Okay, lacrosse fans. It's time to meet National Lacrosse League rule 94-D. The lead paragraph goes something like this:

"Rule 94-D disallowed Gary Gait's sixth goal of the game, setting up John Grant's winning goal as the Rochester Knighthawks defeated the Colorado Mammoth, 13-12, Friday night in the final regular season contest for Gary and Paul Gait."

Here's the scenario: Colorado is pressing hard in the dying moments of a see-saw, deadlocked game. Paul Gait, deep in the corner, tries to pass the ball back to his brother at the shooter position. The pass flies four feet over Gary's head, forcing him to race back to the timeline to retrieve it.

With the shot clock burning down, Gary puts his head down, and charges the Rochester net from midfloor. He flies the crease and scores, and it would have been perfect if he hadn't been checked into Knighthawk goalie Pat O'Toole by lunging defender Pat Cougevan.

Cougevan gets a penalty -- but so does Gait. Ladies and gentlemen, rule 94-D:

"A minor penalty shall be assessed to a player of the attacking side who, having been interfered with, fails to avoid making contact with the goalie. In addition, if a goal is scored it shall be disallowed."

The referees called it to the letter. The goal was wiped, Gary was binned, Grant went bag for the third time tonight, and the fat lady serenaded the south shore of Lake Ontario till dawn.

Now, I'm all for protecting goalies. But there's a little bit of language here that has to be addressed -- "fails to avoid making contact with the goalie."

Howzabout "a minor penalty shall be assessed to a skydiver who, having his parachute fail to open, fails to avoid making contact with the ground."

However well-intentioned, this is an odd rule. And it certainly hung an odd finish on a fine little exhibition of box lacrosse.

Because of the simultaneous penalty to Cougevan and because it happened with 1:11 left in regulation, the great Gait ended his final regular season game in the penalty box.

Grant needed just nine points to move back ahead of Colin Doyle in the NLL scoring race for at least another day, and got them. He needed just sixteen seconds to get it going, beating Colorado goalie Gee Nash with a snaky long bouncer.

Ryan O'Connor (three goals on the night) doubled the lead, going coast-to-coast on a long pass from O'Toole at 0:49. Shawn Williams ran the lead to 3-0 five minutes later, subtly redirecting a pass at the post on the power play.

Gary Gait quickly responded, with your basic power-to-the-net Gary Gait muscle job at 6:21. Jay Jalbert of the Mammoth needed just ten seconds off the draw to add a second.

But the Knighthawks bounced right back. Mike Accursi cashed in a singing behind-the-back pass from Grant, and then O'Connor got his second, snagging the pass mid-drive and beating Nash in close. Gary Gait got his second with more muscle out front, and that was that for the opening quarter.

5-3 Knighthawks after one.

Colorado put in a much stronger effort in the second. Gary Gait opened it up with an outright bomb of a shot from midslot. Brad Self then tied the game with a look-what-I-found loosie conversion at O'Toole's post. The Mammoth steamed into their first lead of the night at 4:18, when Gavin Prout rang on up from in-close on the power play.

Pat O'Toole came rumbling out of his net on a goalie pull, snagged a loose ball by the Rochester bench, and pumped a pass in to Williams, who scored to tie the game 6-6.

Jalbert restored the Colorado lead seconds later with an unassisted underhander. Scott Evans then created something out of nothing for Rochester, running all the way around the outside of the defense before breaking to the net and literally dropping one in.

But the Mammoth finished the half well. Gary Gait got his fourth, surging goalward and using a defender as a screen, and Brian Langtry added another from the doorstep at 11:33.

9-7 Mammoth at the half.

Scoring dropped off sharply in the third quarter, as the home side battled back to tie. Stephen Hoar got Rochester's first with a quick-stick redirect on the porch. Paul Gait answered with his only marker of the night, essentially bunting one in from twenty feet.

Ryan O'Connor answered at the period's midpoint, and Shawn Williams sealed the deal after a superb strip, snag and run job from Regy Thorpe.

10-10 tie after three.

Evans needed just half a minute to put the homeside ahead on a cheeky power-play bouncer. Gary Gait responded, tap dancing through the K-Hawk D to bag his fifth goal of the night.

John Grant responded, racing off the bench under O'Toole's perfect downfloor pass, putting Rochester ahead and himself into a tie for the NLL scoring lead. But Gavin Prout responded with an amazing goal for the visitors. On the run, he drew a defender in close, then froze the whole building with a sizzling behind-the-back scoring rip.

10-10, and that's when the penalty call wiped out Gait's sixth. Grant went over the shoulder to the top corner, baffling Nash from twenty feet.

13-12 Rochester, and that's the end of that.

NOTES:

While the rule probably cost the Mammoth the game, it didn't end up hurting them in the standings. Arizona's win tonight over Anaheim doomed the Tuskers to third place in the west.

A very enjoyable game between two evenly matched teams.

Onward!

Ben Knight is lacrosse and soccer columnist for Sportsnet.ca.