Team loyalties will take a back seat to national pride tonight when the inaugural National Lacrosse League All-Star Game is played at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

Unlike most all-star games where teammates play for the same conference (NFL and NBA) or league (baseball), the NLL's showcase event will pit a team of American and Native American players against a squad of Canadian-born players.

Therefore, some players who are teammates during the regular NLL season will be enemies tonight.

"For sure, it's going to be a little different," said Chris Driscoll, one of five Rochester Knighthawks who will play for the Canadian team. Five other Knighthawks will dress for the U.S./Native American team.

The Philadelphia Wings will have four players on the American side and two on the Canadian side, while the Buffalo Bandits will have three Americans and two Canadians.

Players from only two teams won't have to worry about pounding on their regular teammates. All four members of the Toronto Rock playing in the game are Canadians, and all four New York Saints chosen to play are Americans.

The only other major sports league where teammates compete against each other in an all-star game is the NHL, which two years ago switched to a North America vs. World format.

"I'm sure there will be chatter between the Americans and the Canadian boys," said Curt Malawsky of the Knighthawks, who will play for the Canadian squad. "There will be pride on the line. You're playing for your country, there's a lot of emotion."

This nationalistic theme runs deep because this past summer, the United States defeated Canada 15-14 in overtime in the International Lacrosse Federation World Championships in Baltimore.

The tournament is played every four years, and is considered the Olympics of outdoor lacrosse.

It has been regularly dominated by the United States, but Canada made huge strides last year and thanks to a nine-goal rally in the fourth quarter, forced the Americans to overtime before succumbing.

"It wasn't such a bad loss, losing by one goal in overtime," said Paul Gait, the Canadian-born former Rochester Knighthawk who now plays for the Syracuse Smash.

Gait, who played outdoor lacrosse collegiately at Syracuse and is one of the finest players -- indoor or outdoor -- in lacrosse history, scored three goals in that game.

"We had a chance to win, so it was a disappointing loss, but it wasn't really heartbreaking considering how much of an underdog we were," he said.

What would be heartbreaking is for the Canadians to lose tonight.

While the Americans have mastered the outdoor game, the Canadians have long ruled the indoor, or box, version of the game.

In fact, lacrosse, not hockey, is actually Canada's national sport.

Throughout most of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League's 11-year history, Canadian players such as Paul and Gary Gait, John Tavares, Tom Marechek and Dallas Eliuk dominated the sport, and only in the last couple of years since the advent of the NLL have the American players begun to learn the intricacies of the indoor game and compete on a higher level.

"We want to be able to say at least we can beat them (the Americans) in this game," Paul Gait said. "We like to think like that (we're still better in the indoor game)."

But Gait admits that the American players are catching up quickly.

"A player like Kevin Finneran (of Philadelphia), he's as good as any Canadian player, and Sal (Locasio, the New York goalie) can play on any team," said Gait. "I think the Americans want to prove that they're as good as any Canadian, and we want to prove we're still the best. [LoCascio, though named American starting goalie, will not play tonight]

"I like the Canadian vs. U.S., it makes it a little more of a rivalry." Said American Regy Thorpe of the Knighthawks:

"I don't think the Canadians want to get beat at their game. We're adjusting to the game. They still have better sticks than us, but the Americans are getting a little better."

All of this will make for an all-star game unlike most.

This one will be competitive, exciting, and don't be surprised if there's some blood spilled on the Blue Cross Arena carpet.

"It'll be fun," said Knighthawks coach Paul Day, who will coach the Canadian team.

"This is going to be a showcase game for the league."