Blaine Manning fired five goals and Kim Squire bagged a beaut in his first home game of the season as the Toronto Rock pulled away late to turn back a very game squad of Philadelphia Wings 12-9 in a tense, exciting, hard-hitting lacrosse game in front of 17,539 happy fans at the Air Canada Centre.

Fresh off a big win over Buffalo, Philadelphia came out pushing, hustling and snarling. The Wings were without leading scorer Tom Marachek, stuck at home in a work-related conflict. Another surprise was uncorked between the Philly goalposts, where youthful prospect Nick Schroeder got his first start of the season as ageless veteran Dallas Eliuk took the night off.

Squire got it going for the home side just two minutes in, racing onto a rolling rebound, burying the ball low behind Schroeder. Huge delight for Kimbo, his teammates and the fans, all well aware of the Six Nations superstar's painful, near-tragic encounter with flesh-eating disease just before training camp opened.

Huge impressive rookie Brian Tower knotted the contest five minutes later, pouncing on a rebound and zipping it past a lunging Bob Watson in the Rock goal. The rebound-fest continued a minute later, when Manning cashed in a Colin Doyle rebound. At the time, Doyle was scuffling with ex-Rock Drew Candy. He continued to shove the impetuous defender until Manning trotted by on the way back to the bench, at which point Doyle turned away from the tiff, and joined the celebration instead.

Ex-Ottawa Rebel Dan Marohl retied the game at eleven minutes, and it was wonderful. Circling the perimeter as his teammates packed in with tremendous density around the Toronto net, Marohl uncorked a running behind-the-back screamer that proved unstoppable. But right back at the other end, Sandy Chapman of the Rock -- lots of floor time tonight, and really thriving on it -- abolished Candy on a surging, twisting run and beat Schroeder from the low slot. Tony Henderson soon answered for the Wings, popping one home from the post.

3-3 tie after one.

The Rock clamped down at both ends after the break, and ran up a 5-3 lead four minutes before the half. Manning scored them both. The first was a 25-foot diagonal power play marker, when Schroeder was caught leaning just slightly to his left. Number two was a compact pop-job, also on the power play, touched off by a nice pass from ex-Wing Kevin Finneran.

Philly rebounded late, however. They got a slightly lucky one when Tower cought and converted a pop-up rebound at Watson's left post at 13:02. Nothing lucky about the next one, though. Jeff Ratcliffe dropped his shoulder and bulled straight to the net, pulling the visitors even with just four scant seconds left.

5-5 at the half.

The third quarter was very similar to the second. Defender Pat Coyle bagged an unexpected gem for Toronto at 5:28, when he hauled the ball forward on a counterbreak, and scored wide-open from the high slot when all the defenders went to other Toronto players. Finneran got his only goal of the night against his former mates at 8:18, a wicked 45-foot bouncer fired around a Philly defender. The Wings got one back at 10:27 when Keith Cromwell went bag just under the crossbar from way out side.

7-6 Rock after three.

Philly tied it early on a nasty slot bouncer from Paul Cantabene. But then the bubble finally burst, and the champs hit for four goals in a row. The first was splendid. Manning ripped a long crossing pass to Rock captain Jim Veltman, who instantly redirected across the net to Chapman, who cashed it in from just off the post. The Wings had done a splendid job of not letting Toronto speedster Steve Toll get loose on a breakaway, the the Rock finally worked "the play" at 6:25, springing Toll home free to score short-handed and put Toronto up 9-7. Manning capped the run with two more goals, a screened high-slot bouncer at 8:51, followed by a bang job from the doorstep at 11:06.

Marohl got one back with a 25-foot diagonal hummer, and Cromwell closed the gap further with a surging catch-and-rip at 12:17. But that was all the Wings could get, and Steve Toll closed out the game with some high-speed fakes on the breakaway just six seconds after Philly's final goal.

Toronto is playoff-bound, claiming a spot in the postseason for the fifth straight season. The Northern Division title and a first-round bye are just one Rock win or one Calgary Roughnecks loss away, and the Wings can close the deal for Toronto, going home to meet the Roughnecks tomorrow night.

A great effort by the visitors, but the Rock just had too much at both ends of the floor. Chris Driscoll was in there blasting for Toronto, by the way, in his second Rock game since he was liberated from the New York Saints.

Driscoll's first Rock goal will have to wait a while, however. Toronto now gets two entire weekends off before closing out the season at home against Gary Gait and the inexplicable Colorado Mammoth on Sunday, 13 April.

See you there!

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Philadelphia Wings (7-6)              3  2  1  3  --   9
Toronto Rock (11-4)                   3  2  2  5  --  12

PHILADELPHIA WINGS            TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Marohl         2 - 3     5    Manning        5 - 2     7
Cromwell       2 - 2     4    Toll           2 - 3     5
Cantabene      1 - 3     4    Ji Veltman     0 - 4     4
Ratcliffe      1 - 3     4    Coyle          1 - 2     3
Tower          2 - 1     3    Chapman        2 - 0     2
T Henderson    1 - 0     1    Finneran       1 - 1     2
A Martin       0 - 1     1    Doyle          0 - 2     2
                              K Squire       1 - 0     1
                              Gibson         0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           37    Shots on goal           45
Saves made by           33    Saves made by           28
   Schroeder         33          Watson            28
Penalties                8    Penalties                9
Penalty Minutes         16    Penalty Minutes         18
Power Play Chances       4    Power Play Chances       3
Power Play Goals         2    Power Play Goals         2
   Cromwell           1          Manning            2
   T Henderson        1          
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        1
   (None)                        Toll               1
Loose Balls             67    Loose Balls             66
   Cantabene         12          Ji Veltman        11
   Schroeder          8          Manning            7
   Guindon            7          Watson             7
   A Martin           7          
Faceoffs Won            15    Faceoffs Won            11
   Cantabene    (15-10)          Toll         ( 9- 5)
   Donovan      ( 0- 1)          Merrill      ( 2-10)

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