The Calgary Roughnecks won the 2019 NLL championship in exciting fashion as Rhys Duch scored in overtime to seal the victory over the Buffalo Bandits.
It was arguably one of the best games of the season.
Since the 2020 NLL season is starting up in just over a month, we thought we’d revisit the magic from last year’s title game.
If you’ll remember, the Calgary Roughnecks only finished third in the West Division at the end of the regular season. The team posted a 10-8 record, and notched impressive wins over the 2018 NLL champions Saskatchewan Rush, the Toronto Rock and the Georgia Swarm.
The Calgary Roughnecks survived the West Divisional playoffs with wins over the San Diego Seals, 12-11, in the first round and the Colorado Mammoth, 8-4, in the division final.
The Roughnecks then made quick work of the Bandits in the finals, as they swept Buffalo in two games in front of over 32,000 fans over two games.
Dane Dobbie won the league-MVP award for the Roughnecks, and deservedly so. The 12-year veteran posted 47 goals and 68 assists for a total of 115 points on the season. Dobbie also added in 69 loose balls to go along with the impressive scoring total.
LAS contributor Steve Wizniuk was working wonders putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard if you want to get technical) last season covering the NLL. Here’s what he had to say about the 2019 NLL championship:
What an amazing scene as Duch and the Calgary players threw their equipment into the air and the 17,000 strong Saddledome crowd could finally celebrate after one of the wildest and exciting games I have ever watched. Both the Buffalo Bandits and Calgary Roughnecks showed why they were the last two teams standing as they made clutch play after clutch play and players on both teams were selling out to give their team a chance to win.
Steve Wizniuk, LAS Contributor
If you’d like to re-read the full recap of Game 2, click here.
Top Plays From The 2019 NLL Championship
Jordan Durston Toe Drag
Toe. Drag. Swag. 🤩@jordanDurston8
Watch #BUFvsCGY #NLLFinals
🌏 https://t.co/QayIJ6SUey
🇺🇸🇨🇦 https://t.co/06xxLiscyo pic.twitter.com/zQE5I6CX63— NLL (@NLL) May 26, 2019
This play was so dirty that I felt like I had to brush my teeth, clip my toenails and take a shower after watching it. Durston put forth a great effort for the Bandits. Sadly for the Bandits, it wouldn’t be enough to pic up the win.
Dane Dobbie Puts Roughnecks Ahead Late With Ridiculous Goal
DANE DOBBIE and the Roughnecks pull ahead!@DaneDobbie44 Watch #BUFvsCGY #NLLFinals🌏 https://t.co/QayIJ6SUey🇺🇸🇨🇦 https://t.co/06xxLiscyo pic.twitter.com/eQddDt5ZuP
— NLL (@NLL) May 26, 2019
Are you kidding me?! Talk about an explosive play to put the Roughnecks up by one with roughly a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Buffalo wouldn’t go away and would force overtime, but talk about a great effort to help make things happen for your team.
Rhys Duch Clinches 2019 NLL Championship
Rhys Duch in OVERTIME!
The @NLLRoughnecks are the 2019 NLL Finals Champs 🏆#BUFvsCGY #NLLFinals pic.twitter.com/KtiBzt05zA
— NLL (@NLL) May 26, 2019
You just hate to see a team lose this game. Rhys Duch was able to make a great play for his team off of a great look to bring home the hardware for the Roughnecks. Calgary earned every bit of that title for their performance in the playoffs.
Conclusion
Personally, I’m stoked for the 2019-2020 NLL season. With new three division format due to the new expansion teams in the New York Riptide and Rochester Knighthawks — along with the former Rochester Knighthawks franchise who was relocated to Halifax and rebranded as the Halifax Thunderbirds — it will be exciting to see how this season will shape up.
Be sure to stay tuned to Lacrosse All Stars for all of your NLL coverage. You can start by listening to the Lacrosse Classified podcast with Jake Elliott and Evan Schemenauer every Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. for the best NLL analysis every week. Evan Schemenauer is expected to recover from last year’s injury that sidelined Random Thoughts for the last part of the season, so be sure to stay tuned for that.
