It used to be the most infuriating thing about Colin Doyle. Now, it's the most endearing.

The big, tough, wide-eyed, bushy-haired Toronto Rock goal machine just never stopped being a seven-year-old kid. Just like any seven-year-old, the world is simple and his reactions are big. But where Doyle used to be a grumpy, bad-tempered seven-year-old, now he's a happy, creative one. And this afternoon, he ran the whole playground in an awesome display that delighted 13,802 happy lacrosse fans at the Air Canada Centre.

Doyle burned the Washington Power for six goals -- most of them spectacular -- as the Rock served notice they are serious championship contenders with a scrappy 17-14 win.

After nearly six minutes of pounding scoreless action, Toronto captain Jim Veltman whipped in the game's first goal from just off Power goalie Devin Dalep's post. A minute later, Rodd Squire doubled the lead with a gorgeous leaping, twisting corner stuff of a long crossing pass from Blaine Manning. It was the first of six assists on the afternoon for Manning, who added a goal in his best performance yet for the Rock.

The entire arena held its breath at 10:15, when Toronto goalie Bob Watson took a head-on 20-foot howitzer from Paul Gait in an extremely sensitive area of his anatomy. Amazingly, after about a five-minute delay, Watson staggered back to his position and played the rest of the game.

Fred Jenner got Washington started at 11:06 with a diagonal power-play bouncer. Toronto's Mike Murray, who's been out for a few games with a nagging back injury, put a few exclamation points on his return when he exploded Dalep's goal net with a five-star howler from just inside the line.

3-1 Toronto after one.

The rest of the way, the goals came thick and fast. The Power played catch-up all afternoon, but were never able to tie the game. Doyle got his first two goals in the second quarter. The first was an long off-speed whip job to the top corner to put the Rock ahead 4-2. For the second, he scooped and cashed in a loose ball at the top of the Washington crease to make it 6-4. That came just after Paul Gait's only goal of the night, a short-handed frozen rope at 6:21.

8-5 Rock at intermission.

The third quarter was all Doyle, and it was one of the best one-man shows this much-travelled lacrosse reporter has had the pleasure to behold. It was like Doyle was determined not only to upstage the Gaits, but to ride out after the Tracey Kelusky "here's another way to score you've never seen before" show that rolled through Toronto one week before.

Exhibit A: Over his shoulder, with his back to the goal. Yes, the ball ended up squibbing home after Dalep stopped 90 percent of it, but it never should have been anywhere near the net in the first place! 9-6 Rock.

Exhibit B: Off a restart out of the corner, Doyle floated until the defender committed, then put his head down and bulled his way to net, daring an ultimately reluctant Dalep to stop him. Invitation declined. 10-8 Rock.

Exhibit C: The best of them all! A dazzling running one-hander. You'd have to be amazingly confident even to attempt such a transparent piece of lacrosse arrogance. A pure seven-year-old's goal. Blew the roof off the joint. 11-8 Rock.

Exhibit D: An ultra-confident diagonal scorcher. By now, Doyle's shooting or charging or charging and shooting every time the all gets within 25 feet of him. 12-9 Rock -- at the 6:55 mark! Not only is this one of the greatest periods I've ever seen an individual player have, Doyle did it all in less than seven minutes!

At this point, Erik Miller took over from the shellshocked Dalep in the Washington net. The Power settled down in front of him, but could only conjure one more goal before the break, a diagonal bounce bomb from Bobby Horsey with 15 seconds to go.

13-10 Rock after three.

While Doyle was going nuts for Toronto, Matt Shearer was quietly having a splendid five-goal outing for the Power. His fourth of the night cut Toronto's lead to 13-12 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Bob Watson then made a gritty clutch save on Gary Gait in close, and the Rock put it away from there. Jim Veltman got his second of three on a sweet dish from Pat Coyle at 3:46, and then came the latest piece of Steve Toll magic.

The Rock have this play they run for Toll, one of the fastest men in lacrosse, a couple of times a game. Someone -- Watson this time -- makes a big, high, sloppy pass into the other team's end. It takes a single big, ugly bounce -- and Steve Toll races onto it and barrels home on a breakaway. Well, sir, not this time. Washington's Kip Fulks, possibly the only NLLer with comparable speed, hauled Speedin' Stevie down from behind. Instant call from the ref: penalty shot!

At first, Toll went to the bench. Colin Doyle was seen lolligagging around behind the ball as though he were going to take the shot. Just a seven-year-old head game, I guess, because it was in fact Toll who ripped home -- and scored -- to boost the Rock into an unassailable 15-12 advantage at 8:22. The teams traded a pair of goals each down the stretch, but the outcome had been sealed.

Overall:

On the one hand, a terrific defensive performance by the Rock, limiting the effectiveness of Gary and Paul Gait. Gary got two goals on the afternoon, Paul just one. Each twin had four assists. Glenn Clark in particular sacrificed his body repeatedly to shove the twin superstars to the sidelines throughout the contest. On the other hand, the Rock had a tendency to lapse into sleepy, sloppy play with the lead. Any time Toronto got up by three, you knew the Power were about to blow a couple by them.

Washington is a good, good lacrosse team. I see no reason they can't win it all if they play with discipline and get some breaks. The biggest reason they lost today was that no one could find a way to stop Colin Doyle. It's a problem, folks. Even on an average day, Doyle can power through two defenders at the top of the crease. Today was no average day. Particularly in that amazing stretch early in the second half, Doyle was unstoppable. A player that fast, that strong, with that good a shot, playing with that much confidence? If he could do that half a dozen times a season, Colin Doyle would become the all-world goal-scoring superstar the Toronto Rock have never had.

Fascinating stuff. Onward!

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Washington Power (7-3)                1  4  5  4  --  14
Toronto Rock (6-2)                    3  5  5  4  --  17

WASHINGTON POWER              TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
G Gait         2 - 4     6    Doyle          6 - 2     8
F Jenner       2 - 4     6    Manning        1 - 7     8
Shearer        5 - 0     5    Toll           2 - 3     5
P Gait         1 - 4     5    Veltman        3 - 0     3
Halladay       0 - 4     4    Stroup         2 - 1     3
Horsey         2 - 0     2    Coyle          1 - 1     2
Cantabene      0 - 2     2    M Murray       1 - 1     2
Gallant        0 - 2     2    R Squire       1 - 1     2
Donovan        1 - 0     1    Gibson         0 - 2     2
Sims           1 - 0     1    K Squire       0 - 2     2
Dalep          0 - 1     1    G Clark        0 - 1     1
Fulks          0 - 1     1    Watson         0 - 1     1
Wills          0 - 1     1    

Shots on goal           50    Shots on goal           64
Saves made by (GA)      47    Saves made by (GA)      36
   Dalep (13)        32          Watson (14)       36
   E Miller (4)      15
Penalties                7    Penalties                6
Penalty Minutes         14    Penalty Minutes         12
Power Play Chances      XX    Power Play Chances      XX
Power Play Goals         4    Power Play Goals         2
   F Jenner           2          Doyle              1
   Shearer            2          Stroup             1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        0
   P Gait             1          (None)
Loose Balls             80    Loose Balls             99
   Cantabene         13          Veltman           13
   Gallant           11          Gibson            11
   P Gait            10          Manning           11
Faceoffs Won            15    Faceoffs Won            20
   Cantabene    ( 7-14)          Toll         (15-11)
   Brothers     ( 8- 6)          Manning      ( 5- 4)

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

Ben Knight is lacrosse columnist for Sportsnet.ca