Cal Paduda couldn’t take faceoffs anymore. Any resistance on his right hand, he had to drop the stick.

“I was playing defense on Matt Walters in practice,” Paduda said. “I was running down with him and I pushed out against him and I felt a really weird feeling in my hand.

“I thought it was broken.”

Every MRI came up negative, so he played his entire freshman year with what he thought was a bad bruise on his finger. He wouldn’t find out for a year that his bruise was actually torn ligaments that were supposed to hold his knuckle in place.

Two surgeries and months of chronic pain forced Paduda to take on a different role for Syracuse, providing moral support and advice for his teammates while he rehabbed. When the redshirt sophomore debuts this season, it’ll be his first game action since the 2013 NCAA championship.

The hiatus in game action for Paduda put him at a disadvantage in competing with transfer Ben Williams to be SU’s primary faceoff specialist, but head coach John Desko spoke highly of how far Paduda’s come.

“The lack of learning a new technique and not getting any practice hurt him,” Desko said. “… For Cal to turn around with such little practice time to get himself in a two-, three-spot right now has been pretty impressive.”

After Paduda’s original injury in January 2013, he kept trying to play. He heavily wrapped his right ring finger and slid it into his glove before taking the field. The pain; however, failed to subside.

After numerous doctor visits after his freshman season, he didn’t have surgery to repair the ligaments until March 2014. The injury sidelined him for the entirety of last season, changing Paduda’s role on the team from competitor to cheerleader of fellow faceoff specialist, Chris Daddio.

“(Chris and I) were working really hard to restore our team’s faith in us after the national championship game,” Paduda said. “I would still talk to Chris on the sidelines during games about what the other guy was doing and what was working for him.

“The only thing I could really do was help support Chris.”

Several weeks after surgery, it was clear that the doctor’s suggestion of three months of inactivity would not nearly be enough time. Paduda couldn’t hold a stick in his right hand without pain.

He said the frustration continued to mount, with the looming thought that he would need another surgery. He credited his mother for spearheading the effort to find the right doctor who properly operated on Paduda’s injured ligaments.

As a lacrosse coach of 20 years, she knew just how inhibiting the lingering hand pain of her son was.

“When you’re rehabbing and you can’t use your hands, you have to do other things to put yourself in a position to compete for the next season,” said Deb Paduda, his mother. “Your head has to be in it to do what you can to contribute.”

After being cleared by his doctor just weeks ago, Paduda is finally back at full strength. In Syracuse’s scrimmages against Towson and Bucknell on Saturday, Paduda went a combined 8-for-10 at the X.

Williams is going to be Desko’s first option at the faceoff X, and Paduda said his job right now is to help him out and tell him what he’s noticing. He’s not concerned with how much playing time he’ll get right now; he’s just glad to be in the conversation about who could get playing time.

“It’s not my job to worry about (playing time),” Paduda said. “It’s my job to control what I can, like my attitude and my work ethic and how much I put into it.

“I’m just really excited to start.”

Published on February 4, 2015 at 12:35 am

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