The Albany Attack lost most of its ability to live up to its nickname in the first minute of a 17-8 loss to the Toronto Rock Saturday afternoon. Josh Sanderson, the team's superb young scorer and playmaker, apparently tore a knee ligament when his knee suffered an awkward twist just seconds after the game got under way.

Without him, the Attack hung in valiantly throughout the first quarter, but fell behind to stay when Toronto tore open the floodgates in the second.

There was a unique pattern to the first quarter of this one. Troy Cordingley fired Albany into the lead, but Terry Bullen of the Rock tied it with his first goal of the season. Darris Kilgour put the visitors back in the lead, but Rodd Squire brought the Rock even, with his first goal of the season. Ted Dowling gave the Attack a 3-2 advantage, but then Dean Harrison (all together now!) tied the game with his first goal of the season.

Albany got out of the quarter with the lead when Gary Rosyski took a lovely pass over his shoulder and beat Bob Watson in the Toronto goal on the break. Then things went from testy to outright nasty. A lot of jostling broke out in fromt of Watson. Kim Squire flew into the pile late, and was challenged by Darren Mutch of the Attack. Squire held his stick menacingly in front of him as he turned to challenge Mutch. Eventually, the two fought hard, with Squire winning the decision. After the game, a Rock team official told me how proud he was of Kim for trying to ward off an attacker that way. Given that Kimbo dealt out a cheap shot of his own on the way into the scrap, let's just say there are two versions of that story.

Albany went up 5-3 early in the second, courtesy of Dallas Squire. But then the defending NLL champs woke up, and relled off six straight goals, the final two coming from Kimbo. 9-5 Toronto at the half.

The Attack looked much better on defence in the third quarter, but couldn't narrow the gap. A 2-2 saw-off left the Rock up 11-7 going into the fourth.

This turned out to be another 6-1 blow-away stanza for the Rock. The best goal was the second, scored by Glenn Clark but created thanks to the blindingly fast breakaway running of Steve Toll.

Kim Squire was named player of the game, which was played before a near-sellout crowd of 15,078.

After the game, Josh Sanderson said the injury occurred when he went one way, and his knee went the other. He was clearly in pain, but he did manage to watch the entire second half standing up, so maybe that's a hopeful sign that the injury isn't catastrophic.

The Attack now face a real uphill struggle, having to defeat the Buffalo Bandits in their final regualr season game to have any chance of qualifying for the playoffs. The Rock, meanwhile, are in the post-season for sure, and look virtually certain of opening at home -- providing, of course, that they don't lose to Syracuse.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Albany Attack (6-5)               4  1  2  1  --   8
Toronto Rock (8-3)                3  6  2  6  --  17

ALBANY ATTACK                 TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Cordingley     1 - 3     4    K Squire       2 - 4     6
Rosyski        2 - 1     3    Doyle          2 - 2     4
D Squire       2 - 0     2    Harrison       2 - 2     4
Dowling        1 - 1     2    Stroup         3 - 0     3
Blasdell       0 - 2     2    Toth           2 - 1     3
P Sanderson    0 - 2     2    Langdale       1 - 2     3
Fannell        1 - 0     1    Toll           1 - 2     3
D Kilgour      1 - 0     1    Gill           0 - 3     3
Gibson         0 - 1     1    Veltman        0 - 3     3
MacDonell      0 - 1     1    R Squire       1 - 1     2
                              Bullen         1 - 0     1
                              Clark          1 - 0     1
                              Coyle          1 - 0     1
                              Graham         0 - 1     1
                              Watson         0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           44    Shots on goal           56
Saves made by           39    Saves made by           36
   Blasdell          39          Watson            32
                                 Campbell           4
Penalties               10    Penalties               12
Penalty Minutes         25    Penalty Minutes         27
Power Play Chances       8    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         5
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        0
Faceoffs Won            15    Faceoffs Won            14
   Fannell      (13-14)          Graham       (14-14)
   Rosa         ( 2- 0)          Clark        ( 0- 1)
Loose Balls             89    Loose Balls             92
   Gibson            11          Veltman           13
   Woods             10          Coyle             12
   Rosyski           10          Clark             11

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH TORONTO ROCK ***