Dan Dawson passes Colin Doyle for fourth on all-time goals list

The Toronto Rock’s historic Hamilton homecoming this past Saturday night turned out to be special for a few reasons.

In addition to Toronto claiming a close victory against the Albany FireWolves (10-9) while debuting in their new digs, the FirstOntario Centre, veteran forward Dan Dawson scribbled his name a spot higher on the National Lacrosse League’s all-time goals list too.

Dawson scored the tying and then game-winning goals in the fourth quarter to secure a dramatic victory for the Rock in their back-and-forth battle against the FireWolves. The goals also allowed Dawson to equal and immediately push past (528) Toronto Rock legend and now team associate coach, Colin Doyle (527), for fourth on the league’s lofty list of best ever regular season goal getters.

John Tavares (815), John Grant (668) and Gary Gait (635) are the only players to have scored more often than Dawson.

Dawson, who also just played his 298th regular season game, should soon pass Tavares (306) for all-time games played, and could possibly pass Tavares for first in the all-time assists ranking as well. Dawson presently possesses 911 all-time helpers to Tavares’ 934.

Tavares currently serves as the head coach of the Buffalo Bandits, who won their Week 1 outing in a one-sided affair against the Calgary Roughnecks, 16-9.

Dawson wasn’t the only active player to make all-time moves this past Saturday night. With two goals against the New York Riptide, Rochester Knighthawks forward Shawn Evans (446) skipped over Shawn Williams (444) for ninth on the goals rundown, and sits behind Josh Sanderson (449), the still-active Ryan Benesch (453), and Mark Steenhuis (459) before meeting up with the previously mentioned Doyle’s 527.

The Knighthawks edged the Riptide in overtime, 13-12.

Last year, the expansion Knighthawks’ first win only occurred in their fifth game of the season against the Roughnecks, also a 13-12 decision.

Dawson’s teammate, Rock goalie Nick Rose, secured his 69th regular season win between the pipes. The victory tied him with NLL HOFer, Dallas Eliuk, for seventh in all-time goalie wins. Buffalo backstop Matt Vinc leads the list with 120 Ws after his impressive 49-save performance in the Bandits’ Week 1 win over Calgary.

Rose, who started his career playing with Dawson in Boston, entered his 15th NLL season this year.