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Moleski eager for another ring

Washington Stealth defender in the hunt for his second NLL championship

Throughout his National Lacrosse League career, Jeff Moleski has been a winner.

That started with the Calgary Roughnecks, the team that drafted Moleski out of the Prince George Posse junior B ranks. After years of always being in the hunt, the Roughnecks won the 2009 Champions Cup, with Moleski anchoring the defence as one of the toughest guys in the league.

Two years later, having been traded to the Washington Stealth that season, Moleski just missed out on a second championship ring, losing a one-goal game to the Toronto Rock in the 2011 NLL final.

This Saturday afternoon in Langley, Moleski will play in his third Champions Cup final in five years when the Stealth will meet the Rochester Nighthawks. To get that far, the Stealth hung on to beat Calgary 14-13 in the West Division championship.

"Last week was quite the nailbiter game, to say the least, and it always makes it a little better when you beat your old team," said Moleski. "It's exciting to play for another championship. It's going to be intense. It's going to be a heck of a game."

The Nighthawks are attempting to repeat as NLL champions, having defeated the Edmonton Rush 9-6 in last year's final. Moleski predicts a low-scoring affair, knowing his team will have to find ways to beat Matt Vinc, winner of the NLL's top goaltender award for the third time in his career. Vinc set a single-season record for saves (662) and led the league with a 10.17 goals-against average and .803 save percentage.

"Their defence and goaltending is great and I think it will be a real tight game, although I'm hoping for a blowout for my team," laughed Moleski. "That would be a little easier on the nerves than the last two games were."

The Stealth have plenty of firepower with Rhys Duch of Victoria leading the way offensively. Duch, a three-tiime first team all-pro, led the NLL with 45 goals in 16 games and his 96 points ranked third in the league.

"He's been out go-to guy for sure," said Moleski. "If he's not the best offensive guy in the game he's awful close. He's our clutch guy and hopefully he can provide some heroics one more game."

Stealth defender Mike Grimes also made the first team. Playing alongside Moleski on defence, Grimes collected eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points, second among NLL defenders, and scooped up 95 loose balls.

The teams spilt the season series at one win apiece. The Stealth opened the season Jan. 5 in Everett with a 13-12 win over the Nighthawks. On Feb. 2 in Rochester, N.Y., the Stealth squeezed out a 7-6 victory.

Washington, Edmonton and Calgary all finished atop the West with 9-7 records. Washington opened the playoffs with a 12-11 win over Edmonton.

The only losing season in Moleski's 10-year NLL career came last year, when the injury-plagued Stealth went 4-12 and missed the playoffs. That year, head coach Chris Hall had to leave the game while he battled cancer. Hall is back to health and has been with the Stealth all season.

"It was just a combination of things that sunk the ship last year that we aren't dealing with this year," said Moleski.

Although Washington is hosting the final, Saturday's championship game had to be moved to Langley Events Centre due to the fact Everett's Comcast Center and Key Arena in Seattle are both booked on Saturday. It will be the first NLL championship game ever played in B.C.

"They hosted a couple exhibition games there, and it was kind of our last option," said Moleski. "We'll still have our home crowd, a lot of our season ticket holders will be there and we have quite a few guys on the team who are from the west. It holds about 6,500 and it's sold out, so it's going to be loud in there."

Moleski, 31, has been a weekend warrior ever since he joined the NLL in 2004, flying in from Prince George to join his teammates for practices, strategy sessions and games. In between games, he works out three times per week and lately has been helping Scott Anderson coach the Prince George midget team. He has a full-time job as an installer for Fortis BC and is a father of two young sons. His family from Prince George and Saskatchewan plan to be there in Langley to watch what could be Moleski's final NLL game.

"It's not for sure yet, but If we win, it would be a good way to go," he said.

The 4 p.m. final will be televised live on CBS Sports channel and on the American Forces Network.