The Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup champions once again. After defeating the Chicago Wolves 4-3 in Game 5 to win the 2026 title, giving the franchise its second AHL championship and first since 2018.
THE CALDER CUP BELONGS TO THE TORONTO MARLIES 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/jmz82GS2ce
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 20, 2026
The Marlies finished fourth in the North Division and had to go through a play-in series against Rochester just to reach the main playoff bracket. From there, they went through Laval in five games and then found themselves trailing Cleveland 2-1 before eventually turning that series around and would go on to punch their ticket to the Calder Cup finals.
Marlies mount Game 5 comeback
Chicago came out strong and built a 2-0 lead in the first period. However, Toronto didn't give up. Landon Sim got one back before the end of the period on a tip-in that helped settle things heading into the second, even if the Marlies were still chasing the game at that point.
The second period ended up being where everything shifted. Easton Cowan was dominated. First, he set up Bo Groulx on the power play to tie the game. He also found Jacob Quillan with a pass through the middle to give Toronto the lead. Vinni Lettieri added another goal later in the frame. Which changed the entire game.
Chicago pushed back in the third period and made it a tight finish, but Artur Akhtyamov came up with the stops Toronto needed to hold on. He ended up playing a major role throughout the entire postseason and was named playoff MVP after starting 18 straight games. That workload alone says a lot about how much responsibility he carried.
The Marlies finished the playoffs with 10 wins in their final 13 games, and more than anything, they kept answering every time the pressure built. In the end, they did enough to bring the Calder Cup back to Toronto for the first time in eight years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google