The National Lacrosse League wants to put new franchises in Detroit and Columbus, Ohio, and investors elsewhere will be lining up if they get their hands on a video of the Toronto Rock's thrilling victory in the championship game Saturday.

Kaleb Toth planted a nine-meter overhand shot in the top left corner of the Rochester Knighthawks net with one second remaining to give Toronto a 14-13 victory for its second straight title.

The 14,200 witnesses were on their feet long before the non-stop action subsided and the battered players trudged off the green carpet in a sauna-like Maple Leaf Gardens.

What a success story Toronto has been for the NLL. Total attendance for eight home games was 107,000, and if anybody had predicted before the 2000 seasons began that Canada's national summer sport would attract this many fans to the downtown core of the country's largest city his sanity or sobriety would have been questioned.

"We've got a great future," said NLL commissioner John Livsey in assessing the path ahead while seated above the Gardens din Saturday.

The board of governors meets in St. Petersburg, Fla., this week and it is expected that $500,000 US admission checks will be accepted from Detroit and Columbus groups, swelling the league to 10 teams.

The schedule would go from 12 games to as many as 16, beginning in December or January.

A Chicago group has advised the NLL it wants in for 2002, and a western conference might be on the horizon.

The Rock move into the spacious Air Canada Centre next season. They finished 15-1 in their two-year Gardens stay.

"I just hope we can transplant our success into the ACC," said exhausted captain Jim Veltman, blood dripping from each knee, as he sat in a dressing room smelling of sweaty shoulder pads and champagne.

General manager John Mouradian announced that ticket prices, ranging from $10 to $25, would not be increased next season.

"That's what it's all about, being faithful to your fans," said Veltman. "This organization is making really smart decisions."

One of the best decisions was to fly in westerners for the weekend games. Toth, who had three goals and five assists in the finale, commuted from Calgary.

Dan Stroup, who had five goals, Chris Gill and Pat Coyle flew in from Vancouver for games. The Rock would not have won without them.

Most of the other teams were unwilling to make such an investment, but it paid off bigtime for Mouradian and the Rock.

"We pride ourselves in the work we do to prepare for our games," said coach Les Bartley. "It pays dividends on nights like this.

"We're the leaders in team cohesion. We have some tremendous leaders in this dressing room. The players took over about four games ago and it became really easy coaching them."

With 16 seconds remaining, Bartley called a time out to design a play that would result in Stroup getting off what Bartley hoped would be the winning shot.

When the Knighthawks double-teamed Stroup, Plan B kicked in. The ball went to Toth. As the final seconds ticked away he wound up and there was one second remaining on the clock when he threw up his hands in celebration and the crowd erupted.

"I've been honored to be on three great teams in three years," said Toth, who was a member of the 1998 Minto Cup-champion Burnaby Lakers juniors and the 1999 Mann Cup-winning Victoria Shamrocks. "I couldn't be happier.

"Being part of this organization is amazing. We came into the season thinking championship and we weren't going to settle for anything less."

Rochester had a last-minute chance to break the 13-13 tie, but Rock goalie Bob Watson stopped Tim Soudan's high drive.

"It's lucky we got the last shot," said Stroup. "It could have gone either way."

Toth's shot was the game's 106th. Toronto outshot Rochester 56-50.

"Bobby made the last stop. I didn't. So they won," said losing goalie Pat O'Toole.

Toronto dressed an all-Canadian lineup, and 13 of Rochester's 17 starters were Canadians.

John Grant Jr., the NLL rookie of the year from Peterborough, Ontario, had four goals and four assists for the Knighthawks.

"We really battled back," said Rochester coach Paul Day, whose team trailed 7-4 at halftime. "It came down to one shot.

"It was a beautiful shot, too. It was no floater. There wasn't much Pat could do about it. After the game, we said we have to keep our heads up high. It was probably one of the best lacrosse games a lot of people have ever seen. We'll be back."

So will the Rock -- better than ever, Mouradian and Bartley promised.