Cole Paciejewski's formidable talents as a lacrosse player have served him well.
His uncanny ability to fill the net with his shots paid for his university education. His attention to detail on defence and a relentless work ethic gave him the fitness he requires to do his job as a forest firefighter.
And as a complete package, he's catapulted the Claude's Barbershop/BX Pub Bandits into the Prince George Senior Lacrosse championship series which starts tonight (8 p.m., Kin 1).
Lacrosse has also opened the door for the 22-year-old Paciejewski to play in Europe. He's been recruited by Team Scotland to play in the 20-team European (Field) Lacrosse Championship, July 28 to Aug. 6 in Budapest, Hungary.
"It's pretty exciting, I'm anxious to put on the jersey and play against other countries on the international stage," said Paciejewski, who averaged 8.5 points per game this season for the Bandits as the PGSLA's scoring champion.
"I was going to try to play for them at the world lacrosse championships a couple years ago in Denver and it never ended up working out with getting time off work. I've been messeging the coach and it turns out someone has dropped out with an injury and they needed a lefty and work has been awesome making it happen."
Paciejewski will travel late next week to Manchester, England, where the Scottish team has its training camp. Ranked sixth in the world, Scotland opens the tournament against Ireland, July 28. Ireland and Wales are the most difficult opponents in Scotland's pool, which it also shares with Austria.
England has won eight of the nine European titles and finished second in 2001, the only year it didn't win. The tournament used to be held annually but switched to every four years in 2001.
"We're expected to medal and we all hope to be playing England at some point," said Paciejewski.
One of his Scottish teammates, Ryan Sage of Kelowna, played for Mars Hill College in North Carolina against Paciejewski while he was playing for the Pfeiffer University Falcons. The five-foot-eight, 160-pound Paciejewski hasn't swung a field lacrosse stick since he graduated university in May 2015.
"I've been training hard and I feel I'm in the best shape of my life right now, so I couldn't have been asked to play at a better time," he said. "I'm definitely not the biggest guy, but the thing about field lacrosse is a lot of the best attack men in Division 1 are actually quite small so I think me being quick is gong to work in my favour."
The Bandits meet the two-time defending Westwood Pub Devils tonight in Game 1 of a best-of-five series for the right to hoist the Dale Rolufs Memorial Trophy. The Bandits ended the Devils' 41-game PGSLA win streak a couple weeks into the season and rolled to a 14-1 record, defeating the Devils in each of their three regular-season games.
Paciejewski played just 12 games but finished with 53 goals and 50 assists for 103 points to win the scoring title. His quickness in close quarters and a hard accurate shot makes him tough to contain.
The Devils racked up a 12-3 record, their only losses at the hands of the Bandits. Paciejewski was devastating in those games. He scored four goals and added three assists in a 10-8 win May 7 to stop the Devils' streak. On May 16 he picked up a goal and five assists on the way to an 11-9 triumph, then went on a tear with six goals and three assists to top the Devils 13-11 on June 15, the last time the two teams met.
"Even though we beat them three times in the regular season they were all close games and we know whoever plays better is going to be the team that wins that game, so we know we have to bring our A-game every game," said Paciejewski.
"Just having the bodies this year has been huge for us. There were times in years past where sometimes we couldn't even gather 10 people on our bench and this year we've had a full bench almost every time. That way we can have (quick line changes) for guys who strictly play defence and guys who play offence and everyone is a lot more focused on their roles."
The Bandits and Devils each swept their semifinal series. The Devils dispatched the Quesnel Crossfire in a two-game series, while the Bandits needed just two games to drop the Northland Nissan Assault.
The only blemish on the Bandits' record - a 12-8 loss to the Cowboy Ranch Stylers - came early in the season on May 30. The Bandits were bolstered by the additions of veteran scorer Brandon Gordon from Ontario, who collected 50 points, and rookie goalie Jon Wittmeier, a late midget draft pick who shares the load in net with Liam Miller.
The Bandits haven't won the playoff title since 2010.
"I think that one loss kind of helped us realize we have to put our best foot forward no matter who we're playing. We can't play down to our opponent," said Paciejewski.
"I think it was good for us to see we're not as good as we think we are and we have to be willing to put in the work if we want to get the wins. Everyone's just taking the game more seriously."
Paciejewski will be available to play tonight and in Games 2 and 3 on Monday and Wednesday next week. If the series goes to Game 4, that will be played on Monday, July 25, with Game 5 (if needed) set for Wednesday, July 27.
"I'm really confident with my team that even if we slip up and can't win it in three I'm sure they can figure out what has to be done and will take it in five, if I'm not there. I have a good feeling about it," Paciejewski said.
"I think they will be really bringing it to me and keying on me but we have a lot of guys on our team who were in the top scoring
(Bandits' Drew Doig had 30 goals and 96 points as the league's
No. 2 scorer) and I'm sure they won't have a problem putting the ball in the net."
