Clutch Kings: San Diego’s Wes Berg flips the switch as Seals heat up
Wes Berg, San Diego Seals (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks an individual 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 Clutch Kings countdown calculates the league’s most money goal scorer all season long, crowning the king at the conclusion of the current NLL campaign. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.
Dylan Watson and Wes Berg (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
During our Week 9 review of this season’s top rising stat owners and the ones whose digits were dropping the fastest, we learned that Wes Berg was averaging 1.58 fewer assists this year (the highest decline for any player at that point in the season) and nearly two full points less versus his outstanding 2024 season in San Diego.
At that point in the season, the San Diego Seals, a pre-season Cup fave for many, were just 3-5 and struggling to score.
A week later, the Seals would lose again, this time dropping a 12-8 result to the Saskatchewan Rush. In that game, Berg was held to zero points for the first time in his career.
Things were not looking good in San Diego, but the funny thing with consistently clutch performers, well, you can only keep them contained for so long.
Spoiler alert: Wes Berg is officially back.
Against an at-the-time-red-hot Toronto Rock two weekends ago, Berg finished with four goals, which included an early short-handed effort, and more importantly, an extremely late fourth-quarter winner in a period that seemed to be slipping away from the Seals.
This past weekend, Berg went above and beyond in San Diego’s stunning victory over the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bandits. Down 13-11 midway through the fourth quarter, Berg would score the Seals’ twelfth, set up Zach Currier’s game-tying goal with just six seconds left in the period, and then end the game in OT.
Berg now co-leads the league with three game-winning goals, all scored in even-strength situations, and two about as deep into a game as it gets. Actually, this past weekend’s extra-frame finish was the deepest an OT game has gone this year…
Week 12 - San Diego 14 over Buffalo 13 (Berg 9:58)
Week 1 - Saskatchewan 10 over Albany 9 (Shanks, 7:17)
Week 3 - Saskatchewan 9 over Halifax 8 (Manns, 7:17)
Week 10 - Toronto 9 over Colorado 8 (Dawick, 6:05)
Week 8 - Calgary 12 over Georgia 11 (H. Dickson, 3:26)
Week 2 - Georgia13 over San Diego 12 (Kew, 2:55)
Week 6 - Las Vegas 12 over Albany 11 (Poitras, 2:01)
Week 5 - Philadelphia 12 over Saskatchewan 11 (Cattoni, 1:35)
Week 3 - Calgary 13 over Albany 12 (Dobbie, 0:50)
While Berg’s 3.91 points per game ranks him just 42nd in the league right now, his Clutch Kings total has seen him shoot up to sixth this week.
In other clutch-scoring news leading into the NLL’s Week 13…
Zach Manns continues to lead our clutch leaderboard while co-topping the league in go-ahead goals and is just one winner away from matching Berg’s three. Plus, Manns has scored two-thirds of all Saskatchewan Rush game-tying goals this year.
Calgary’s Dane Dobbie easily leads the league with nine game-tying goals and safely sits second on the CK leaderboard. Prior to this past weekend, a bulk of Dobbie’s overall goal production still came courtesy of his insane 13 goals over the Calgary Roughneck’s first two games of the season (yes, including that one). Since then and before last weekend, Dobbie had actually only been averaging 1.4 goals per game. He had a combined eight in Week 12 during Calgary’s 16-13 L to Saskatchewan and 21-8 lambasting of Las Vegas. Dobbie currently leads the NLL in straight goals (29) and goals per game (3.22), plus he’s just one goal shy of already matching last year’s 18-game goal total with San Diego (23).
NLL Clutch Kings: Week 13
CKs Rank. Player (NLL Gs Rank) Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Zach Manns (T7) Saskatchewan, 27.00 (6/6/2)
2. Dane Dobbie (1) Calgary, 23.75 (9/1/2)
3. Mitch Jones (T3) Philadelphia, 21.75 (5/5/2)
4. Connor Kelly (T3) Colorado, 19.50 (6/3/1)
5. Connor Fields (T10) Rochester, 19.25 (6/4/2)
6. Wes Berg (T10) San Diego, 19.00 (4/2/3)
7. Zed Williams (T40) Colorado, 16.50 (2/1/3)
8. Rob Hellyer (T21) San Diego, 16.25 (3/6/1)
T9. Alex Simmons (T10) Albany, 16.00 (6/3/1)
T9. Andrew Kew (T53) Georgia, 16.00 (2/0/3)
11. Austin Shanks (T25) Saskatchewan, 15.00 (2/2/3)
T12. Keegan Bal (T16) Vancouver, 14.50 (5/1/3)
T12. Clarke Petterson (T40) Halifax, 14.50 (1/2/2)
14. Dhane Smith (T25) Buffalo, 14.00 (1/3/2)
T15. Jacob Dunbar (T18) Ottawa, 13.25 (3/5/2)
T15. Ryan Smith (T3) Rochester, 13.25 (5/4/1)
T15. Chris Boushy (T18) Toronto, 13.25 (3/5/0)
T18. Connor Robinson (T33) Colorado, 13.00 (2/5/1)
T18. Holden Cattoni (T18) Philadelphia, 13.00 (4/0/2)
20. Jack Hannah (T7) Las Vegas, 12.50 (4/3/1)
T21. Ian MacKay (T16) Buffalo, 12.25 (4/4/0)
T21. Curtis Dickson (2) Calgary, 12.25 (5/2/0)
T23. Lyle Thompson (T10) Georgia, 11.00 (5/2/1)
T23. Ryan Lee (T40) Colorado, 11.00 (3/2/1)
25. Tye Kurtz (T21) Albany, 10.50 (4/2/0)