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Saturday, March 04, 2000 By Paul Zeise, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
If things had been different, Gary and Paul Gait might have become the most famous twins to ever lace up the skates and play in the NHL.
Or maybe, they'd have ledTeam Canada to the Olympic Gold medal in soccer or became two of the country's best basketball players of all time.
Instead, the Gaits will have to settle for being the two greatest lacrosse players.
They aren't complaining.
"We were excellent at a lot of sports, but lacrosse was the one that provided us the best opportunity to play in the United States," Paul Gait said. "We could have gotten scholarships in other sports, but they would have been mostly to smaller schools in Canada. The bottom line is, Syracuse University made us an offer that was too good to pass up. And things have turned out great."
"I've had a lot of people come up to me and say 'you two could be great at hockey,'" Gary Gait said, "and growing up in Canada, I had a lot of friends who played hockey. But we never really got started in it, so this what we do, and I love every minute of it."
Three weeks ago, the Pittsburgh CrosseFire reunited the Gait twins when they traded a first round pick to Syracuse for Paul Gait. It was the equivalent of putting Magic Johnson together with Michael Jordan or Mario Lemieux on the same team with Wayne Gretzky.
Simply put, there aren't nearly enough adjectives to describe how much better the two Victoria, British Columbia, natives are than the rest of the players in the league.
"When you see some of the things they do on the court, you often say to yourself 'did he just do that?' " CrosseFireCoach John Tucker said. "You see them play and you forget they are actually competing against the best players in the world because they make it look so easy. Nobody else is even close."
"What they have is the ultimate combination of finesse, power, speed and dexterity," said Barry Powlus, a vice president of marketing for the National Lacrosse League who coached Paul Gait in Rochester and is a former player himself.
"I think what sets them apart is their strength and size. They can't be knocked off the ball, yet they have the dexterity and finesse of smaller guys."
Gary Gait, who weighs about 230 pounds, said he weighed only about 180 pounds at Syracuse, but lifted weights in order to get stronger and improve his game. Despite this, he'd still rather leave the rough stuff to Paul Gait.
"I like to use more finesse and run around people," Gary Gait said, "whereas Paul enjoys running people over. That is his style. Also, when he shoots, he just puts it in the net, whereas I try to be more crafty and beat the goalie with skill."
The Gait twins' numbers speak for themselves.
They were three-time All Americans at Syracuse and led the Orangemen to three consecutive NCAA lacrosse championships (1988-90). In nine seasons of professional indoor lacrosse, the two have been first team all-league selections every year but last, when Paul Gait was on the second team. Gary Gait has led the league in goals scored five times, Paul has done it three times.
In 90 career games, Gary Gait, who has been named league MVP the past five seasons, has scored 596 points on 340 goals and 256 assists (six points per game). Paul Gait has played 88 games and has scored 519 points on 313 goals and 206 assists. Together, they have led three teams to the professional indoor lacrosse championship.
Last season, Gary Gait led the league in scoring with 50 goals and 32 assists in only 11 games. Nobody else in the league scored 40 goals.
" Their numbers are really astounding," said Bruce Wawrzyniak, NLL Vice President for public relations. "They are so far above the rest of the league, and they have only gotten better with age. People need to realize that the NLL has the best lacrosse players in the entire world, so what these two have done is nothing short of amazing."
The Gaits will be 33 in April, but show no signs of slowing down. Gary again leads the league in scoring with 58 points, and Paul is fourth with 44. Last weekend, Paul had seven goals and four assists in the CrosseFire's 14-8 win over first-place Philadelphia and was named NLL Player of the Week.
Still, the duo understands that they will have only a few more years at the top of their game before they have to retire.
"One of the reasons I pushed for this trade to Pittsburgh," Paul Gait said, "was because I wanted another chance to play with my brother before I have to retire. We have been together our whole lives and we have had a lot of success together. For me, the chance to play with him is special."
Gary Gait added, "I don't want to be one of those guys who retires because I can't play any more. I'll know when it is time to walk away. But I'm hoping for at least a few more years."
The CrosseFire (5-3) are off this week then return to action Friday when they host the Rochester Knighthawks at the Mellon Arena.
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