All they needed was one more goal.
It didn't happen for defenceman Jeff Moleski and the Washington Stealth, whose second-half comeback ended in an 8-7 loss to the Toronto Rock in Sunday's National Lacrosse League Champions Cup final in Toronto.
"We couldn't find a way to beat [Rock goalie Bob] Watson at the end, he played tremendous," said Moleski, a 29 year old from Prince George. "This one hurts, that's for sure. The guys really wanted it but we had a poor first half and we couldn't fully come out of it."
Down 7-2 at halftime, the Stealth drew life from a goal off the stick of Rhys Duch in the opening minute of the second half. Lewis Ratcliffe followed suit with a pair of even-strength goals and Jeff Zywicky scored on a power play to make it a 7-6 game with still 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
"Once we got a couple behind him it was looking good, but not good enough," said Moleski. "Both goaltenders were awesome and Whipper (Watson] stole the show. He made a couple saves that were miraculous. The game could have gone either way."
The Stealth was kept on defence through much of the first half and that meant Moleski, whose job it was to shadow Rock captain Colin Doyle, didn't get much rest.
"I drew a lot of playing time, for sure," said Moleski. "Our defence in the second half [in which the Rock scored only one goal] was the best I've ever seen [the Stealth allowed only one goal in the final 30 minutes, Stephan Leblanc's game-winner 6:59 into the fourth quarter).
"We didn't get any transition goals, which hurt us. They shut down our transition pretty well and in the first half we turned over the ball way too many times. You can't do that in a championship game."
Moleski, who won the Champions Cup in 2009 with the Calgary Roughnecks, is not ready for retirement yet.
"I've got a couple more years left in the NLL," said Moleski.
"We just have to come back hungrier next year and hopefully the ball rolls our way and we'll get the cup back."
On Tuesday, Moleski will gather in Toronto with his Team Canada teammates and head for Prague, Czech Republic to play next weekend in the world indoor lacrosse championship. Canada opens Sunday against Slovakia. Canada won the world title both years the tournament was played, in 2003 and 2007.
"I really want to win this one, hopefully it will ease the pain of losing this one a little bit," said Moleski. "I think we should win it, we just have to be hungry and hopefully bring home gold."
Moleski, Zywicky, Duch, and Richards will represent the Stealth, while Doyle, Pat Merrill, and Stephan Leblanc of the Rock will also play for Canada.
