Tag Archives: hockey

Shhh…the Toronto Marlies made the playoffs

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hurray

My beloved hometown Toronto is often described as “hockey-mad”, and as home to the Hockey Hall of Fame and one of the most legendary franchises in National Hockey League history—the Toronto Maple Leafs—you might think that makes sense. The epithet hockey-mad is, however, a lie.

Toronto is not hockey-mad, it is Maple Leafs-mad.

In fact, it is now Maple Leafs-livid because yet again, the big team has failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and so my fair city will go a 48th consecutive year without a championship.

Still legendary, but for entirely the wrong reasons.

But while the local news media are filled with stories about what the woeful Toronto hockey fans will do as the Leafs players take to the golf courses, they are completely overlooking one local professional hockey team that has made the playoffs—for the fourth consecutive season.

I speak of my beloved Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Nary a word. Nary a reporter. No pictures. Doesn’t exist.

Star sports coverage

The team is covered by bloggers whom I respect:

But otherwise, silence.

Mark (facing us) came all the way from the UK to watch the Marlies play. Toronto sports reporters, not so much.

Mark (facing us) came all the way from the UK to watch the Marlies play. Toronto sports reporters, not so much.

To address this short-coming, I have started a campaign with other Marlies fans to bombard the local media with news and highlights of what is happening in Toronto playoff hockey. My first missive is below:

Playoff hockey in Toronto

Over the past week, I have read two stories in the Sports Section of the Toronto Star describing what playoff-starved Torontonians can do now that the Maple Leafs have hit the golf links. Woe is Toronto in the absence of playoff hockey.

And yet, Toronto will play host to professional playoff hockey, and by players proudly sporting blue and white maple leaves. I am, of course, speaking of the Toronto Marlies, the farm team of the moribund Toronto Maple Leafs.

You see, as the ACC has sat deathly quiet, the Ricoh Coliseum just a little way down Lakeshore Boulevard has been rocking night after night as the Marlies rescued a terrible season start and turned it into a rollicking run back into the Calder Cup playoff race.

Last night, with a loss by the Hamilton Bulldogs and a win by the Marlies, Toronto’s boys in blue clinched their fourth consecutive playoff spot, and over the next two days, could see themselves sit anywhere from 6th to 8th in the AHL Western Conference.

And how did the boys do in their previous runs at the Calder Cup? Three years ago, they reached the championship finals, only to fall to the juggernaut that was the Norfolk Admirals. Last year, they were within 22 minutes of advancing to yet another Calder Cup final, but fell to the ultimate champion Texas Stars.

Sure, everyone was disappointed that the boys didn’t bring home the Cup, but in a city that is used to switching allegiances in April, touting a hockey team as Conference Finalist and Cup Finalist is pretty heady stuff.

With the house-cleaning planned up the road at the ACC, the Marlies have never had a greater importance to the Maple Leafs. The boys I watch on a weekly basis are the future of the big squad. Rookie scoring champion Connor Brown. Future phenom William Nylander. Tomorrow’s goaltending duo Christopher Gibson and Antoine Bibeau. Former Defenceman of the Year TJ Brennan. I can keep going.

So as your readers bemoan being unable to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars taking in one Leafs playoff game, they should know that they can come down the road a bit (plenty of parking) and bring the whole family (for a fraction of the price) to cheer the Marlies as they march into Calder Cup competition.

I’ll be cheering the boys. My friends will be cheering the boys. Come on down. We’ll give you a warm welcome!

Go Marlies, Go!

Wish me (and the Marlies) luck.

playoffs

Toronto Marlies vs Lehigh Valley Phantoms

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With a Toronto Marlies season seat holder event coming up next week at the Hockey Hall of Fame, I took my camera to last night’s game against Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL farm team for Philadelphia Flyers) to attempt some autograph-worthy photos.

Here are some of the better ones.

Please visit my Facebook page, if you want to see more.

National Hockey League to address shoot-out debacle

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Florida Panthers centre Nick Bjugstad celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal (Alan Diaz/AP)

Florida Panthers centre Nick Bjugstad celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal (Alan Diaz/AP)

New York–The National Hockey League governors have initiated emergency talks in wake of last night’s game between the Florida Panthers and the Washington Capitals that took an unprecedented 20 shootout rounds to be settled.

