Clutch Kings: The Dane Dobbie Edition
Dane Dobbie, Calgary Roughnecks (Photo: Geovanna Soler)
For those new to The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings countdown…
The Clutch Kings tracks an individual National Lacrosse League player’s game-tying, go-ahead, and game-winning goals, then weighs them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third or fourth quarter, plus OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals).
The deeper into a game you go, the more a goal is worth. We break the data down into three distinctive segments: first-to-third quarter, fourth quarter, and then of course overtime.
Dobbie, Roughnecks (Photo: Geovanna Soler)
Power-play goals are worth less because with an extra man on the floor, theoretically, it should be easier to score. Short-handed goals are worth more because with one or two fewer on the floor, they’re definitely a more difficult goal to drop. We also don’t count the game’s very first goal, because, well it isn’t ever overly clutch.
Based on all that, there are 21 different type of goals a player can score in Clutch Kings, and here they all are, including the amount that each goal is worth:
Scoring System
First 3 Quarters (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Power-Play Goal: 0.50/0.75/1.00
Short-Handed Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Fourth Quarter (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Power-Play Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Short-Handed Goal: 4.00/6.00/8.00
Overtime (GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 6.00
Power-Play Goal: 3.00
Short-Handed Goal: 12.00
So, most seasons, we wait until the New Year to knock out the first edition of Clutch Kings, giving all players at least a month to register enough CK points to make any analysis worthwhile.
Well, Dane Dobbie’s 8-goal performance last weekend for the Calgary Roughnecks was about as worthwhile, both present-day and historically speaking, as you can get, pushing our Clutch Kings schedule up a few weeks.
Firstly, although you’re likely already well aware of what went down, let’s quickly review…
Down 9-5 seconds into the fourth quarter and looking likely to lose to the FireWolves in Albany, Dobbie, who had been held scoreless to that point, would net an absurd seven goals in the fourth quarter (three of which tied the scoreline, all massively high marks in Clutch Kings), and an additional eighth a buck 39 into overtime for one of the craziest late comebacks in NLL history.
Dobbie was the lone Calgary scorer in the fourth quarter, his seven in a single period a new NLL record, previously owned by both Zack Greer and Adam Jones at six apiece in a 15-minute frame. He was just two goals shy of matching Paul (March 26, 1994) and Gary Gait (January 9, 1999), both of whom have had ten in one night.
His three fourth quarter tying goals, plus OT icer, all done even strength, easily propelled Dobbie to #1 on our season-opening Clutch Kings leaderboard (scroll to the bottom of the page to see our Top 15 clutch scorers so far this season).
The mic-drop-deafening win puts the Roughnecks at 2-0, a team most players and even most media (including us) weren’t overly high on entering the season. Seems like we were wrong, and Dobbie made sure we knew it.
Last weekend’s winner was the 23rd regular season game-winning goal of Dobbie’s HOF-worthy career. It’s also one of the highest GWG totals in NLL history, well, from 2005 at least, the furthest back accurate and available individual game stats are kept (thank you, NLLStats.com).
All-time GWG leaders
T1. John Grant (2000-2017) 25
T1. Callum Crawford (2006-2025) 25
T1. Curtis Dickson (2011-2025) 25
4. Dan Dawson (2002-2023) 24
5. Dane Dobbie (2008-2025) 23
T6. John Tavares (1992-2015) 22
T6. Shawn Evans (2006-2023) 22
T6. Jeff Shattler (2006-2022) 22
T9. Ryan Benesch (2007-2025) 21
T9. Robert Church (2014-2025) 21
See our season-opening Clutch King leaders, led of course by Dobbie, below. But first, a few other individual player highlights…
Dane Dobbie, Calgary Roughnecks 2019 (Photo: Candice Ward)
Zack Manns isn’t too far off Dobbie’s early pace, himself having an extraordinarily clutch game against the Halifax Thunderbirds last week, hitting his own winner deep into OT.
Connor Fields, a regular on the Clutch Kings countdown over the past two seasons, has been scoring slightly below his recent ginormous game-day average, but is still managing to finish score-swinging strikes. He ranks third in the NLL right now.
Andrew Kew and Connor Robinson, both regulars on the Clutch Kings over the past three seasons (Robinson 2023’s year-end Clutch Kings leader), are already high on the leaderboard again. Being consistently clutch is no fluke, no matter how much weight you’ve allegedly gained.
And finally, with only one goal registering in our Clutch Kings calculations but sitting fourth for now is Tre Leclaire, whose fourth quarter short-handed winner for San Diego in Week 1 is one of the rarest winning-goal scenarios over the last few seasons. Leclaire, who has been on San Diego’s IR since December 7, finished on our year-end leaderboard last year.
Zach Manns, Saskatchewan Rush
NLL Clutch Kings: Week 4
CKs Rank. Player (NLL Gs Rank), Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Dane Dobbie (1), Calgary, 15.00 (5/0/1)
2. Zach Manns (2), Saskatchewan, 12.00 (3/1/1)
3. Connor Fields (T19), Rochester, 10.50 (2/2/1)
4. Tre Leclaire (T83), San Diego, 8.00 (0/0/1)
5. Connor Kelly (T4), Colorado, 7.50 (2/1/1)
T6. Rob Hellyer (T4), San Diego, 7.00 (0/4/1)
T6. Andrew Kew (T19), Georgia, 7.00 (1/0/1)
T8. Alex Simmons (T19), Albany, 6.50 (2/1/1)
T8. Connor Robinson (T36), Colorado, 6.50 (1/1/1)
T8. Lyle Thompson (T9), Georgia, 6.50 (1/1/1)
T8. Austin Shanks (T45), Saskatchewan, 6.50 (1/0/1)
12. Jack Hannah (3), Las Vegas, 5.50 (4/1/0)
13. Tye Kurtz (T13), Albany, 5.00 (1/1/0)
T14. Dyson Williams (T45), Albany, 4.50 (0/2/0)*
T14. Ian MacKay (T13), Buffalo, 4.50 (0/2/0)
T14. Ryan Benesch (T9), San Diego, 4.50 (0/2/0)
*Rookie