Toronto Nationals to begin play this spring

Two Nations. One Team.
That's the motto that has been adopted by Toronto's newest professional sports franchise.
The men's field lacrosse team, dubbed the Toronto Nationals, will begin play this spring in the Major Lacrosse League.
Team owners are hoping the Nationals, the only Canadian club in the six-team league, will be a place where members of both the Canadian and Iroquois national field lacrosse squads can hone their skills.
But the Nationals are not exactly an expansion franchise. A group headed by Stuart Brown, a businessman from Oakville, Ont., bought the franchise from the league.
Most of the players on the Nationals' roster, however, were members of the Rochester Rattlers this past year. The Rattlers, who won the MLL championship in 2008, folded during the off-season.
League officials then redistributed many of the Rattlers' players to the new Toronto franchise since they already live in Ontario or in nearby upper New York State.
Several members of the Rattlers, and now the Nationals, have represented either Canada or the Iroquois Nation in international field lacrosse play.
Brown believes it makes sense to have players from the two squads toiling for the Nationals.
"This is a great opportunity to bring a field lacrosse team to the city and use it as a training tool (for the national teams)," Brown said in an interview with The Toronto Star. "It becomes basically an all-star team."
Several of the players on the Nationals' roster also compete for different squads in the professional National Lacrosse League, an indoor circuit, which runs from January through to May.
And because the MLL, which will run from May through August, only has a 12-game regular season schedule, many of the players will actually be competing for three teams throughout the year.
Besides MLL and NLL squads, most players also suit up for a team in the Major Lacrosse Series, an indoor league which runs in Ontario from May through August.
Besides having some Aboriginal players on their roster, the Nationals also have an Aboriginal connection with their ownership group.
Though he'll be a silent partner, Curt Styres, a successful Ontario businessman from Six Nations, confirmed he is part of the Nationals' ownership group. He was intrigued about the prospect of buying into the Nationals because of their proposed Aboriginal ties.
The move enables Styres to add to his pro sports empire.
Styres bought a pair of other pro sports franchises last year, the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans and the National Lacrosse League's Rochester Knighthawks.
The Nationals are scheduled to begin their 12-game regular season schedule on the road. Toronto will travel to Washington on May 15.
The Nationals' home opener will be a week later, May 22, versus Chicago.
The Nationals will play all of their home contests at BMO Field, which is also the home field for the city's professional soccer team, Toronto FC, which competes in Major League Soccer.
The MLL featured 10 franchises in 2008. But besides Rochester, other teams not returning this season are the Los Angeles Riptide, New Jersey Pride, Philadelphia Barrage and San Francisco Dragons.
As a result, the league will include half a dozen franchises for the '09 campaign.
Besides Toronto, other entrants include Boston Cannons, Chicago Machine, Denver Outlaws, Long Island Lizards and Washington Bayhawks.