New Buffalo Bandits coach Ted Sawicki has no intentions of easing into his responsibilities.

He isn't about to sit back and let the competition around the National Lacrosse League bully his team the way it did last season.

"My job is to rebuild this team," said the 37-year-old secondary school science and math teacher from Stoney Creek, Ontario. "We're going to be younger and we're going to be faster. It's imperative we get that youth because we intend to be going up and down."

Believe it or not, those words come from one of the greatest offense stoppers in pro indoor lacrosse history.

Sawicki was a two-time All-Star goaltender and the Major Indoor Lacrosse League's career saves leader when he retired 4 1/2 years ago. He still holds the league record for saves in one game (63) and he's the only goalie in pro indoor history to score a goal himself, having done it in Memorial Auditorium against the Bandits in 1992 while a member of the Detroit Turbos.

"See, I'm not your typical defense-only goalie," Sawicki said with a laugh.

Sawicki isn't typical in any respect. He was passed over for the Bandits' head coaching job in 1997, when the club chose Les Wakeling to replace Les Bartley. But Sawicki stayed on as a Bandits assistant coach, a position he's held since 1996.

He accepted the head coaching job with both his father and mother in the hospital: his dad is battling spinal cancer, his mom suffers from an intestinal blockage.

Sawicki is the only man to have played in five different World Championships of field lacrosse for Team Canada even though he never played lacrosse while attending Brock University -- goaltending for the hockey team instead. And he's never really tried head coaching before.

"I've been a head coach for a club field lacrosse team in Hamilton and at the high school level as well, but no, this will be my first real venture into being a head coach," said Sawicki, who was selected ahead of finalists Terry Sanderson and Barry Powless. "I'm nervous about it but I'm also very eager."

Sawicki is spending his summer as an assistant coach with the Ontario Lacrosse Association's St. Catharine's Athletics. He was also an assistant for Team Canada in the Wolrd Cup of Lacrosse in Baltimore in mid-July.

His task is to turn around a 4-8 Bandits team that missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season. Buffalo started last year as the second-oldest team in the NLL and limped to the finish line with five straight defeats.

"Right now, we have an older team and a slow team, but not necessarily a bad team," Sawicki said. "I intend to implement more discipline and really put my mark on this team.

"I'm not going to go out and cut a bunch of veteran players but we want to win back the people of Western New York and the Niagara Peninsula with exciting lacrosse. And we want to do it right away."

Sawicki said Ron Roy, who was a scout and assistant coach with the Bandits last year, will stay on. But Roy wants to work more on the management and promotions end, so Sawicki is looking to hire another assistant coach soon.

Thanks to Bandit for providing the article.