“This is completely unacceptable,” said one league official who refused to be named. “Had this happened on a Saturday night, we might have been able to simply shrug off the length of this contest, but it happened on a Tuesday night, when fans need to work the next morning. To have a game go this late into the evening just won’t work for today’s fans.”

Thus, the governors are meeting to discuss ways to further hasten the end of regular season games and reduce the likelihood of such events happening again.

While an official list of possible tactics has not been released, sources close to the central office of the NHL suggest the following are being considered for games that fail to resolve after 5 shootout rounds:

  • Removing the goaltenders and turning the net toward the boards.
  • Strapping the goaltender’s hands and feet to the posts to prevent potential blocking motions.
  • Allowing two shooters to skate on the goaltender at the same time.
  • Resolving the tie on the basis of overall shots on goal, followed by fewest penalty minutes.
  • Awarding the win on the basis of whose fans cheer loudest.
  • Awarding both teams 1.5 points and going home.

The NHL has not set a timeline for resolution of this problem, but they hope to have a solution in place and activated before the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend, which takes place January 24-25 in Columbus, Ohio.

For more on the game between the Florida Panthers and the Washington Capitals, please see:

NHL record for shootouts set as Panthers outlast Capitals after 20 rounds (!)

 

Autograph-quality photos

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As some of you know, I am a hockey fan and season ticket holder for the AHL Toronto Marlies, farm team for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Every once in a while, I decide to completely ignore the hockey game by bringing my camera with me, searching for those great shots that I can ask the players to autograph.

Now, this would be a hell of a lot easier if I had more skill with my camera (need to take that class) or perhaps the right lens. But until the time that either or both of those happen, I present you with some of the closer ones from last night’s game against the Grand Rapids Griffins (farm team of the Detroit Red Wings).

PS We won 4-2!

PPS You can find more photos at my Facebook page.

http://video.mapleleafs.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=689269&catid=802

Invading Americans take opening battle

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Brought my camera to the hockey game last weekend as the Toronto Marlies hosted the Rochester Americans at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Early in the new American Hockey League season, the hometown boys have not been playing terribly well and that bit them in the butt against the Americans, who pounded the Marlies 4-1.

Game highlights video: Amerks over Marlies 4-1

Dear Toronto Marlies…

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Memories of the 2013-14 hockey season

Memories of the 2013-14 hockey season

(It took 4 days, but I was finally able to pull my depressed head out of my @$$ and write a final address to the players of the Toronto Marlies hockey club, who lost the AHL Western Conference Final earlier this week.)

Well, gentlemen, it has been a hell of a ride this season—one full of soaring highs and crushing lows—but throughout it, please know that your fans have been immensely proud of you and all that you have achieved.

We cheered when you soared. We hurt when you hurt. Our hearts broke at exactly the same moments yours did. And we did all this because you are a second family to each of us.

My friends are probably sick of hearing about you guys. My Facebook and Twitter connections will get a brief respite from the near-daily onslaught of things Marlies-related. But all of them know, I will be back to crow about my boys and the wonderful organization soon enough.

While I continue with the preoccupations of summer and hope you do the same, know that I am counting the days until I hear the first reports of training camp, the sewing of names onto jerseys, the irritated rumble of the Zamboni prepping that first sheet, the spine-chilling slice of metal blades into perfect ice.

For as much as I will enjoy the sun, sand and water of The Beaches, I cannot wait for the sweet embrace of the Ricoh’s front doors and the buzz of another Marlies season opener. When I peer once again into the South end of the ice and watch my boys start the dream yet again.

All the best, gentlemen. Be well. Rest up. And for God’s sake, stay hungry.

Memories of the 2013-14 hockey season

Memories of the 2013-14 hockey season

Marlies advance to Conference Finals!

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I try not to inject much of my hockey mania into my blog, but I am amazingly excited to announce tonight that the Toronto Marlies, farm team of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, have advanced to the Conference Finals of the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs.

In the first round of the playoffs, they defeated the Milwaukee Admirals 3-0 in a best-of-five series.

In the latest round, they defeated the Chicago Wolves 4-0 in a best-of-seven series.

