Toronto Maple Leafs: Marlies Get Caryled, Force Game Seven

If you happen to be a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, game six of the Calder Cup Final may trigger some unpleasant memories.

On Tuesday night, the Toronto Marlies outshot the Texas Stars by a margin of 45-24. They dominated the forecheck, repeatedly bringing a sold-out Ricoh crowd to their feet in anticipation, only to elicit a collective “aww” as the puck then skirted wide soon after.

The Marlies simply could not solve Texas netminder Mike McKenna, who was nothing short of spectacular.

Despite holding a career save percentage of .909, he completely neutralized the AHL’s most lethal offensive attack. Appearing to channel the spirits of both Jaques Plante and Dominik Hasek, McKenna put forth a performance for the ages.

And yet, while McKenna proved to be undoubtedly spectacular, he didn’t beat the Marlies on his own.

No, the Marlies themselves are just as guilty of their own demise.

For a team who has been consistently firing on all cylinders for the better part of 8 months, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong at precisely the worst possible time.

The pair of offensive dynamos in Andreas Johnsson and Carl Grundstrom, who had appeared to mercifully solve the Stars’ suffocating neutral zone trap, was held in check once again. A stifling blueline corps, unquestionably considered the AHL’s deepest unit league-wide, leaked breakaways and odd-man rushes faster than the Ottawa Senators’ front office leaks turmoil.

Then, the final dagger. The blow no team, regardless of firepower, could recover from.

Garret Sparks, the Baz Bastien Award-winner a mere 2 months ago, was nowhere to be found. A championship inches from the team’s collective grasp, Sparks forfeited a gaudy 4 goals against on 17 shots.

The 2-0 goal serving as a particularly cringe-worthy testament to his struggles.

(video begins at the goal mark)

Puck Luck

If you successfully outshoot your opponent by a ratio of 2-to-1, you should, by all accounts, emerge victoriously. Although, that’s assuming puck luck has created an even playing field.

I’m not quite sure what the Marlies did to piss the hockey gods off prior to puck drop on Tuesday. But, whatever they did, they paid for it dearly.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, fell in Toronto’s favour.

Loose pucks squirted out into open space, only for a Stars’ defender to find it and bat it away a millisecond before any Marlie could reach it. On the off-chance McKenna drifted out of position, shots would find nooks and crannies like the inside of his leg or the shaft of his stick, rather than the back of the net.

With June weather forging a choppy ice surface, the conditions only appeared to come into effect during instances when Toronto held possession. It was just one of those nights.

They say great teams create their own luck. Well, on a night where all luck turned against them, the Marlies were anything but great.

Sparks and Rebounding

Regardless of the end results, Sparks deserves some credit.

Following one of his worst performances in arguably the most important game of his young career, the 25-year-old stood before the media and completely shouldered the blame.

I was in that scrum. As Sparks retreated to the dressing room, he appeared to be on the verge of tears. And who could blame him?

Sparks is a fierce competitor, a quality equal parts beneficial and to the detriment of his success. For Sparks, towering highs are balanced out by cavernous lows.

I’ll give you an example.

In late-December, the Marlies were reeling. Timothy Liljegren was absent, having temporarily left to join Sweden at the World Juniors. Both Travis Dermott and Nikita Soshnikov were shelved with injuries. Kasperi Kapanen had finally been granted his promotion to the Leafs. Lacking nearly all their top options, the Marlies endured a stretch of 6 losses in 7 games. The final of which came at the hands of the Syracuse Crunch.

Sparks, as usual, was the last Marlies off the ice. And, as I assumed my normal position outside the Marlies’ room waiting for the scrums to begin, I watched Sparks travel down the path which leads players off the ice and through the concourse. A path lined with young fans.

“Good game, Sparks!” one yelled.

“It doesn’t matter” mumbled Sparks, audible only to those in his immediate proximity.

This response took me by surprise. By all accounts, Sparks strung together a decent performance that night. And still, despite an admirable showing with his team maintaining their hold on first place in the conference, failure was all he could see.

If Tuesday’s defeat had occurred in December, Sparks, in all likelihood, would have repeated that sentiment. Only, this time was different.

As a reporter asked him just how confident he was in rebounding for game seven, Sparks tilted his head, looked said reporter dead in the eye and answered:

“Extremely confident”

Those two words, as inconsequential as they seem, are all the proof I need.

Game Seven

So, here we are. Game Seven. The singular moment which occupies the dreams of young athletes everywhere.

The Marlies now have two choices. They can either let this astounding defeat permeate in their heads. Or, they can remind themselves of just how talented and successful a group they are. One path leads to failure. The other to success.

Knowing this group, all signs point to the latter. This has never been a team that takes adversity lying down, and I doubt they start now.

Regardless of past outcomes, one certainty remains. That being, we are all in for some wild hockey to close out the season.

I’ll see you there.

Next: Which Wingers Make the Cut?

Thanks for reading!