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The official Marlies playoff "Road to Calder" thread

I wish the city wasn't so ****ed up with construction; I'm assuming the Ricoh is not sold out, but I don't want to be anywhere near the GTA with the DVP and Gardiner closed, and an afternoon Jays game.
Who plans a bike race on the DVP?

Don't forget the TFC game as well... going to be jammed downtown tomorrow. I'll be one of the idiots driving downtown tomorrow but hopefully i will be early enough to miss most of the traffic
 
So the Marlies were outplayed by Texas, and despite jumping to a 1-0 lead a minute into the game, they struggled for most of the game with the same thing their parent club struggles with ...

- Poor board plays
- Neutral ice turnovers
- Poor PP

MacIntyre kept them in the game but at the end of the game they were outshot like 50-25 ... and they deserve to lose. The main turning point was the almost full 2-min 5 on 3 PP, and they were up 1-0 at that point. If that could go ahead 2-0 that could have been the game right there, but they failed to even generate good chances in taht PP and soon after the PP Texas scored on MacIntyre and taht was the turning point.

Now they'll fight for survival tonight, as the Stars could finish them up tonight. It's a tall order to win both games in Texas so unfortunately, this is as far as the Marlies can go in the playoff.
 
Marlies won last night with a full team effort and almost shutout the Stars 3-0 if not for a 6-4 goal scored against in the last 4 mins.

Game 7 tonight, 8:30 LeafsTV.
 
The officiating was ridiculous last night ... the marlies had to kill off TWO 5on3's but they did it with a total team effort to preserve the W.

MacIntyre was amazing. He's really in the zone and we'll need that from him again tonight.

But Holland's been especially imrpressive. He went to the the coach's office after the morning skate and said he wanted to be that guy to carry the team, asked the coach to use him in all situations promising he'd deliver ... and sure he did.

Granberg also had a HUGE game and the coach specifically mentioned how key he was in killing the 8 penalties.

Go Marlies Go!! 1 more W and we're in the finals!
 
The Marlies are a well-bred Leafs farm team ... you can tell from how we played in game 7.

I mean, we had a 2-0 lead and was well in control of the game, but as soon as the Stars got 1 back we panicked. When they got 2 back we were looking very bad, but at least we were saved by the bell so at least we went into the 3rd tied 2-2. But you could tell the team was shakey. Even making a 10' pass was challenging all of a sudden.

The playoff series was down to 1 period of hockey when the 3rd began, but you could tell right off the bat the Marlies were playing not to lose instead of to win, and as soon as the Stars got the lead it was over. We just had to make sure we allow 3 more unanswered goal to complete the meltdown in typical Leafs fashion.

I think there are plenty of blames to go around in this game. MacWilliam had a bad game but he's an AHL vet ... Percy and Granberg each cost us a goal but that's the kinda rookie mistake you expect.

All in all, I gotta say this - the Marlies got MUCH further than I expected in the playoff (overachieved! Woo-hoo! Let's give all Marlies staff a 2 yrs extension too!) and getting beat by the best team in the AHL is no shame ... I just wish it wasn't a meltdown like the way it went down (why does this sound so familiar?? Hmmm...)

I think a few guys played well in the playoff and should be in strong contention for Leafs job next year - the best of them being Peter Holland. This guy should be a lock for 3rd line duty next year, playing 15-20 min of hockey, being given a 2-way role and maybe be on the 2nd PK unit too.

Other Marlies who had a strong year and strong playoff include D'Amigo, Leivo (who faded off in the 3rd round), Ashton. None of them come close to how impressive Holland was though.

I think Carrick, McKegg and Abbott may have a NHL career too.

Percy and Granberg also looked good at times, but they need more time in the AHL.

Ross and Biggs are busts.

I don't see an NHLer in Brennan ... if he signs somewhere else good for him, but I don't think he has a future in the Leafs organization.


Oh and the biggest reason we lost tonight:

Watching Leafs TV, when the team was leading 2-0, 7 min into the 2nd, on the screen it was shown a phone # and the web address to book Calder Cup Finals tickets.

Bad karma for celebrating way too soon .... ah well.
 
I think there are plenty of blames to go around in this game. MacWilliam had a bad game but he's an AHL vet ... Percy and Granberg each cost us a goal but that's the kinda rookie mistake you expect.

Regular Season AHL Games
MacWilliam 59
Percy 75
Granberg 74

MacWilliam's just older but he actually doesn't have more pro experience.
 
The Marlies aren't a great team. They are much younger than the Stars and that is the difference. They had guys like Smith, Abbott, Marshall and Brennan, but the team was really led by Holland, Ashton, D'Amigo and Carrick up front and Percy, MacWilliams and Granberg on the blueline.

The Stars had guys like Faksa, Oleksiak and Jokipaka but they played depth roles and the old guys like Meech, Morin, Dowling, Jeffries, Heddin and Fortunas led the way. Ranford and Ritchie were the only young guys that did anything.

And then of course taking out some of your best players like Leivo for Ross and Maclaren makes no sense.

IMO the most impressive Marlies were Holland, MacWilliams and Carrick. Holland was playing below his level. MacWilliams and Carrick were just solid, and were strong on the pick and moved the puck really well. MOst of the Marlies couldn't hit a pass to save their lives, but those guys did it effectively.

Granberg and Percy looked good at times, but they also made a ton of really shitty mistakes and Granberg was caught out of position a lot. A lot. I think he might have been making Percy's job harder, so its tougher to judge him, but for the way Percy skates and handles the puck he really took a back seat and didn't do very much. He didn't seem to have a very high panic threshold. I had those guys pencilled in for next year, but I'm not so sure after watching this round. I didn't see much of the first two rounds though so maybe they just had a bad round or wore down. But they didn't look very good. MacWilliams should be able to play at the next level though.

Ashton and D'Amigo looked like Ashton and D'Amigo. They are 4th liners.

McKegg was garbage.

MacIntyre is a good AHL goalie, but he is very sloppy, and flops around a lot. He's not an NHLer.
 
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Totally, its brutal. Especially considering everything else this ******* organization puts us through.

I don't even care about the Marlies, but something good is happening so I check it out and they still pull the rug out from under us. ****ers.
 
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