It’s always bittersweet when the work-hockey season wraps up. Yes, spending most of your days for seven or eight months jumping from rink to rink, wrestling with no shortage of responsibilities little or big can be taxing. Some days you find yourself exhausted and ready for it to wrap up. Once it does, though, you quickly begin to miss the familiar faces, the routines, and the ups that easily overpower any downs.
I still have a few loose ends, but generally speaking, my season wrapped up two weeks ago, and while a quick breather was nice, I wasn’t ready to give up the rink. So I looked to familiar, though recently neglected territory.
Those who have been following my journey over the years know that I’ve spent a lot of time on Exhibition grounds over the years. Starting in the stands and quickly moving over to the press box, I spent a solid decade following along the Toronto Marlies. When I began doing so, it made a lot of sense for a few reasons. For one, the Maple Leafs were a bit of a mess, and it was only logical to look to the farm club in hopes of signs of reinforcement. Secondly, it was an opportunity to do something different, both to make my work stand out and also have fewer barriers to entry.
I learned a ton over my time at the Coliseum (originally Ricoh, now Coca-Cola). The time helped me shape my writing style. It was my first real opportunity for networking as an outsider to the hockey industry. It taught me a ton about the ins and outs of how teams work, how to find a (better, though continuously in-progress) balance between being professional while still being myself. I learned a lot about what players had to do to reach the next level and what teams had to do to get them there, and through my final full-time season and a half, I spent a lot of time building up my own tracking and data systems to strengthen my points of view. The whole experience was invaluable to my growth in every angle of the sport that I’ve pursued over the years.
So with some gap time and the Maple Leafs looking as much in the mud as they have in a decade (we’ll get back to that in another piece), this weekend felt like a great opportunity to dive back into an hold habit. My understanding of where the Marlies were at this year was a bit on the lighter side – I had a general idea of where they were in the standings, and seen bits and pieces of some games on FloHockey, and had heard little nuggets about how some individual players looked from people a bit more tuned in, but I was far from invested. I’d been to the “Colaseum” for a couple games to watch the Sceptres, but hadn’t taken in the AHL game-day experience in a proper form in years. I was in a spot where I’d be equal parts familiar yet a fish out of water.
The latter part showed a little for the first game on Friday night. Going off of old routines, I showed up a few hours early, only to remember that such a play doesn’t really work when you don’t have your old full-season media credential to get in before anyone is set up. When I did get in closer to to game time, I got lost trying to find the media meal room that I’d hung out in before hundreds of games prior. The media notes were now digital and not 100 page-thick stacks left in the press box (probably for the best). Where the Rogers TV stage sat when I first started and nothing really sat when I left was now a team DJ. Fan concessions seemed to be upgraded – no doubt encouraged by the success of the Sceptres, the incoming WNBA Tempo, and more non-sport events in the building. Most of the residents of the press box were not the same ones as when I first got there.
But a lot has stayed the same too. There are still quite a few of the same people working there as there were 6-7 years ago, and many of the familiar season ticket holders in the stands, who it was nice to reconnect with as if there was no time missed. Once I got my bearings recalibrated, the ins-and-outs of my old routines were quick to be reestablished – second last seat in the press box, laps around the upper ring, a media room cookie between each intermission (sorry, Todd Crocker – I’m still ranking Oatmeal Raisin over White Chocolate Macademia). By the second game on Saturday I’d gotten my game-day flow back to where it would’ve been in 2019, met a few new faces as well, and felt pretty at home again, even if briefly.
Oh, and of course, there were two games played. It was a pretty tough weekend for the blue and white. Needing just just one win this weekend to secure their spot in the upcoming AHL playoffs, Toronto had the Charlotte Checkers in their way. Charlotte, by all means, play like Florida Panthers that they’re affiliated – hard, fast, and plenty capable of maintaining possession. I didn’t do a lot of background research before the games because I wanted to go in with a blank slate, but seeing Charlotte near the top of the AHL standings and atop the league in shot attempt differential according to InStat (a luxury that I did not have when covering the team, but now have through my minor hockey role) made me realize they were going to be a tough roadblock. Their roster had no shortage of names that would be familiar even to someone who had disappeared from the loop for a little while – a healthy mix of Florida’s prospects, quality “tweeners”, and experienced pro vets.
