Dane Dobbie Rewrites The History Books
Entering the fourth quarter of the Calgary Roughnecks road matchup with the Albany FireWolves, the legendary Dane Dobbie was scoreless. By the time this instant classic concluded, the 38-year-old NLL icon had eight goals to his credit, seven of which occurred in the fourth quarter alone, with the eighth coming via an OT-game winner, handing Calgary an incredibly memorable 13-12 victory. Dobbie’s seven fourth-quarter goals (which included four consecutive) established a brand-new NLL record.
Remarkably, Albany held a 10-6 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Dobbie’s four successive blasts tied the game 10-10. Tye Kurtz put the FireWolves back on top, only for Dobbie to square things 11-11. Dyson Williams quickly pushed the score to 12-11, with Dobbie once again returning the favor, this time with less than a minute remaining. Then, only 50 seconds into overtime, Dobbie put the contest away with his eighth goal. Nobody could believe what they were witnessing!
Calgary’s Jesse King clocked in with a whopping seven assists of his own, including the pass that led to Dobbie’s OT celebration.
Kurtz and Ethan Walker garnered hat tricks for the Albany cause, but no amount of lacrosse wizardry could overcome the ludicrous performance of Mr. Dane Dobbie.
Zach Manns Was The Manns Of The Hour
Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre was the setting for yet another overtime spectacle with the Rush’s Zach Manns doing his best Dane Dobbie impression, en route to a 9-8 OT win for the home squad.
Early in the fourth, the visiting Halifax Thunderbirds appeared to be sailing to an easy conquest, holding a comfortable 8-3 advantage. When all looked to be lost for the Rush, Manns decided to put the entire province of Saskatchewan on his back, connecting on four sequential scores, shrinking the Halifax lead to a mere 8-7. Rush lefty Levi Anderson subsequently tied the game with 5:41 remaining. In the wake of a scoreless final few minutes, the competition waded into a fifth session where none other than Manns elected to put an end to the action at 7:17 into bonus lacrosse.
All told, the 26-year-old from Victoria, British Columbia added six goals and two assists to his continually growing list of career accomplishments.
Dawson Theede posted four goals and two assists in what turned out to be a heartbreaking defeat for the franchise from Canada’s Atlantic Coast.
Lyle Thompson Willed The Swarm To Success
The Toronto Rock made their way to suburban Atlanta for a battle with Lyle Thompson and the Georgia Swarm. The Duluth-based club laid claim to a 7-4 lead in the third, just in time for Toronto to muscle back into the contest and tie the score at 7-7. Shayne Jackson and Andrew Kew successively secured a two-goal cushion for Georgia, followed by the Rock’s Dan Craig and Jake Darlison dramatically following suit, leveling the skirmish 9-9. With the festivities marching ever closer to overtime, the renowned Mr. Thompson scored his third and final goal of the night, with exactly one minute remaining, handing the Southerners a hard-fought and dramatic 10-9 triumph.
Thompson finished with three goals and two assists, with Kew adding three scores and three helpers.
Chris Boushy tallied a hat trick for Toronto, while Mark Matthews obtained three assists.
Brett Dobson’s 46 saves outpaced Nick Rose’s 35 hindrances, as the Rock fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2018.
The Wings Dominate In Their Home Opener
The highly talented Philadelphia Wings brought every ounce of force they could muster in a decisive 19-10 thrashing of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. The score was nodded 4-4, at the end of the first. From that moment forward it was all Wings, as the South Philly guys unearthed seven successive scores, running and hiding for the remainder of the Saturday night gathering.
Joe Resetarits scored three and assisted on eight. Mitch Jones delivered three scores and five helpers, while Holden Cattoni donated nine humongous assists. Blaze Riorden fortified four lamp lighters, with rookie sensation Brennan O’Neill having what could be considered a breakout game, courtesy of the Duke alum’s four goals and one assist.
2023 second overall pick Adam Poitras bestowed two goals and two assists for Las Vegas, while Casey Jackson supplemented five total points in the nine-goal defeat.
The Wings are now 3-0 lifetime against the team based in Sin City USA.
