1999 NLL Championship game: Rochester Knighthawks at Toronto Rock

I'm BAAAAAAACK!!!

This is the beginning of a new era in pro box lacrosse history and the beginning of a new dynasty.

The Toronto Rock were the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Ontario Raiders, one of the few NLL created franchises that came of the NLL/MILL merger of 1997. This merger would be the final end of Fritz and Cline's single entity business model that was the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. Here's the Cliff's Notes of what went down in 1997.

Providence Reds' owner Frank DuRoss, attempted to field a franchise in the MILL in 1996 only to be turned down by Fritz and Cline in the wake of F&C backing down from an ambitious expansion plan. This would have been part of their end game to sell off their franchises. DuRoss forced their hands by forming the NLL, a league that would not play a game until after the merger. Fritz and Cline would surrender to DuRoss after he purchased the contracts of the Gait Brothers as well as the entire Boston Blazers franchise, (players and management staff.) The final result of this merger was the end of the single entity ownership and Fritz and Cline getting the 2 teams of their choice. One took the Philadelphia Wings and the other took the New York Saints. DuRoss would get control of the Boston Blazers franchise rights.

Ironically, it turned out that Frank DuRoss never had the finances to operate an NLL franchise and would never field a team in the league of his own creation.

In all of this chaos came the Syracuse Smash and the Ontario Raiders, (based in Hamilton.) The Smash, in spite of being the beneficiaries of the NLL signing of Paul Gait, would never be competitive and would limp along for 2 unsuccessful seasons. The Raiders, while competitive, would not be a big draw in Hamilton and their controlling partner, Leafs' executive Bill Watters, moved the team to Maple Leaf Gardens for the 1998-99 season. What followed was one of the greatest success stories in the history of pro indoor lacrosse.

The Rock were promoted the same way Fritz and Cline promoted the MILL, with the same pro wrestling style ads promoting the violence and speed of the game. The result was strong attendance almost from the get go. As the team gelled behind coach Les Bartley and one of the most hard hitting defense corps in lax history, the team became a bonafide phenomenon in Toronto. While this was going on Watters paid to have the Rock's home games broadcast on prime time every Friday night on the fledgling Canadian cable channel Sportsnet and they promoted the team nationally the same way they did locally. The result was strong ratings as the season wore on.

The Rock came of age on the last game of the season at home against the Baltimore Thunder, led by Gary Gait. The Rock won an epic back and forth affair in the final seconds. The game was sold out but the big story was that they were on opposite Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors, (at the height of the "Vinsanity" era,) who were on TSN and beat them in the ratings head to head both locally and nationally.

In the playoffs the Rock showed the lacrosse world just how dominant their defense was by absolutely annihilating the defending champion Philadelphia Wings 8-2. This was the lowest goal total by any pro lax team in a game in the history of the game and the game wasn't nearly as close as the score suggested.

The 1999 Championship Game was played in front of a sell out crowd at Toronto's historic Maple Leaf Gardens and it was a good one.

The Knighthawks would face the Rock in back to back finals and Paul Day's KHawks boasted a roster that featured Ted Dowling, a young Casey Powell, a player considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in MILL/NLL history Pat O'Toole and in the twilight of his career, former Bandit legend Darris Kilgour.

The Rock featured a lineup that would be largely unchanged for the balance of their 1999-2003 dynasty that would win 4 NLL titles in 5 years. Les Bartley's roster would include Captain Jim Veltman, (back from the Peace Corps if you can believe it,) Dan Stroup, the Squire Brothers, goaltender Bob Watson, Glen Clark, Pat Coyle, (who was back from a lifetime ban for attacking a referee when the NLL refused to honor MILL suspensions,) and a guy would be a fan favorite for many, MANY years to come in Toronto, the championship game MVP, Colin Doyle.

While they had 2 rallies at various points including 4 straight second half goals, the Knighthawks were never really in this game. At no point did you ever get the feeling that the Rock were going to blow it. Their defense, while not quite as strong as their masterpiece against the Wings the week before, held when they needed to and were the difference on this night.

The physical play was amazing and the atmosphere in MLG was electric that night and it's the beginning of a new era in pro lacrosse history for better, and for worse. Enjoy!!