Dane Dobbie accomplished the single most impressive feat in the history of North American sports
When the 4th quarter starter, the Calgary Roughnecks had scored five goals. They trailed Albany by a score of 9-5. Albany built an early lead, looked like were going to protect it down the stretch. Dane Dobbie disagreed. 34 seconds in the quarter he scored. About 4:30 later, he scored again. 4:13 after that, he scored again. 16 seconds later he scored again. Two minutes later he scored again. 40 seconds later he scored again. And 50 seconds after that, he scored again. That was his 7th goal of the quarter, a new NLL record, and tied the game at 12. 50 seconds into OT, Dobbie scored his 8th goal and won the game for Calgary. All in all, it was about 15 minutes for Dobbie to score eight times. According to Graeme Perrow, this is about half as much time as it took the next fastest eight goal scorer to amass their total. After Dobbie had scored about four goals, it felt like history was already happening. At a certain point, it was just about sitting there and watching. As his friend Curtis Dickson pointed out on social media post game, Dobbie only had one offer in free agency. Josh Sanderson was probably on on the bench acting out the “man am I glad I called that guy” lines from Billy Madison.
Ian MacKay is a Jack-Of-All-Swiss-Army-Machete-Chainsaw
If you don’t follow the outdoor game you may not know, but former Chaos head coach Andy Towers was once asked about Ian MacKay being a swiss army knife type player, and Towers, unconvinced that this metaphor went far enough to describe the two way weapon, called him “a swiss army machete”. Quotes like that have a way of sticking, so outdoors, MacKay is often referred to as a swiss army machete. He was a swiss army machete against Ottawa on Friday night. He set a career high in goals with five, including a highlight effort where he won a loose ball against two defenders behind the goal, toe dragged past them, and scored on a diving effort. He also recorded six loose balls. Even that undersells his impact on the game. It was as if every positive play for Buffalo in transition, going in either direction, involved MacKAy. He could excel at any one individual position if it was all he did, but Buffalo knows better and they just have him do everything. Transition Player of the Year.
Philadelphia is going to have the highest scoring left side in the NLL this year
The Wings put up a 19 spot in their home opener against Vegas on Saturday night. Mitch Jones, Blaze Riorden, Holden Cattoni, and Brennan O’Neill combined for 29 points, including 12 of the 19 goals. Jones and Cattoni lead the team with 16 points each, which also puts them both top ten in the NLL. O’Neill looks like a force of nature when he can isolate against his man, and Riorden remains one of the smarter offensive players in the sport. In the 19 goals, the scorer AND, if applicable, at least one assist came from the left side on 15 of them. O’Neill is getting better every week. Like Skynet becoming self aware, he is learning at a geometric rate. Getting to spend time with Jones every week will only bring him along faster. The Wings have a better left than Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
The Rush are straight out of Point Break
To paraphrase the immortal surfing guru Bodhi, the Rush only live to get radical. Saskatchewan has played two games. Both those games have gone to OT. They have not had a lead to start the 4th quarter in either game. This weekend, they were down 8-3 when the 4th quarter starter. Zach Manns did something that can only be described as Dane Dobbie-ish and scored four straight goals in a span of about 5:30 to get the Rush within one. Rookie Levi Anderson scored his first career goal on a diving effort to tie the game at eight and sent it to Ot. Zach Manns stepped into a rocket from the point to win the game in the extra frame. Everything about it was the kind of game only an adrenaline junkie would enjoy. The Rush are 2-0, and their wins are on the road against Albany and now home against Halifax, and both those games required overtime. Do the Rush even want to play games that end in regulation? Time will tell.
Comments