After shocking the Toronto Rock, 13-12, today in front of the largest crowd in fifteen years to witness a team's first-ever home game, the victory lap by the Ravens may have been a bit premature, but it was a connection between the elated Ravens and their 13,772 elated fans that might just swell into something bigger to rave about by the end of the season.

You’d have to dig back into the old MILL record books to find a larger opening day pro box lacrosse crowd. The Wings set that record at 14,189 fans at the Spectrum in Philadelphia way back in 1987. Last year’s league champions, the Wings will be flying into town next weekend, for next Sunday’s bird-battle. Knock them off their roosts, like they did today to the team that won the 1999 and 2000 titles, and the Ravens will have something to crow about. But let’s not count our Raven eggs before they hatch. Let’s just savour today's win, and savour the fact that the NLL has found a healthy franchise, both on and off the floor, in the box lacrosse hotbed of Vancouver, British Columbia.

None of the Ravens had to be reminded of their 16-11 loss to Toronto two weeks ago, but that had to be on their minds when the first shot of the game hit the Vancouver post, and then when the Rock went out front with a 2-0 lead on a 2-on-1 breakaway by speedster Steve Toll (on a nice bounce pass by Glenn Clark), and then when an outside bouncer by Vancouverite Dan Stroup caught Dwight Maetche by surprise.

Team captain Darren Reisig put Vancouver on the scoreboard at 8:45 of the opening quarter on the powerplay, while Toll was in the penalty box for holding. Seconds later, Toll streaked out of the box, catching a breakaway pass and shooting it hard at Maetche. B-I-G save by Maetche! There were countless more big saves by Maetche, enough to earn him the Game MVP, as the lead changed hands through the next three quarters.

But the man of the quarter was Toll, who took a long pass from Toronto goalie Bob Watson, and made no mistake in sinking his third breakaway shot of the game. Chris (The Thrill) Gill, traded in the offseason to Vancouver from Toronto, closed the first quarter scoring for Vancouver, again to the delight of almost 14,000 fans who were seeing pro box lacrosse for the first time.

The second quarter belonged to the Ravens, as Maetche made more big saves, and 6’6" Peter Morgan scored a hat-trick. Jamey Bowen and Chris Gill, both of whom opted for Sr. B rather than the WLA last year, also had big quarters, Jamey with a pair of goals and an assist, and Gill with four assists. This put Vancouver up 8-5, and some avid Raven fans (and maybe some players too!) thought that they’d died and gone to heaven, but knew that the Rock were a team that could bring them back to reality if they got too cocky. In fact, Toronto did just that, with Kim Squire and Colin Doyle connecting on goals in the last two minutes of the half. 8-7, Vancouver.

Half-time entertainment included the Raven Fly Girls Dance Troupe, the All-Girls Rock Band, and the comical and animated bigger-than-life Raven-Man himself, who had made his grand entrance earlier by flying in from the rafters of GM Place, with the aid of a guideline. These were all new experiences for Vancouver sports fans! Especially leading at halftime!

In the second half, Reisig once again broke the ice with a crisp screen shot that whipped past Watson. Down by two goals, Toronto’s bench boss Les Bartley took a risk by pulling Watson, but it backfired, as Kevin Hanson scooped up a loose ball, broke to the open net and scored, making no mistake by holding off on his shot until Watson was almost back to his crease. That play would come back and haunt Bartley by the end of the game, but not before Toronto outscored Vancouver, 5-1, in the next four-minute stretch, with hot shooting on a pair of power play goals by Doyle, and one by Toll that tied the score at ten-all after three quarters of play.

With five seconds left in the third, a good, old-fashioned boxla fight between Kim Squire and Grant Hamilton, who had locked horns on several occasions last summer with their respective Coquitlam and Victoria WLA clubs, brought the fans to their feet once again. They were sentenced to five minutes each in the sin bin, and in the scuffle, Toronto’s Pat Coyle ended up in the box too, with a ten-minute misconduct.

Doyle scored his fourth goal of the game early in the final quarter to put Toronto ahead 11-10, but Bowen’s third a minute later, on the counterattack after Maetche stopped Dan Ladouceur on a breakaway, tied the game once again. Doyle scored his fifth and the Rock led once again, but not to be outdone, Bowen scored again, for the sixth and final tie of the game, with eight minutes left. By this time, Vancouver sports fans were ranting, raving, and doing the wave!

They were on their feet again with four minutes left, when Toll smoked past a normally quick Chris Gill on yet another breakaway, threatening to break the 12-12 tie! But Maetche came up with yet another big save! And it was Hanson (who was left at home when the Raven and the Rock clashed in Toronto two weeks ago) who scored his hat trick for the winner, with 1:39 left!

Defense!!! Defense!!! chanted the crowd! Toronto would gain possession and call a timeout with fourteen seconds left, but once again, on Toronto’s desparation shot with just a couple seconds left, Maetche made the big save!

The Vancouver Ravens beat the Toronto Rock, in their first home game!

Next Sunday, the Ravens take on the Wings in the Raven’s Nest (GM Place). Will there be enough interest in Vancouver’s latest sports franchise to break the 15,000 mark? Can the local birds down the high-flying league champs? Stay tuned!

High scorers for Vancouver were Morgan (3 goals, 3 assists), Bowen (4 goals, 3 assists), Gill (1 goal, 5 assists), Hanson (3 goals), and Reisig (2 goals). Toronto's offense was led by Doyle (5 goals), Toll (4 goals), Stroup (1 goal, 2 assists), Squire (1 goal, 2 assists), and Wayne Burke (1 goal).

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Toronto Rock (1-1)                    3  4  3  2  --  12
Vancouver Ravens (1-2)                2  6  2  3  --  13

TORONTO ROCK                  VANCOUVER RAVENS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Doyle          5 - 0     5    Bowen          4 - 3     7
Toll           4 - 1     5    Morgan         3 - 3     6
K Squire       1 - 2     3    Gill           1 - 5     6
Stroup         1 - 2     3    Hanson         3 - 1     4
Manning        0 - 3     3    Ansley         0 - 3     3
Burke          1 - 1     2    Stevenson      0 - 3     3
Millin         0 - 2     2    Reisig         2 - 0     2
Veltman        0 - 2     2    Catton         0 - 1     1
G Clark        0 - 1     1    Hamilton       0 - 1     1
Coyle          0 - 1     1    Maetche        0 - 1     1
Gibson         0 - 1     1    O'Connor       0 - 1     1
M Murray       0 - 1     1    Stewardson     0 - 1     1
R Squire       0 - 1     1    
Watson         0 - 1     1    

Shots on goal           53    Shots on goal           51
Saves made by           38    Saves made by           41
   Watson            38          Maetche           41
Penalties               14    Penalties                8
Penalty Minutes         39    Penalty Minutes         19
Power Play Chances       6    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         5
   Doyle              3          Bowen              3
                                 Morgan             1
                                 Reisig             1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
   Toll               1          Hanson             1
Loose Balls             29    Loose Balls             48
   G Clark            6          K Goundrey         6
   Veltman            4          Maetche            6
   Watson             4          Stewardson         5
Faceoffs Won            15    Faceoffs Won            14
   Millin       (14-12)          Stevenson    (11-11)
   Toll         ( 1- 2)          Stewardson   ( 3- 2)
                                 Reisig       ( 0- 2)

 *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH VANCOUVER RAVENS ***