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Not a lot of people could decide on a whim that at the age of 28 they’d like to give professional lacrosse a shot and end up walking on to a Buffalo Bandits roster. Not a lot of people are Ray Guze. With two days to go until the first Western Division final in franchise history, the Portland Lumberjax defender discusses the importance of discipline, life after Dawson, and how we almost lost him to Hollywood.

You guys didn’t start the season off so hot, and now you’re headed to the western division finals. Is there anything specific you would credit for the turnaround of this team?
I would think it’s just timing, really. We just seemed to come together at the right time, as you saw in the last playoff game and even before that–the San Jose game that we won in overtime. Just prior to the playoffs we started to see things kind of gel and come together in all aspects of our game.

I spoke with Dan Dawson back in February, and even back then he told me that you guys had the confidence that you could make a real run at the Champion’s Cup. Do you think that that confidence is something that was present all season, despite any of the ups or downs you may have had?
I would say so. Throughout the season all of us believed that we have all the right tools, it’s just that on any given night one thing would be working and another thing wouldn’t be and now we’re starting to see things come together and all of the hard work that we’ve done all year is starting to pay off and things are starting to happen for us.

We hear so much about parity in this league, and it’s a little tiresome. Bottom line, what is it that you think will push the cup-winning team ahead of all the others?
Discipline. Definitely discipline. I mean even in the hockey playoffs right now we’re seeing bad penalties that are costing goals and it’s the same thing in the playoffs. With the final four teams, whoever’s hot on the powerplay and whoever’s disciplined and keeps the other team off of the powerplay is going to make a huge difference. It wasn’t as big a factor in our first playoff game because there was only two penalties called and both were against us but I really think down the stretch here it’s just who can keep their composure and get timely goals and the powerplay is definitely the place that that happens.

Is that something that you can look at the Jax and say ‘yeah, we definitely have that’?
Oh definitely yeah. Our powerplay I think finished between 50 and 60%, we’re right up there, first or second in the league. It’s something we look to and it works. It struggled a bit, I think in the last game of the season we had some trouble in Buffalo and obviously we didn’t get to use it in San Jose but it’s something we look to from Dan [Dawson] and [Derek] Malawsky and [Ryan] Powell and all of the guys we have on our powerplay and they really help us out.

Speaking of Dawson and Malawsky, a lot of people are quick to look at the success of this team and say ‘well next year Dawson, Malawsky and MacDonald will be gone’ and so on and so forth. I don’t want to downplay what they bring to a team, but are you confident that next year the Lumberjax can be just as successful without the Sting players?
Well, next year is a new year. There will be a re-draft as far as I understand it so we’ll probably end up with one of those three guys. While it would be nice to think it would be Dan it’s tough for me to say right now because obviously he’ll go number one, I would imagine. As far as the Lumberjax go, it will be a new year again next year, it will be tough but there will be free agents everywhere and a team that wins a championship–which is our goal right now–I mean who wouldn’t want to come to a team like that? Or at least a team that’s gone further in the playoffs and has that winning chemistry? And it’s not just the Portland Lumberjax as a team it’s the organization itself, it’s how we get treated, those are the factors that help bring free agents to a team and it’s something that Ange [Angela Batinovich] has really tried to put out there with players. Next year will only be our fourth year and word is already spreading that the Portland organization and the fans and everything that’s involved in being in Portland is something that people should want to be a part of. It’s always something that I’ve been happy to be a part of.

Turning the focus to this weekend, the Roughnecks offense has really started to click as of late. As a defender, what is it that you’ll be focusing on when you play them? What are the keys to shutting down their offense?
I think that at the trade deadline they did a lot of good stuff in getting [Josh] Sanderson, I mean he’s tough to stop. They have a really well-balanced attack. I think our team is solid, like I was saying with our defensive core I think we’re really solid five-on-five, their powerplay is going to be deadly and I think we have to stay out of the box. Five-on-five I think we match up really well against them.

You’ll probably be keeping an eye on the score in the eastern final. Do you have a preference for which of those two teams you’d rather play for the cup?
I have no preference really. I played in Buffalo my first year, I’d love to be in Buffalo, I really really would. But on the other hand I’ve played hockey my whole life and to play in Madison Square Gardens where they would hold the final game if the Titans happen to win would be an honour too. If I had a choice…oh man, it’s a tough one. Just on a hockey basis I’d love to play in Madison Square Gardens. Either way it doesn’t matter as far as competition goes, they’re both great teams so it doesn’t really matter.

You are known around the league as a bit of a trash-talker. For those of us who are unfamiliar with the art of trash-talking, how much preparation goes into it?
Not a lot of preparation! It’s all off the top of my head. I don’t know where the reputation of me being a trash-talker comes from, I tend to play more in-your-face. I don’t say a lot of stuff but I guess I do say some stuff that affects people. I don’t know, maybe it’s years of experience–when you’re trash-talked your whole life you learn how to give it back.

When people talk about you, of course, your mouth isn’t the only thing they mention. On the forums you often see it said that you’re the liveliest player out there, and one of the hardest workers right down to the final buzzer. If you got to choose how fans described you as a player, would that description rank near the top of your choices?
I would think so. I take pride in the fact that I go out there and work hard every night. Beforehand and in practice and things like that I like to joke around, have fun with the boys and stuff but when it comes to game time it’s serious. I want to win, that’s all I can tell you. I’m a bit older and I still haven’t lost that urge to win no matter what we’re doing–cards, games, you know it doesn’t even matter. Just winning on the field is what really makes it worthwhile.

In addition to being a defender and a teacher I actually heard you were kind of a movie star at one point.
Wow. Wow! How did you dig that up? Yeah, there’s this movie Silver Wolf, it’s a beauty if anyone out there wants to rent it. I play a bad guy’s buddy kind of like in the Karate Kid, one of those guys who says, you know, “go kick his ass Charlie”, while he stands in the background. I don’t know how you dug that up but yeah! That’s good.

That would be courtesy of Teddy Jenner.
I knew it! Teddy. That’s great. Teddy’s always been jealous of my looks so what are you going to do.

Have you retired from the acting business?
Yeah I’m not doing any of that right now! It was something I did when I was 20 or 22, I dabbled in it a bit just to have some fun. It was a way to avoid work.

Photo credit to the excellent Matt Wiater, photographer for the Portland Lumberjax and editor of www.portlandbeer.org

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