of their defensemen are rookies this season.

Mike Van Unen

Arvils Bergmanis

Xavier Bernard *

Aaron Chiarot

Billy Constantinou (A)

Chase Pauls *

Jake Ratzlaff

Mitchell Smith

Alexander Stensson

Goaltenders

Rapid City has brought back two of their goaltenders from last season, who had pretty decent seasons. Murphy spent a lot of time going up and down between the Rush and the Calgary Wranglers while Torchia joined the team late in the season after his collegiate season ended. Torchia only played in three games with the Rush where he had a save percentage of .901, while Murphy had a save percentage of .914 in his 25 games played. Arsenii Sergeev should only help elevate Rapid City’s goaltending as he adjusts to professional hockey as Sergeev was an outstanding goaltender for Penn State last season.

Connor Murphy *

Arsenii Sergeev *

Nathan Torchia

Reserves

The Rush will start the season with defenseman Jake Ratzlaff and forward Jared Westcott on reserve. Meanwhile, goaltender Nathan Torchia has been put on the 3-Day Injured Reserve, and defenseman Aaron Chiarot has been placed on the 14-Day Injured Reserve.

With many new faces coming to the team, lines may look slightly different as new players are mixed in with returning players andthe team follows and adjusts to new Head Coach Dave Smith’s game plan.

Rapid City is bringing back four of its top five-point players from last season: forwards Ryan Wagner, Blake Bennett, Chaz Smedsrud, and defenseman Billy Constantinou. With their top players returning, the Rush should be able to find some offensive success early in the season and can continue to build on their defense throughout the season.