The AHL Toronto Marlies
Believe It or Not, Toronto Has a Winning Professional Hockey Team
The Toronto Maple Leafs are having another dismal season. But just a few blocks away, the AHL Marlies are winning - And local hockey fans are taking notice.
The Toronto Marlies are the top team in the American Hockey League’s Western Division. In fact, they’re second only to the Providence Bruins in the entire 29-team league. In a city starved for a pro hockey winner, the fans are beginning to notice.
Since their last Stanley Cup victory in 1967, the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs have provided their devoted fans with generally miserable hockey, with the occasional gust to acceptable. That’s over 40 years of frustration. Yet the faithful sell out every game, whimpering in their overpriced beer while watching their boys bumble their way to more losses than wins.
Meanwhile, a few kilometres to the west, playing out of a refurbished horseshow arena called the Ricoh Coliseum, the Marlies are finally attracting some attention for one simple reason – they’re winning.
Marlies First Sellout
Halfway through their third season in Toronto since moving from St. John’s, Newfoundland, the Marlies played their 100th home game against the hated Hamilton Bulldogs. The game was significant for more than just the milestone and the 2-1 victory for the home side. What really mattered was that the game was the first sellout in team history, attracting almost 6,500 fans.
That doesn’t seem like much, especially considering the Leafs pack almost 19,000 into their barn every night. But for a team that couldn’t draw flies in their first 2 years, it’s huge.
Journeymen Pros and Marginal Prospects
It’s not as if the Marlies have a pile of budding superstars to watch. This is a team whose top scorer is a 33-year old, career minor leaguer named David Ling. And even he’s not really tearing it up. Ling’s 27th on the AHL’s scoring list.
But that’s a far cry better than the rest of his mates. Ling is the only Marlie in the top 49, with the next best being Kris Newbury and Robbie Earl checking in at 50th and 51st respectively.
The defense is anchored by another minor league vet, Derrick Walser, who will be 30 before the end of the season. While there are a few players who have seen some NHL duty, most of the Marlies’ roster projects as 3rd and 4th liners or 6th and 7th defensemen at best.
The only potential blue chip prospect on the roster is goaltender Justin Pogge. At just 21, Pogge is finding himself in his 2nd AHL season with a .911 save percentage and 2.18 goals-against average.
Coach Gilbert May Be the Real Star
So, the Marlies are a seasoned group, but one that’s devoid of potential superstars. Yet, they’re playing at a level way beyond what their collective pedigrees suggest they should be.
That indicates the real star of this team might just be coach Greg Gilbert. Gilbert has figured out a way to make this conglomeration of journeymen and fringe prospects into an actual team.
On the other hand, Gilbert is working with a team heavy with veterans in a league that’s raison d’être is prospect development. That doesn’t bode so well for a parent Maple Leaf club that is so desperate for an injection of young talent.
But for those fans that have discovered the Marlies recently, that’s beside the point. They’re just so hungry for a winner that the Marlies look like a sumptuous buffet in comparison to the thin gruel that’s usually served up by the Maple Leafs.
