Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski is perhaps North America’s most familiar face in Rainbow Six, having been at the top level since the very first Pro League season with Mythic eSports. Two seasons later, success followed as Continuum won Season 3 of the Pro League and then doubled up on it with a win at the inaugural Six Invitational in 2017. Since then, though, securing trophies has been significantly harder for Canadian.
Canadian and KingGeorge celebrating their victory over eRa Eternity at the Six Invitational 2017. (Photo: ESL)
The Invitational win was followed up by a season that saw Continuum nearly relegated, with only a minor improvement to the next, but Canadian and the team seemed to have a resurgence in Season 6. Finishing first in North America, a signing with Evil Geniuses (EG) before the team’s first Finals since Season 3 would renew faith that it was still able to compete with the best. Unfortunately, an ascendant ENCE eSports would knock EG out in the very first round en-route to its first title.
Canadian and EG would have a strong 2018, but would still struggle to win a title. Being reverse-swept at the Six Invitational by PENTA Sports and then knocked out by PENTA again at the Season 7 Finals would set up a long-running rivalry throughout the year, but Canadian would never be able to lead his team to victory against PENTA -- later known as G2 Esports. The Six Major Paris would see EG crushed by G2 by a 3-0 scoreline after an expected victory at DreamHack Austin was snatched away by Millenium.
DreamHack Montreal would go worse for the team, being knocked out by Rogue, before Fnatic would pull off the biggest upset to date by knocking out EG 2-0 at the Season 8 Finals. The US Nationals Finals would be lost by EG, to Rogue as well, to put a cap on a 2018 that saw Canadian get close to victory multiple times.
Canadian at the Six Invitational 2019 with Evil Geniuses. (Photo: Peter Chau)
Team Reciprocity would kick Canadian’s 2019 off on a sour note, knocking EG out in the quarter-finals of the Six Invitational to deny a repeat grand final against G2 Esports. The second-placed team there, Team Empire, would be next in line to deliver a heartbreaking defeat to Canadian after a severe misstep by him and two of his teammates on match point. Vowing to come back, Evil Geniuses would go the Six Major Raleigh but suffer the ignominy of being knocked out in the group stages, and Canadian’s chapter with the team he had made would come to a close soon after.
Moving to Spacestation Gaming (SSG), the results would take a while to come. A loss to a new-look EG at DreamHack Montreal would see some knee-jerk reactions to the change, but the team’s quality was very much visible. Sure enough, a comfortable run through the OGA Pit Minor Qualifiers would be followed by a searing run at the Minor itself and was only stopped by a resurgent Team Liquid. 1043 days after the Six Invitational win, though, Canadian would finally win another title -- that of the US Nationals. This would be soon followed up by a crushing run in the Six Invitational 2020 Qualifier, and would see SSG poised to finally realise its true potential.
Canadian at the OGA Pit Minor
To know more about what seems to be North America’s strongest team heading into Season 11 of the Pro League, SiegeGG spoke to Canadian:
It has been nearly four months since your swap from Evil Geniuses, how would you rate your time with Spacestation Gaming so far?
How much has simply departing from Evil Geniuses been helpful for you, personally, to be able to shed that label of "serial finalists, never winners"?
Despite failure to win at the OGA Pit Minor, your team performed very well. What happened in the final game against Team Liquid?
What was your team's mindset when heading into OGA, and now -- having qualified for the Six Invitational anyway -- how would you rate the entire event? What were your main takeaways?
How bright do you see your team's future? Some are dubbing SSG as the best team in North America, especially after the USN victory and Six Invitational qualification.
Having played so much against G2 Esports, what do you think is the issue with them now?
Is Team Liquid's performance a flash in the pan, or is Latin America about to embark on a resurgence?
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Catch Canadian in action on the 6th of January against Season 10’s best North American team, DarkZero, as SSG tries to stake a claim to what it has never done beffore -- the Pro League Finals.