SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Garret Sparks and the Marlies are at the top of their game with a real shot at the Calder Cup just around the corner — and the Maple Leafs’ future tied to their success.
Toronto Marlies captain Ben Smith has his name on the Stanley Cup, his ring from the Chicago Blackhawks 2013 triumph safely tucked away in a Connecticut safety deposit box.
Smith is humble about his appearance — about 10 minutes of one game — in that Stanley Cup run as he helps prepare his teammates to play for the AHL’s top prize, the Calder Cup.
“It was cool, but I wasn’t a major part of that team,” said Smith, who was also an NCAA Frozen Four champion in 2010 with Boston College. “I’ve been lucky to do a lot of winning in my career with some good players on some good teams, and this is another example of a team that has a lot of good players and a chance to do something special.”
The Marlies will start the Calder Cup final Saturday and Sunday at Ricoh Coliseum (4 p.m., TSN) against the winner of the Western Conference final between the Rockford IceHogs and Texas Stars. The Marlies have stormed through the Eastern Conference en route to the Richard F. Canning Trophy — which will be presented Saturday — with nine wins in a row. After beating Utica three games to two in the best-of-five opening series, they have swept both Syracuse and Lehigh Valley to give themselves a chance to win the first Cup in Marlies history.
“It’s a unique position,” said goalie Garret Sparks. “We haven’t been here before. It’s good to know this team is playing some of its best hockey. We’ve won nine games in a row and I think everybody feels pretty good about what they’re contributing right now.”
Winning is what it’s all about for an athlete, and the Marlies believe they can — as they say in sports — walk together forever as champions.
“Career and résumé are two things that title (of champion) get attached to an athlete forever,” said Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe. “After you’re done playing, it stays with you. It brands you as a winner and gives you that experience of going through a long grind and knowing how hard it is, and also how great the feeling is.”
Not all have Smith’s winning pedigree. Many have not won a title since minor hockey.
“My last USA Hockey national championship,” said Sparks. “My last U-18 year with the Chicago Mission. It was a great feeling. I definitely didn’t want to lose my last minor hockey game ever, so won it on home ice and won it in front of 1,000 of our fans. That’s when I realized winning things of that magnitude was something I want to do for a long time.”
Sparks would go on to play for the OHL’s Guelph Storm and win world junior gold with Team USA — albeit as the third goalie — in 2013 in Ufa, Russia.
Defenceman Travis Dermott reached back to before his OHL days in Erie, when he was 15 with the York-Simcoe Express of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.
“We won a lot of championships when I was with YorkSimcoe,” said Dermott, “but it was amazing. Any championship you win at any level, it feels like the world all comes together for you. It’s just the most exciting time. You can’t really think about anything else.”
As coach of the Pembroke Lumber Kings, Keefe’s team won the CCHL title five times, capping it off with the RBC Cup title as the national champion of Junior A hockey in 2011.
“That was pretty special for the community at the time, and that time is the greatest achievement I ever had in hockey,” said Keefe.