Jeff Moleski has one Champions Cup ring to show for his 10-year National Lacrosse League career.
Now that he's returned to his NLL roots with the Calgary Roughnecks, after four seasons with the Vancouver/Washington Stealth, Moleski has every reason to believe that championship feeling will return.
"This is a pretty gifted team when it comes down to personnel, especially offensively -- it's a pretty star-studded lineup up front -- so hopefully we have a good shot at making a run for the cup," said Moleski, after making the hour-long flight Friday afternoon from Prince George to Calgary.
The Roughnecks open the season tonight against the Vancouver Stealth, Moleski's NLL team for the past four seasons.
"It'll be business as usual [tonight]," said Moleski. "I obviously have a good relationship with a lot of those guys [on the Stealth] but now it's a new chapter and I have to play to beat them."
The Roughnecks have what many consider the best offence in the nine-team league, including Dane Dobbie, who set a franchise record last year with 51 goals in 18 games to lead the NLL, and Shawn Evans, who finished second in the NLL scoring race with 105 points. They also have high-scoring forwards Curtis Dickson, Marty Dinsdale, Jeff Shattler and transition expert Karsen Leung.
The Roughnecks don't need Moleski to score. They need a defensive specialist and that's why they signed him over the summer as a free agent. In 17 games with the Stealth last year he collected two goals eight points 93 loose balls and 23 turnovers. He has 39 goals 105 points and 753 loose-ball pickups in his 145-game NLL career.
Moleski joined the Roughnecks in 2005, after they drafted him in the third round in 2003, 34th overall. He quietly carved himself a niche as one of the most fearsome defenders in the league. His efforts to shut down the other team's top sharpshooters earned him all-star status in 2009, culminating in the Roughnecks' Champions Cup victory that year.
The six-foot-one, 205-pound Moleski played in two NLL finals with the Stealth when they were based in Everett, Wash. -- 2011 and 2013 -- and they lost each game by a one-goal margin. Last season, while the Stealth stumbled to a 4-14 record in their first year in Langley, the Roughnecks made it all the way to the Champions Cup final. They lost their lead with 1:23 left in the deciding game against the Rochester Nighthawks, who wrapped up their third-straight title.
Moleski, 32, is the second-oldest player on the Riggers' roster (Geoff Snider is the greybeard at 33). The physical nature of pro lacrosse makes it a young man's game. Snider is among a handful of Roughnecks who were on the team in 2010 when Moleski was traded to Washington for a first-round draft pick. He joins a veteran-stacked roster that includes goalie Mike Poulin, captain Andrew McBride, Mike and Scott Carnegie, Curtis Manning, and Peter McFetridge.
"When I first came in the league and looked at the older guys I thought, 'what are these guys doing here?' and now I'm one of them," said Moleski. "Getting older, you lose being in shape real quick, so I have to exercise whenever I can."
The Roughnecks are owned by the NHL Flames and are one of the top draws in the NLL. Their exhibition game against Edmonton attracted a crowd of 11,187 in the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"It's such a good atmosphere to play in, I'm sure the crowd [tonight] will be pretty impressive," Moleski said. "Hopefully we'll get off on the right track. A winning team brings fans."
• The NLL has a new television deal with TSN, which will broadcast 61 regular season and playoff games. Five of the 18 Roughnecks games, including tonight's matchup with the Stealth (6 p.m. PST, TSN1) are on that list. The balance of the schedule will be webcast on TSN GO... The NLL has a new team -- the New England Black Wolves -- who moved to Connecticut from Philadelphia, where they were known as the Wings.... Former Roughnecks/Stealth head coach Chris Hall died Dec. 22 after a four-year battle with cancer. Hall, 64, a native of Victoria, coached the Roughnecks from 2002-2007 and was with the Stealth from 2009-2014.
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