Cole Paciejewski specializes in putting out fires. On Tuesday night at Kin 1, he lit one under the offence of the RPR Mechanical/BX Pub Bandits.
In Game 1 of the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association playoff championship series, Paciejewski - an initial attack firefighter - struck for six goals and five assists in a 15-9 win against the Westwood Pub Devils. Paciejewski had been on the job the past three weeks so Tuesday's game was his first of the playoffs.
Prior to the opening face-off, Paciejewski was named the PGSLA's most valuable player and then he promptly showed why he was chosen for that honour. He combined with two of the Bandits' other big guns, Drew Doig and Justin Parker, to keep the Devils scrambling on defence. By the end of the night, Paciejewski, Doig and Parker had a combined 11 goals and 20 assists. Individually, Doig had three goals and eight helpers and Parker chipped in with two goals and seven assists.
"I think everything was just going our way, honestly," said the 23-year-old Paciejewski. "Offensively we were moving the ball well. Our shots from the outside were going in and when that happens we're playing well as a team. And defensively, the guys on defence played awesome. There were so many times where the other team didn't even get a shot in 30 seconds because our defence was just stopping them straight up."
As for his own night, Paciejewski was just doing his best to seize the moment.
"With how busy I've been with work, I didn't know how many games I was going to be able to get in this series," he said. "I figured if that's my only game, I wanted to come out and have the best game I could."
The Bandits - the first-place team during the regular season with a 13-1 record - entered the best-of-five final as the favourite against the second-seeded Devils, who went 10-5. The Devils lost each head-to-head meeting between the teams this season and weren't expecting Paciejewski to be in uniform on Tuesday. Obviously, his presence created problems.
"He's always a force in the lineup," said Devils goalie Jamie Bellamy, the top-rated stopper in the league. "He kind of changes up the way the (Bandits') offence runs - it all kind of runs through him. And then him and Drew are pretty lethal together on the pick and roll, they get a lot of good looks out of it from the left-hand side."
The Bandits led 4-3 after the first period and 9-5 after the second. They outscored the Devils 6-4 in the third to create the margin of victory.
Other marksmen for the Bandits were Carson Toth, Liam Barwise, Steven Kidwell and Ryan Waddington. For the Devils, Monty Jones and Colton Poulin both finished with three goals. Spencer Ovenden, Jeremy Matte and Pierce Watson also scored in a losing cause.
Game 2 of the series is today (8 p.m.) at Kin 1. Paciejewski's availability for the Bandits is uncertain.
"I'm hoping (to play) but I'm on call right now so I certainly could get sent to a fire at a moment's notice," he said.
As for the Devils, Bellamy said the team has to "calm down a little bit" on defence.
"We got a little excited (in Game 1) trying to get out and defend their top guys a little too aggressively and they managed to sneak in underneath a lot more than they should have," Bellamy said. "We have to play a little bit less excited and cover up their better players a little bit better that way.
"I think we kind of figured it out on the offensive side how to get the ball through," he added. "We had a lot of good opportunities toward the end of the game - some positives to build off of. It's a five-game series so I think there's a lot of games left."
