First-place bragging rights were on the line Saturday night in the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association and Cole Paciejewski gave the RPR Mechanical/BX Pub Bandits something to talk about.
They needed a monumental comeback to defeat the pesky Westwood Pub Devils 11-10 in overtime and Paciejewski delivered, scoring three goals in the third period and the power-play winner, 1:58 into the OT session.
The 23-year-old Paciejewski was in on all but two of his team's scoring plays with six goals and three assists, picking up where he left off last year as the league's scoring champion and playoff MVP in the Bandits' 2016 PGSLA championship run.
The win kept the Bandits' perfect at 5-0 to start the season at the expense of the previously undefeated Stylers. But for awhile there, after being outscored 4-0 in the second period, it looked like the Bandits were in serious trouble.
"It definitely lived up to the hype, we knew it was going to be a close one," said Paciejewski. "I thought it would actually be a lot rougher but that will come as the season goes on. We couldn't score (in the second period), we couldn't get any shots past (Devils goalie Jamie) Bellamy and it seemed like all their shots were going in. It was kind of deflating. We knew we had to have a big third and that's what we did."
With the Bandits trailing 10-6 with seven minutes gone in the third period, Paciejewski scored back-to-back goals two minutes apart and brought his club to within a goal of the Devils when his sidewinder found the net with five minutes left in regulation time. Twenty-five seconds later, Lucas Blinkhorn took a pass from Drew Doig and ripped in a shot past Bellamy to tie the game 10-10.
Bandits veteran Jesse Huffman had six assists Saturday in his first game of the season with the Bandits. Aside from a touch of grey starting to show on his sideburns, the 33-year-old Huffman is showing no signs of age catching up to him in what is a young man's game. He and Paciejewski had their minds in sync on the floor at Kin 1, seemingly able to predict where to put the ball to get each other into scoring position. More often than not, it was Paciejewski taking the shot.
"We knew what we had to do in the third period, down four goals at the beginning of the period," said Huffman. "A lot of it was we weren't hitting the net with a lot of our shots and it slowly started to come together there.
"Cole is a horse. We talk a lot on the bench. We've both played some decent lacrosse and when you can look at a guy and know what he's going to do it makes a world of difference. They got a couple quick goals on us (in the second period) and we got a little spooked. We tried to cram it down into the crease and held the ball more than what we needed to. We started passing the ball and working it from side to side and taking those outside shots again."
The Bandits were without their top rookie, Jake McIntosh, who was attending his graduation ceremony, but the game did showcase the talents of rookie Justin Parker. Parker was held off the scoreboard but his long limbs proved valuable, winning some key draws.
Jon Wittmeier made some huge stops in the Bandits' net down the stretch, including a game-saver in OT to deny Luis Enes, who had an open look from close range, and at the other end, Bellamy got tested frequently as well. The Devils were outshot 54-50.
The Devils have lost some key veterans – Scott Anderson, Blake McIntosh and Dave Bennett, who have stepped away from the game, but the future looks bright for last year's league finalists.
"It's quite a young team... for some of them this was just their fourth game of lacrosse (ever)," said Bellamy. "We had a lot of turnover this season, a couple work commitments and guys just stepping away and it sucks to lose those guys, but we have a lot of youth, guys who really want to play the game and are really excited to play every night so it's nice to have that energy in the room again. (The Bandits are a) veteran team I'm really happy with how the guys played."
Blinkhorn finished with two goals and two assists, while Brett Doig also scored for the Bandits. Pierce Watson was the big gun for the Devils with four goals and two assists. Devils rookies Enes and Kyler Boucher each picked up two goals and an assist and Colton Poulin and Monty Jones also found the net.
The loss was the first of the season for the Devils (5-1), who went on to beat the Mackenzie Lumberjacks 16-8 Sunday morning at Kin 1. In that game, Jones had six goals and two assists, Watson had four goals and two assists and Dylan Long had a seven-point game with fourgoals and three assists to pace the Devils' attack. In other games Saturday, the Northland Nissan Assault picked up their first win of the season, defeating the Co-Op Petroleum Stylers 13-9 while the Quesnel M. Daniels Consulting Crossfire topped Mackenzie 15-12.
