Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been watching a different historical NLL game every Saturday evening and live-tweeting it. I started with the 2000 final in Toronto, where Kaleb Toth scored with a second left to give the Rock their second championship. Then it was the 2013 Championship when the Knighthawks beat the Washington Stealth in Langley (before they moved there), and last weekend it was a Detroit / Philadelphia game from 1994 which got called after three quarters because of insane fights. I had a lot of fun watching these replays and I got some comments from people on twitter who appreciated it as well. I even had a few people watching along with me.

The NLL had replayed some historical games on Facebook and BR Live over the past couple of weeks, and on Saturday they decided to re-run game 2 of last year’s Championship final between Calgary and Buffalo. A group of fans in Calgary called the Orange Crew decided to set up a zoom meeting to get a bunch of people together to watch the game. They asked me to be a part of it and I thought it would be fun. I was right.

We started about 8:45pm (my time) with a few of the Orange Crew, me, and a few other fans. I gave a bit of an overview of the 2019 season and how Calgary and Buffalo got to the finals, as well as a quick summary of Game 1.

By the time the game started, it was well after 9:00 but we had a number of others join the call including some special guests: NLL commissioner Nick Sakiewicz, Roughnecks reporter Cayla Spiess and Roughnecks players Dane Dobbie, Tyler Richards, and Zach Currier. Curtis Dickson joined in a little while later sporting an impressive fu manchu, and eventually Rhys Duch also joined, coincidentally (or not?) with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, not long before he scored the OT winner. There were about 16-18 people on the call for most of the game.

The game itself was fine, but the call ended up as basically a two-plus hour interview of Sakiewicz and the Roughnecks players, who couldn’t have been more accommodating. They answered questions in great detail, and we got a lot of background and some fun stories as well. The commish talked about streaming and TV deals and the NLL’s relationship with the MLL and PLL (they talk all the time and confirmed that if there ever was an agreement among NLL staff that they don’t mention the MLL, that’s long gone now). He also talked about his transition from being an MLS owner to the NLL commissioner and his first experience watching box lacrosse and how impressed he was with the game, the players, and the experience.

Cayla had some great stories of being between the benches, getting spit on, and interviews that didn’t go the way she planned. All of the players were forthcoming and willing to answer questions. Some of the questions were tossed around a little – Dane would answer some of it and then ask Zach or Curtis to give their viewpoints as well. After the game ended and the call was basically over, Curtis and Dane even asked if there were more questions, and said they were willing to stay on until they’d answered them all – this was after over two hours of doing just that.

Dane Dobbie was the most vocal. I don’t know about the Orange Crew but I had never met nor talked to Dobbie before, but he talked to me and everyone else on the call like we’d been buds for years. If you’ve ever watched him play, his passion for the game is obvious but it even came through in how he talks about it. He talked about his respect for guys like Curt Malawsky, Shawn Evans, and longtime NLL coach Bob McMahon, and how he was glad that Dan MacRae handed McMahon the NLL Cup as soon as he got it. He answered my question about how well Rhys Duch has fit in with the Roughnecks, he talked about his workout routine (“I’ve never lifted weights, I run, that’s about it”), and he talked about the weird situation a few weeks back where Calgary had a goal disallowed because the net had been moved; if the net had been in place, the shot wouldn’t have gone in so the goal didn’t count. He admitted that he and Dickson overreacted at the time but once they had the rule explained in detail, they understood and accepted it. We even got a cameo from his adorable little daughter just before she toddled off to bed.

Best line: With just a minute to go in a tied fourth quarter, Cayla mentioned that even though she knew the outcome, she was still excited and a little stressed watching such a close game. Rhys Duch: “Don’t worry guys. I got this.”

Thanks to the Orange Crew for setting up this call and for including me in it. It was a lot of fun even if we didn’t actually watch most of the game. Thanks also to Nick, Cayla, Dane, Zach, Tyler, Curtis, and Rhys for joining in, spending a couple of hours with us answering questions, and being the accessible and down-to-earth people that the NLL is proud to showcase.