Regeln » team from a brief twirl at Bolshoy Ice Domes

TORONTO -- First game of the season and the Toronto Rock locker-room is jumping. The music is blaring and kids of assorted size -- most in team jerseys -- have the run of the boxy Air Canada Centre dressing room that is normally home to visiting NHL and NBA teams. A dozen pizza boxes cover a table in the middle and Rock captain Colin Doyle, in the wake of Fridays season-opening 16-11 win over the Calgary Roughnecks, is beaming. "The best part of playing in this league is bringing your kids into the room and letting them see the guys and hang out," said the 36-year-old Doyle, who has three daughters. "Youre not going to become a millionaire (so) you might as well have fun doing it. "We can get pretty gloomy when we dont win but why not have fun with this? This is a great opportunity. The crowd (of 11,120) was great tonight, everybody was excited. I thought we put on a real worthwhile performance, we didnt cheat anybody. They all went home happy, so thats a good feeling." It took Doyle less than 12 minutes into his 17th pro lacrosse season to claim a Gordie Howe hat-trick of sorts. Doyle scored the Rocks first goal, taking a pass on the edge of the crease and then faking out Roughnecks goalie Mike Poulin before putting the ball past him as he flew through the air. He followed it up with two assists before taking umbrage at Calgarys Andrew McBride cross-checking a Rock teammate in the face near the Roughnecks goal. Doyle made a beeline for McBride and the two were soon trading stick shots and shoves. Perhaps not a fight but Doyle had sent a signal that he had his teammates back. "I felt it was a cheap shot at his head," Doyle explained later. "Maybe a little out of discipline but I dont like seeing that stuff, not to my teammates." Doyle finished with two goals and two assists on the night, upping his career regular-season totals to 486 goals, 780 assists and 1,266 points in 238 games. The six-foot-three 215-pounder from Kitchener, Ont., ranks second all-time in the National Lacrosse League in assists and points and fourth in goals. Buffalos John Tavares leads all the categories. Doyle has won just about all there is in lacrosse. Named NLL Rookie of the Year in 1998, he has hoisted the Champions Cup six times and been named MVP of the champion game three times. A 10-time all-star, he was named league MVP in 2005 and won the league scoring title in 2005 and 2009. Away from the NLL, he has won the Mann Cup four times -- even serving as an emergency goalie for the Six Nations Chiefs in 2013 before scoring the game-tying goal and winner to decide the series -- and helped Canada to the World Indoor and World Lacrosse Championships. Doyle says he feels every bit of his 16 previous NLL campaigns but takes good care of his body and hopes to feel younger as the season wears on. Winning helps. His skills remain sharp. He clearly measures his output but the bag of tricks remains very deep. Faced with a Roughnecks defender at one point Friday, Doyle initiated contact and then rolled away before flicking a shot at the goalie. "Hes one of a kind," said Rock teammate Jesse Gamble, who played box lacrosse with Doyle last summer. "Hes always energetic, hes always got a great attitude. He always gets guys feeling like theyre ready to play the game ... You couldnt ask for a better captain. Plus what he does on the floor. He leads the team both on and off the floor." Calgary coach Curt Malawsky is a friend and former teammate of Doyles. Asked what makes him special, Malawsky offers one word -- character. "He takes teams on his back, he does the dirty work when it needs to be done. He scores nothing but big goals. Off the floor, a consummate professional and hes all about the team. "Im very proud to call him a friend and hell be a first-ballot NLL Hall of Famer. Anyone who watches the NLL, he should be our poster boy for it." Rock coach John Lovell is also a fan. "Hes ready to go for another season. Its a great plus to have." As for Doyle, he was just glad to put the grind of training camp behind him. Friday night was almost a perfect start to the season, despite the fact that backup goalie Zak Boychuk tripped and fell over as he stepped onto the field during introductions to Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle." "It was about as good as it can gets, I think, as far as starts go," Doyle said of the game. "I really didnt know what to expect. You never know going into a season how good you are or who you are or any of that. "Not that we discovered it all tonight but we showed a little glimpse of what we can be when things go well and when were disciplined and all the right things happen." Away from the field, Doyle has put a teaching career on hold to sell synthetic grass fields across Ontario. He plays lacrosse 10 months of the year, putting his stick down only in October and November. Day jobs are a necessity in a league that has a maximum salary of $27,217 for veterans. Designated "franchise" players get an additional $5,000 for the season. "Its not all about the dollars and cents," Doyle said. "We take a lot of pride in what we do and in hopefully impressing the people who pay to come and see us play." Joe Thomas Jersey . 31-Feb. 2. While organizers havent decided if itll be red or green clay, they feel their choice of surface will give the Americans an advantage over Britain, which is expected to be led by defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. David Njoku Jersey . His recovery time is expected to be six to eight months. Seidenberg was injured in the third period of Fridays 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators, when he got his leg tangled with forward Cory Conacher. http://www.officialclevelandbrownspro.com/Nick-chubb-browns-jersey/ . You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener. Jarvis Landry Jersey . - Pete Rose didnt want it to be about him, not on a day when four new members were elected to baseballs most exclusive club. Denzel Ward Jersey .Balotelli uploaded on Instagram a picture of the video-game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around the image including jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.SOCHI, Russia -- Team Canada isnt making any last-minute changes for its Olympic semifinal showdown against the United States. Save for Matt Duchene replacing the injured John Tavares, the lines and pairings are the same as they were in the quarter-final victory over Lativa and from Thursdays practice. Coach Mike Babcock was fired up not to have to make any changes. "Im pumped," Babcock said. "Were starting to look like a team and be like a team and youre organized like a team and you feel comfortable because youre not running around trying to do a million things. Its great." Duchene is back in after playing in two of Canadas first four games. Playing centre on the fourth line is part of the reason hes not worried about shaking some rust off. "Im back at my natural position, which is going to be nice," Duchene said. "And I played a lot of games on the big ice last year at centre so I know kind of what to expect in terms of that part of it as opposed to maybe playing on the wing." Duchene has represented Canada at three world championships, something that could give him an edge in recalling how things went wrong. "Helps a lot," he said. "Ive played a lot of games at Worrlds last few years.dddddddddddd Weve had some heartbreaking losses. You kind of have a little chip on your shoulder because you dont want to feel that again. Weve had some real heart-breakers there. Its time to win." Having been with this team for almost two weeks now, Babcock couldnt get a read on his team from a brief twirl at Bolshoy Ice Domes practice rink. But thats nothing new. "I cant get a feel in the morning skate in Detroit, either," he said. "Sometimes I think were the (76) Canadiens and the pucks going all over and then we dont do anything and sometimes I think our hands look like feet and we get out there and we play great. "Now we got to go out, we got a good plan, we got good people, now we got to go out and execute." PROJECTED LINEUP Forwards Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron Jamie Benn - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry Patrick Marleau - Jonathan Toews - Jeff Carter Patrick Sharp - Matt Duchene - Rick Nash / Martin St. Louis Defencemen Duncan Keith - Shea Weber Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Drew Doughty Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo Dan Hamhuis Goaltenders Carey Price - Roberto Luongo Scratches John Tavares (injured) - P.K. Subban - Mike Smith ' ' '