Aaron Wilson and Blaine Manning scored four goals each, lifted to glory by a brilliant one-goal, eight-assist effort from Colin Doyle, as the Toronto Rock breezed by the Vancouver Ravens, 11-7, in a contest far more one-sided than the final score suggests.

Doyle served notice just three minutes in. Way out on the perimeter, he froze the Ravens with a wrong-way head fake before ripping a no-look diagonal pass to a wide-open Wilson, who tapped the ball in at Dwight Maetche's far post. Manning doubled the lead at 5:14, sending Maetche the wrong way with his third fake on a tip-toe shorthanded run.

Chris Prat got his first of three goals for Vancouver on a short, blunt twenty-footer off a good pass from Bruce Alexander, who led all Raven scorers with a goal and five assists.

Doyle's best assist of the night came next, and this one was nothing but pure instinct. As Doyle took his lumps down in the corner, Manning suddenly appeared at the top of the crease like he'd been beamed down in an episode of Star Trek. No one saw him make the move, but Doyle had the ball waiting for him when he arrived. No mistake. 3-1 Rock.

Alexander scored for Vancouver, shooting on the run at 11:16, but Rock defender Dan Ladouceur closed out the scoring for the opening stanza, finishing off a three-man running counterbreak at 14:23.

4-2 Rock after one.

Doyle struck hard twice from way outside in the opening moments of the second. First, he hit Jim Veltman with a no-look pass. Veltman converted with a powerful short stuff. Moments later, Doyle served up an instant replay, This assist was virtually identical, except it was Wilson who did the honors instead of Veltman. Manning got his second at 6:38, beside the post off an outside pass from guess who? Prat responded for Vancouver, but Doyle wasn't done playing instant replay. His last-second pass to spring Wilson for a goal was almost identical to his play with Manning just moments before.

8-3 Toronto at the half.

Manning didn't need any help from anyone for the next goal, twisting though traffic and crafting a great fake before scoring unassisted at 1:46. Toronto tightened up hard on defence, and the third quarter flew by. The only other goal came from Doyle, who did it himself with a big bam boom from mid-slot at 14:58.

10-3 Rock after three.

Vancouver put in backup goalie Scott Wylie and played a fine fourth quarter, but the verdict was already in. Prat capped his hat trick with a 35-foot sidearm rocket that blew by Rock goalie Bob Watson from head-on. Chris Gill scored six minutes later on an identical shot from slightly closer in. At 9:14, Luke Ansley cut the lead to 10-6 with a wide-open twenty-foot scoring rip.

That was close enough for the all-Kitchener tag team of Doyle and Wilson. Young Aaron finished off a fine four-spot after being spring by a neatly crafted shovel pass from his hometown hero. Gill got it back for Vancouver with a surging run, scoring on a leaping post snag, but that was that.

Notes: Colin Doyle told me a couple of things last summer. One was that he was going to start passing the ball more, and two that he thought Aaron Wilson would be a fabulous addition to the Toronto Rock. As Doyle gets older, and his body bounces back more slowly from the incredible pounding he takes out there, he keeps discovering new ways to light up scoreboards without paying quite so great a physical price.

This was a dominating performance tonight. Passing like this not only freezes defences, but it makes every other player on the floor a dangerous, vastly more effective goal scorer.

Having completed their Northern Division schedule with a perfect 6-0 record, Toronto now heads off to Rochester, where they have never won. It's a huge game for the Rock, who need the win to keep the pressure on Buffalo for first place overall at the fast-approaching end of the regular season.

For Vancouver, a hugely disappointing season continues to disappoint. The crease-crashing tandem of Chris Gill and Dan Stroup had huge problems getting inside the Toronto defence tonight. Gill came up with a couple of late goals, but Stroup was largely invisible, finishing the night with just a single assist.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Vancouver Ravens (3-6)                2  1  0  4  --   7
Toronto Rock (10-3)                   4  4  2  1  --  11

VANCOUVER RAVENS              TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Alexander      1 - 5     6    Doyle          1 - 8     9
Gill           2 - 2     4    Wilson         4 - 1     5
Prat           3 - 0     3    Manning        4 - 0     4
Ansley         1 - 1     2    Toll           0 - 3     3
Hanson         0 - 2     2    Ji Veltman     1 - 1     2
Brunsch        0 - 1     1    Finneran       0 - 2     2
Stroup         0 - 1     1    D Ladouceur    1 - 0     1
                              G Clark        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           41    Shots on goal           44
Saves made by (GA)      33    Saves made by (GA)      34
   Maetche (10)      27          Watson (7)        34
   Wylie (1)          6
Penalties               14    Penalties               18
Penalty Minutes         31    Penalty Minutes         47
Power Play Chances      13    Power Play Chances       8
Power Play Goals         5    Power Play Goals         5
   Prat               3          Doyle              1
   Ansley             1          D Ladouceur        1
   Gill               1          Manning            1
                                 Ji Veltman         1
                                 Wilson             1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        1
   (None)                        Manning            1
Loose Balls             57    Loose Balls             71
   Gill               9          Ji Veltman        17
   Ansley             5          Toll               7
   Catton             5          Watson             7
   Dwane              5
   Hanson             5
   B Murray           5
Faceoffs Won             7    Faceoffs Won            16
   Reisig       ( 5-16)          Merrill      (10- 5)
   Stroup       ( 1- 0)          Toll         ( 6- 2)
   R Williams   ( 1- 0)          

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