Colin Doyle led the way with three goals and a pair of helpers, and Mike Murray came up big with a power play hat trick as the Toronto Rock shut down the injury-depleted Ottawa Rebel, 12-6, Friday night before an announced crowd of 14,169 at the Air Canada Centre.

Forget the score. The real star of this game was rookie Rebel netkeeper Andrew Leyshon. Starting his first NLL game thanks to regular goalie Matt Disher's twisted knee, the young B.C. native made an incredible 60 saves, keeping his team in the contest until late in the second half.

Disher wasn't the only Rebel without a chance of playing. Team leading scorer Chris Konopliff was sidelined after taking a heavy shot in the ribs in Ottawa's last game, and trigger man Jake Lawson missed the game due to an unbreakable work commitment. Disher was actually dressed and ready to go if Leyshon got lunched. It didn't happen, and he was able to sit back with the rest of us and enjoy the show.

Right off the top, Leyshon was welcomed to the NLL by a Steve Toll breakaway. The rangey rookie took the measure of the Toronto speedster, stood his ground and made a fine first save. But the Rock got to him very soon after. Colin Doyle opened the scoring at 1:38, cashing in a great outside pass from Ken Millin. Seconds later, highly touted prospect Blaine Manning fumbled the ball in front of the Ottawa net, but quickly recovered to score his first goal in the NLL.

Five minutes in, a Rebel defender was caught smothering the ball in his own goal crease, and Doyle was awarded a penalty shot. Leyshon again stood his ground. Doyle made a couple of dekes too many, had nothing to shoot at, and his scoring attempt squibbed off wide. The Rock did not score again in the quarter, despite outshooting the visitors 18-6.

2-0 Toronto after one.

Leyshon shot down another Toll breakaway to open up the second. The surprising Ryan Painter then continued his fine early form, putting the Rebel on the board from just outside Bob Watson's crease. The rest of the period was all Toronto -- and all Andrew Leyshon. Dan Stroup put the rock up 3-1 with a running sidearm one-bouncer at 4:30. Four minutes later, a power-play rip from the high slot got Toronto's Mike "Machine Gun" Murray on the scoreboard.

Steve Toll then broke loose again. This guy's speed advantage over the entire league is ridiculous. He can scoop a loose ball along the midfloor boards, go outside on well-positioned defenders, and rip right past them into the clear anyway. Oh, yeah, right... Leyshon stopped him cold for the third time.

Leyshon then made a superb pair of back-to-back saves on Darryl Gibson and Glenn Clark, before Kim Squire hit Colin Doyle right in front for a shorthanded marker with just under a minute left in the half.

5-1 Rock at the break. The shots were running 35-18.

Dan Stroup set the home side flying at 1:14, earning his second bag job of the night with a wicked screened bouncer. But then the Rebel put together their best sequence of the night. Dan Marohl surprised Watson with a looping diagonal 25-foot bounce job two minutes in. Two minutes later, Ottawa's Jamie Roy buried a sidearm rip from just inside the line! Watson continued to look shaky just 30 seconds later, when a falling Ryan Painter beat him with a one-bounce screen to cut Toronto's lead to 6-4.

Mike Murray then came up with a strange one for the Rock. Leyshon's goal net was fully dislodged, sitting at least a foot behind the goal line, and play went on for at least 15 seconds. Murray went bag brutalé, but I wonder if it would have counted if the ball had rolled an inch or two over the goal line, and was still almost a foot out of the net?

But Ottawa wasn't done. Not content with merely making a save a minute, Leyshon uncorked a gorgeous downfloor pass that found Mike Benedict (one goal, four assists in a very strong showing) all alone in front of Watson with absolutely no choice but to score.

Having been foiled three times on clean breakaways, Steve Toll finally opened his account, bunting in a fine crossing pass with Leyshon finally caught on the wrong side of the goalmouth. Marohl then zipped another long outside shot past Watson at 9:48, and the Rebel had climbed all the way back to 8-6.

The end, when it came, was spectacular. Ottawa coughed up the ball on an over-and-back violation, just as a voracious Kim Squire came racing out of the penalty box. Squire snagged the rolling ball and took off for glory, but a well-placed defender got back and was starting to angle him towards the corner. Squire looked around, and zipped a lovely pass to Steve Toll coming down the middle behind him. The defender turned, Toll lasered the ball back to Squire, who now had all the angle he needed to scream in on Leyshon and absolutely bury the goal of the night.

Just 11 seconds later, Squire's brother Rodd zipped a beautiful pass to Glenn Clark, who scored from right in front to put the Rock up 10-6 after three.

The final quarter, while entertaining, was largely an afterthought. Murray and Doyle completed their hat tricks, Leyshon continued to be awesome, and Toronto ran out 12-6 winners.

Leyshon was very modest after the game, more concerned that his team had lost than with the incredible performance he had just put in. But with Matt Disher averaging over 50 saves a game, and his understudy knocking down 60 against the Rock, it may be safe to say the Ottawa Rebel's goaltending woes are behind them. But now the focus must shift to their team defence. The Rock, who know a thing or two about defending, allowed Ottawa only 36 shots on the night. That is a trick the Rebel need to learn.

An interesting note: Referee Bill Fox dropped by the Toronto bench during warm-up, informing the coaches that there's an NLL rule now that says teams only get one timeout per half in televised contests, as a way of keeping the game moving. I think that's such a great idea, it should be extended to all games, televised or not.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Ottawa Rebel (1-2)                    0  1  5  0  --   6
Toronto Rock (2-1)                    2  3  5  2  --  12

OTTAWA REBEL                  TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Benedict       1 - 4     5    Doyle          3 - 2     5
Marohl         2 - 2     4    K Squire       1 - 3     4
Painter        2 - 0     2    M Murray       3 - 0     3
Roy            1 - 0     1    Stroup         2 - 1     3
Gelsvik        0 - 1     1    Manning        1 - 2     3
Laverty        0 - 1     1    Toll           1 - 2     3
Leyshon        0 - 1     1    G Clark        1 - 1     2
Plunkett       0 - 1     1    Burke          0 - 2     2
                              Coyle          0 - 1     1
                              Gibson         0 - 1     1
                              D Ladouceur    0 - 1     1
                              Millin         0 - 1     1
                              R Squire       0 - 1     1
                              Veltman        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           36    Shots on goal           72
Saves made by           60    Saves made by           30
   Leyshon           60          Watson            30
Penalties                8    Penalties                7
Penalty Minutes         16    Penalty Minutes         17
Power Play Chances       6    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         1    Power Play Goals         3
Loose Balls             72    Loose Balls             91
   Leyshon           11          Toll              14
   Graham            10          Veltman           13
   Roy                8          G Clark           10
   Marohl             8
Faceoffs Won             8    Faceoffs Won            15
   Graham       ( 8-11)          Millin       (12- 5)
   Tasse        ( 0- 3)          Toll         ( 3- 3)
   McLean       ( 0- 1)

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