TORONTO — Kill the clock and live forever as champions.
With the Calder Cup in the building and the Toronto Marlies clinging to a third-period lead for a second straight night, the seconds felt like minutes, the minutes dragged like hours.
Just get the puck out, centre Bo Groulx thought to himself, with the enemy’s goalie pulled and the Chicago Wolves pressing for another comeback, swarming the home team’s zone.
“We! Want! The! Cup!” chants thundered throughout Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Four enthusiastic rounds of The Wave rounded the barn.
“I had the puck in the corner, and I took the hardest slap shot of my life, honestly,” Groulx explains of those final tick-tick-ticks.
The hockey player is giddy and breathless, and blue confetti and joyous family members are littered on the ice everywhere.
“And I heard the buzzer, and all the boys came on the ice, and I just felt the massive relief. Threw my gloves. I threw my helmet as far as I could, and I was celebrating with my teammates,” Groulx says. “So, it just feels unreal.”
Oh, it’s the real thing.
And everyone inside the sold-out Coca-Cola could taste it.
The Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup champions, again.
“Unbelievable. Honestly, it’s way better than what I imagined,” Groulx keeps going. “I’ve never made the playoffs throughout my career professionally, and I never won anything in junior. Lost twice in finals. And to win on home ice with that kind of group is just so nice. It’s so fun, especially to do it at home. We had a massive crowd today — and it just feels right.”
Alex Nylander, celebrating with father Michael, suggests big brother William might be a little jealous.
“It’s really hard to win. You know, I haven’t made it past second round in my 10 years playing,” Nylander says. “So, winning this thing just makes it feel even better. Just feels so surreal right now.
“My heart was racing a little bit. Hearing that buzzer was just insane. Kind of blacked out a little bit.”
Toronto has been thirsting for a hockey championship in late June, and the city rejoiced in ending the pro team’s long drought — which dates all the way back to 2018.
This dogged and determined group defeated the Chicago Wolves 4-3 in Friday’s final game and 4-1 in a spirited series that, mercifully, will not be returning to Chicago.
Always better to win it at home, eh?
“I mean, the noise out there, the amount of people — it’s just the love. You can hear the chants,” captain Logan Shaw said, just a free kick away from the World Cup hullabaloo on the same plot of asphalt.
“Toronto’s a hockey city, obviously.”
Kudos to the crowd, and to a (mostly) veteran AHL club that few picked to go the distance but grinded through hockey’s final pro tournament victorious, surviving four elimination games no less.
Toronto responded with four unanswered goals: a (borderline high) Landon Sim tip in the final minute of the first period; a Groulx power-play strike from the flank; a beautiful Jacob Quillan backhand roof job off a nifty give-and-go with Easton Cowan; and a Vinni Lettieri power-play blast.
While Unger Sorum would narrow Toronto’s lead to one toward the end of a lengthy 5-on-3 power-play for the Wolves, the Marlies did what they were unable to in Game 4: grip a third-period lead, eat clock and finish the deed.
Goalie Artur Akhtyamov — a touch shaky early — locked in when it mattered and was an easy pick for the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the American League playoffs.
“He was outstanding,” raves head coach John Gruden.
“We don’t win the game without him. We don’t win the championship without him. He’s a special talent. He’s a special human being. And, man, this is gonna really go well for his career and springboard him forward (to be) a heck of a goaltender in the National Hockey League.”
As the crowd stayed long after the buzzer to celebrate, Akhtyamov grabbed a white Rodion Amirov sweater, threw it over his shoulders, then posed with it proudly for the team pic.
“That means a lot because he was my friend. We played together on the national team, so that’s pretty special for me,” the Russian said. “I was so happy. Probably best day in my life.”
Cowan spent the bulk of the season up with the struggling Maple Leafs, but he piled three assists in the Cup clincher and leaves his first pro year a champion.
“Growing up, this is what you dream of. This is the game you love, and this is what I want to do when I’m older,” the 21-year-old says. “To celebrate this guy with these guys will be special. Yeah, just super grateful for the opportunity.
“This is the place you want to win, for sure.”
• GM John Chayka’s big takeaway from the Marlies’ run?
Toronto has something in 20-year-old defenceman Ben Danford, who has been developed properly within the system.
“High-character kid that’s doing everything you can to maximize his abilities and really understands his role, understands what he brings to the table, and is committed to it,” Chaya praised. “I’ve been really impressed that he’s got a great path.”
That doesn’t mean you should pencil Danford into an NHL lineup just yet.
“It’s going to be a process with him,” Chayka said. “We’ve got lots of great options now on the right side of our defence. We’re going to bring him up the right way. But at the right time, when afforded the opportunity, he certainly projects to be an impact player at the NHL level eventually.”
• Kudos to the rowdy Marlies faithful, fully engaged from puck drop to buzzer. The energy at Coca-Cola Coliseum was off the charts.
A taste of what could exist at Scotiabank Arena were the diehards not priced out.
• Boy, this Sim is fun to watch. Fearless, with a motor that won’t quit. In every scrum. Never turns down a hit or a chirp. Nice to see him rewarded with a goal in the clincher.
“He’s got lots of energy,” Gruden says. “He fits right in with our group.”
• Alex Nylander on big brother William, who attended a ton of Marlies games but was back in Sweden for the final one:
“I think I made him jealous. He’s happy for me, of course. He had to go back home, unfortunately. But he’s just really happy for me, and he’s been supporting me all the way, just like I have with him.
“Hopefully it gives him some motivation. He obviously wants to have a Stanley Cup, and he’s going to try his best every year to try to win that one day.”
As the NHL’s assistant coach carousel spins, does Gruden’s AHL success earn the 56-year-old more attention?
He previously served with the Islanders and Bruins, helping Boston to the NHL’s best regular-season record in 2022-23.
