It was a night to celebrate one of the very best Roughnecks to ever suit up in the red, black and white, (and yes, grey too). It was “Forever a Roughneck Night” and Dane Dobbie’s #44 was raised to the rafters joining his former teammates Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky.
Dobbie walked onto the turf hand-in-hand with his wife and two daughters to that old familiar Saddledome roar. In attendance were Dane’s parents, Roughneck executives, past teammates, current teammates and, in a nice gesture given the relevance of the night, the Vancouver Warriors. There was a video tribute followed by presentations of a framed jersey, a traditional lacrosse stick and a donation made to Kidsport. Dobbie then took to the mic and graciously thanked the organization, his teammates and the Calgary fans. The ceremony fittingly concluded with Dane’s “Forever a Roughneck” banner being raised to the roof of the Saddledome to forever hang with the Calgary greats.
As mentioned earlier, it was no coincidence that the opponents on this night were the Vancouver Warriors. Curt Malawsky, Curtis Dickson, Jesse King and Christian Del Bianco shared in so many of those great memories the night wouldn’t have been the same without them. However, there was still a game to play. When the whistle sounded, the friendships and memories were forgotten and the competition was on. Dane Dobbie wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
A familiar name at the Saddledome got the scoring started. Curtis Dickson fired a fifty-footer that eluded former Vancouver goaltender Aden Walsh. Calgary replied with two goals from Brayden Mayea and Tanner Cook before Marcus Klarich tied things up for Van.
The second quarter went back and forth, but Vancouver’s powerplay started to assert its dominance. A powerplay goal from Jesse King followed by a Keegan Bal buzzer beater gave the visitors a 7-5 lead at the half.
Vancouver continued to have the hot hands scoring three more times including another two powerplay goals. Calgary’s Haiden Dickson finally ended the five-goal run with his second of the night making the score 10-6.
Fueled by the late Dickson goal, the momentum began to shift. Tyler Pace scored twice followed by Tanner Cook on the powerplay. Aden Walsh did his part as he made a number of massive stops on streaking Vancouver shooters. As time wound down, big Tanner Cook stepped up with the goal of the game. In a fitting tribute to Dane Dobbie, Cook came screaming off the bench to catch a stretch pass from Harrison Matsuoka and then flew through the air depositing the ball far-side on Del Bianco. The 8,799 fans in attendance sounded like 20,000 as Cook’s goal tied the game at 10-10 forcing overtime.
What can only be described as a cruel twist-of-fate, the former Roughneck, (and long-time friend of Dane Dobbie), Curtis Dickson spoiled the evening for the home team and scored the winning goal three minutes into the extra frame.
Dickson was a wrecking ball scoring four times and adding three assists to lead the Vancouver Warriors in scoring. His teammate, and also former Roughneck Jesse King, had two goals and four assists. Christian Del Bianco posted the win stopping 42 of 52 shots.
Veterans led the way for the Roughnecks. Tyler Pace and Haiden Dickson both had two and five, while Tanner Cook scored four goals and added two assists. Aden Walsh had near identical stats to Del Bianco, stopping 42 of 53 shots fired his way.
Up next for Calgary (1-4) is the UnBOXed game in Edmonton on Friday, January 16th. They take on the Georgia Swarm (2-2) who will be the home team in that game. Vancouver (3-1) will return home for a game against the San Diego Seals (1-3) also on Friday night.
