TORONTO - Dan Dawson has seen it all in his 13 seasons in the National Lacrosse League.However, this is uncharted territory for the veteran forward and his Rochester Knighthawks. They became the first team to win three straight Champions Cup titles earlier this year and now theyre ready to begin their pursuit for a fourth straight crown.Our mindset as an organization is every year theres something different, Dawson said in a recent interview. We cannot reinvent what was successful last year. Player movement, rules of the game, situations, they change every year. So the only thing thats stayed constant with us is family and hard work and thats really what we focus on.The Knighthawks retooled their roster after winning the Cup in 2012, acquiring Dawson and his brother Paul in an off-season trade that involved five other players. Rochester, with the Dawsons at the forefront, won again in 2013 and 2014 to create the first indoor lacrosse dynasty since the Toronto Rock of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Even though Toronto won four Champions Cups between 1999 and 2003, the Rock lost to the Philadelphia Wings in the 2001 final to prevent them from winning a third straight title. Dawson says Rochesters prolonged success is thanks to Knighthawks owner and general manager Curt Styres, who puts an emphasis on team cohesion in everything he does.Were pretty blessed that we get to spend a lot of time with each other, with our itineraries, said Dawson. The way Curt likes to structure things, eating as a team, travelling as a team, and that goes a long way. You get to know each other off the field which directly translates into success on the field.Weve been very blessed to have a visionary like Curt, whos allowed us to be successful and we just try to repay him every year with, obviously, a championship.The 2015 NLL season kicks off Friday as the Buffalo Bandits visit the newly relocated New England Black Wolves at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The Black Wolves had been the Philadelphia Wings until September 2014 when the team announced it was moving to Connecticut.Dawson sympathizes with the New England players. A six-time NLL all-star and 2009 league MVP, Dawson had something of a transient lacrosse life until settling in with Rochester.He was drafted by the Columbus Landsharks in 2002, playing two seasons in Ohio until the team moved west and became the Arizona Sting. When that team suspended operations in 2008, Dawson was selected by the Portland Lumberjax in a dispersal draft.Dawson re-entered the dispersal pool a year later when the Sting formally folded, being chosen first overall by the Boston Blazers. Dawsons odyssey continued in 2011 when the Blazers suspended operations, freeing him to join Philadelphia for a season before the trade to the Knighthawks.Its special because you get to put your stamp on what that organization means from Day 1, from the foundation, Dawson said about playing on a relocated team. They have a very young team, but theyve kept a good nucleus together from that Philadelphia organization and I think theyre going to be a very scary team.When youre young and youre new, the only thing you know how to do is work hard and play pure lacrosse and that can be a very scary thing when youre playing against them.Dawsons focus, however, remains on putting in the hours with the Knighthawks to repeat as champions.The expectation, like the other eight teams in the NLL, is to win a championship, said Dawson. Were going to break that down. Thats the end goal that every team sets forward but every week you break it down into that team that youre playing that week.It starts even before that with practice leading up to that game. Its the little battles and the little goals that you have to get before you can get to the main ones.Canadas four NLL teams all begin their season Saturday. The Edmonton Rush visit Buffalo, the Toronto Rock travel to Rochester, and the Calgary Roughnecks host the Vancouver Stealth.Dawson expects a competitive campaign, with all of the NLL teams improving in the off-season.Calgary was one goal away from winning a championship last year and I think on paper theyre the most talented team in the league, said Dawson. You look at what Torontos done in the East and I think with Philadelphia moving to Connecticut, thats going to spark some new blood and some new life in that organization. Vancouver made some outstanding moves in the off-season.You look across the board theres so much parity which makes this league so very special. I think it could be anyone any given night.Notes: The NLL returns to Canadian television this season with 12 regular-season games being aired on TSN, including select post-season games and the Champions Cup final.___Follow @jchidleyhill on Twitter. 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He wasnt happy with much of his performance Friday night, but it was good enough to snap an 11-game winless streak. Lorenzo Cain had a two-run double to highlight a five-run first inning, Guthrie pitched into the sixth inning and the Kansas City Royals extended their winning streak to five games with a 7-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. "Baseball is a very funny game," Guthrie said. "This is a very ironic way to pick up a win after a long stretch -- not pitch very well, not pitch too deep in the game, but do enough to help the team win." Guthrie (3-6) allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. Before Friday, he had gone at least seven innings in four of his last five games. His last win was on April 9, against Tampa Bay. "This is probably the worst game hes had in this streak," Royals manager Ned Yost said. The right-hander had pitched well enough to win on several occasions, but received the lowest run support in the AL (2.59) during that span. That wasnt an issue Friday. Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler each had two RBIs, including a run-scoring single in the first inning, for Kansas City. Jose Quintana (3-7) never recovered from the slow start, allowing six runs and eight hits in six innings. Jose Abreu went 1 for 4 with an RBI for the White Sox. The Royals staked Guthrie to a five-run lead before he took the mound. The first four batters -- Nori Aoki, Omar Infante, Hosmer and Butler -- all singled to make it 2-0 and fifth-place hitter Alex Gordon followed with a double to right field to make it 3-0. After Quintana struck out Salvador Perez for the first out of the game, Cain stroked a double to left to drive in two more and made it 5-0. "In the past Qs always been a little slow coming out of the first inning," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "But they were swinging it. They barrelled him up and it happened fast." The White Sox got a run back in the bottom of the fiirst on a sacrifice fly by Abreu.dddddddddddd The Royals got it back in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Hosmer. Chicago loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning as Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo singled and Alejandro De Aza walked, but the White Sox pushed across just one run -- on a walk to Adam Eaton -- to make it 6-2. "I didnt come out aggressive enough," Guthrie said. "A couple of walks and I loaded the bases in the second. I was very fortunate to get out of the first two innings with just a couple of runs and then I was able to settle down down the stretch." Guthrie struck out Tyler Flowers with no outs and then struck out Gordon Beckham with one out following the walk to Eaton. Conor Gillaspie then flied out to centre to end the inning. The starters then settled down and neither team scored over the next four innings. "He was at 74 pitches through three and I was like, OK, if you can just get us through five with the lead, thats going to be a heck of a job," Brewers manager Ned Yost said of Guthrie. "He ended up throwing 14 pitches in the fourth inning, six pitches in the fifth and got two outs in the sixth." Kansas City added a run in the seventh on Hosmers run-scoring single to make it 7-2. NOTES: Royals SS Alcides Escobar left the game in the eighth inning with a cramp in the left calf. "If he feels tightness tomorrow, well probably give him the day off," Yost said. .The White Sox have signed RHP Henry Rodriguez to a minor league contract. Rodriguez, released by Miami earlier this season, has been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte and will begin on the DL. ... The last time LHP Chris Sale had a high pitch count he landed on the DL for a month, but Ventura had no problems with the Chicago ace throwing 116 on Thursday. "He felt great going there and he didnt have that inning where he really had to fight through it and battle," Ventura said. ... LHP Danny Duffy (3-5) takes on RHP Hector Noesi (2-4) in the second game of the series Saturday. ' ' '