Stephen Stamp

Saturday December 7th, 2019

Dane Dobbie's dive through the crease sparked a melee in Vancouver in Week 1. Now Dobbie has been suspended for 6 games. (Photo: Devin Manky)

The National Lacrosse League sent out its weekly Summary of Discipline Friday night and it contained a shocker for the Calgary Roughnecks: captain Dane Dobbie was suspended for a total of six games as a result of actions in Week 1's game against the Vancouver Warriors.

Update: the league responded to a request for further information with the following statement.

"This is a private matter that has been resolved by including everyone involved. We consider this closed and are not going to comment further on any details. The resulting judgment came from the input of all involved and speaks for itself. There will be no further comment." - Nick Sakiewicz, Commissioner After review of the game, Dobbie was assessed a gross misconduct penalty. That infraction comes with a match penalty, which carries an automatic one game suspension. Because of the repeat offender rule, Dobbie gets an additional five games. He received a match penalty for facemasking in Calgary's game against Saskatchewan on January 27, 2018.

Below are the relevant rules from the NLL Rulebook. RULE 41.4 "Retroactive to the beginning of the 2017-18 season, the following shall apply: Any player who is assessed a second match penalty, a second Dangerous Contact to the Head penalty (Rule 77), or a combination thereof shall be assessed an additional five (5) game suspension." RULE 42: DEFINITION OF GROSS MISCONDUCT PENALTY The referee may impose a “Gross Misconduct” penalty on any player who is guilty of a gross misconduct of any kind. Any player incurring a “gross misconduct” penalty shall be assessed a match penalty and shall be subject to fine and/or suspension from the League Office. Violation for non-playing personnel will result in a bench minor penalty and game misconduct penalty, and the offender being removed from the game and subject to fine and/or suspension from the League Office. For all gross misconducts regardless of when imposed, a total of ten (10) minutes shall be charged in the records of the offending player. The in-home shall serve the match penalty. The following list of infractions, but not limited to, can result in a gross misconduct being assessed: • Interfering with or striking a spectator • Racial, gender, religious, sexual orientation taunts and/or slurs • Spitting on or at an opponent, spectator or referee