The Toronto Marlies are 7-0 in the 2014 AHL Calder Cup playoffs so far.

The Toronto Marlies are 7-0 in the 2014 AHL Calder Cup playoffs so far.

In performing the double-sweep, the Toronto Marlies remain the only undefeated team currently in the hunt for the Calder Cup.

Be grateful my blog is the last place I am visiting with this information…I have just spent the last two hours littering my Facebook page and Twitter account with this stuff.

The Toronto Marlies remain the only undefeated team in the hunt for the Calder Cup.

The Toronto Marlies remain the only undefeated team in the hunt for the Calder Cup.

Toronto Marlies hockey game

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Took my camera to the hockey game the other day…which means I never really saw the game as it was being played.

Below are some of the better shots I managed to take, just part of a much larger set on my Facebook page.

890+ images taken, 180+ images imported into Lightroom, 93 photos worked up.

Looks like I missed a hell of a game.

SPOILER ALERT: The Toronto Marlies defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-1.

Photographer misses hockey game

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One of the challenges of bringing my camera to Toronto Marlies games (farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs) is that I barely get to see the hockey game. I am so focused on trying to get interesting pictures, that 99% of what’s happening on the ice eludes me.

The good news is that I get some really interesting shots. The better news is that the team offers a game highlight reel so I can catch up later.

This album represents only some of the best photos of the 477 shots I took (Marlies only took 31 in the game)…more are available on my Facebook page, where most of my fellow Marlies fans reside.

(SPOILER ALERT: The Marlies took the game 4-1 over the Oklahoma City Barons, farm team of the Edmonton Oilers.)

His master’s voice

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His_Master's_Voice

You always see cartoons and sitcoms of men completely beaten down by their wives, crushed under the weight of constant haranguing and abusive disparaging language, and I have always thought how sad.

I was fortunate enough to marry a woman who was nothing like those wives and so I did not develop a marital slouch. This is not to say, however, that I couldn’t hear her voice from anywhere, the bat and dog having nothing on me.

Perhaps the best example occurred during a women’s hockey tournament in which my wife—I will call her Leela, because that is her name—was participating.

As a hockey lover and good husband, I attended almost every game Leela played and this tournament was no different. The tournament took place in a large rink complex (about 4 sheets of ice) and so the concession stand was well away from some of the rinks.

With Leela ensconced in the dressing room for her upcoming game, I took the opportunity to sneak off for a coffee and hot dog. While I awaited my food, one of the other husbands showed up and we started chatting. Time became immaterial.

Suddenly, I stopped talking and like an icy meerkat, rose up on my hind legs at a disturbance in the Force. I was being beckoned.

As I peer my failing eyesight through three sets of doors, the Plexiglas getting murkier with each layer, I espied a waving hockey glove.

“Gotta go!” I announced, as I bolted for the doors.

Indeed, it was Leela who, through a mouthguard, did her best to scream my name. She needed new skate laces.

If an audiologist had been in the rink, he would have detected no sound. Likewise, there was no visual clue that anything was wrong. And yet, I had been imprinted, so I knew that darkness had descended and my assistance was required.

Arena_Ice

Now, make all the whipping noises you like, but we found out that the connection also works in the other direction.

At Leela’s regular hockey games, in a men’s league, I would sit in the bar above the ice sheet with all of the other wives, where I could watch the game in relative comfort. It also gave me an opportunity to make mental notes on Leela’s play so we could discuss it on the way home (something she wanted, so get off my back).

In one game in particular, however, there were no notes to make as Leela seemed to refuse to actually play, despite taking her regular shift. She would enter the appropriate zone of play and seem to just tripod with her hockey stick, dreaming in a universe of her own.

Annoyed by this, I finally mentally yelled out, “Leela! For god’s sake, do SOMETHING! Skate, check, fall down. Move!”

Miraculously, her body suddenly jolted, as though smacked in the back of the helmet, and she involved herself in the play. The rest of the game, she remained engaged.

On the ride home, afterward, we talked about it. She explained that she was standing there in the offensive zone, completely zoned out, when all of a sudden, she woke up as though shaken and realized that she had to do something.

It would seem, her master’s voice is just as loud as his.

crossed-ice-hockey-sticks

(Images are property of owners and are used here without permission, so stick it)