Toronto’s better game on the scoresheet came on Friday, a 3-2 loss that saw the team outchanced pretty significantly. A final shot count of 30-17 for Charlotte mostly squared with the private numbers, which also saw Charlotte double up on even strength shot attempts and expected goals. While Toronto didn’t shy away from physicality, Charlotte used theirs more effectively, winning pucks with pace. Toronto seemed to be a bit on the passive side in response to the Checkers’ rushes in the early game, which led to the opposing defenders hopping into the play and creating looks later into the game – particularly veteran Trevor Carrick.
On Toronto’s end, you saw little bits and pieces that felt intriguing. Alex Nylander reminded you a bit of his older brother at times, in both the pros and cons – seamlessly moving between zones but occasionally negating ground earned with a turnover that followed. Vincent Borgesi, whose signing out of Northeastern University surprised some last month due to the team’s recent aversion to signing undersized defencemen, made a few sharp defensive reads, but was on the ice for a couple goals against and struggled to make a good impression on Saturday. William Villeneuve, often cited as a call-up option for the big club, struggled in his zone on Friday but showed obvious signs of strong puck movement – most noticeably a two-line pass to spring Ryan Tverberg for a breakaway. He didn’t play on Saturday as he was called up to the Maple Leafs on an emergency basis. Tverberg, a favourite of mine dating back to his U18 AAA season with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, has begun to heat up again after a concerning first half to 2025/26, but didn’t see the scoresheet on either day this weekend.
Logan Shaw was honoured ahead of the second game on Saturday for becoming the Marlies’ all time leader in points on March 26th. Shaw joined the organization in 2022/23 and has been a consistent veteran for the team, staying healthy and producing at a brisk pace for four seasons. Friday saw him score a great 3-on-5 shorthanded goal, picking the puck off Gracyn Sawchyn to head off on a breakaway that kept Toronto in that game. Unfortuantely, neither Shaw or anyone else had the same offensive gifts on Saturday.
Former Marlies forward Robert Mastrosimone put the Checkers up 1-0 midway through the first period, and from that point on it felt like Toronto was never really able to find themselves momentum to push off of, giving up five unanswered before Nylander snuck in a consolation goal with a little over three minutes remaining. In Toronto’s defence, a skirmish at the end of the second period which sent five players on each team to the penalty box with ten-minute misconducts didn’t make it easy to make a proper late push, especially when Shaw took a second ten-minute misconduct 25 seconds after leaving the box.
Goaltending this weekend was a mixed bag – I thought Denis Hildeby was fantastic on Friday, and while I wouldn’t blame Artur Akhtyamov for the events of Saturday, I doubt anyone would describe that as his best night between the pipes.
With the losses, Toronto remains in pursuit of the last points they need to clinch the playoffs, though the odds remain overwhelmingly in their favour.
I’m interested to see how things go for the team in the weeks to follow and into next year. The current team is one of the oldest in the AHL by average age and lacks a top point producer under 25. At the same time, they aren’t older in the “built to win” sense either, as they sit in the middle of the league standings, and are see-sawing in and around an even goal and shot differential. It’s a tough middle ground of being neither a contender or a clear development pipeline. Whoever takes over the top-line vision for the organization will have decisions to make with how they envision the future of the farm, if they can achieve the peaks that the program had both in terms of on-ice and developmental success in the 2010s.
Until then, it’s up to the pieces they have – and will be soon to have as they drop back down from call ups to the Leafs, or join on tryouts from major junior – to make the most of this year. After this weekend, I’m looking forward to keeping on eye the road ahead. Their most immediate challenge comes on Wendesday when they host Utica for a 10:45 AM school day game.
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