From practical experience, expansion teams in professional sports are supposed to fail at the start. There are lots of reasons why building a solid squad from the ground up is difficult, not the least of which is chemistry amongst the players. It takes time to earn and give trust to someone a player is just being introduced to and in a world of what have you done for me lately, the expectation is that coming together as a cohesive unit needs to come a lot sooner than later.
That is unless you happen to play for the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, who seem to have figured out that there is no better time than the present to prove that being the best is job one from just about day one.
Brought to life a little over a year ago by the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL’s iconic Original Six, the Growlers have hit just about all the right buttons. Even when Newfoundland, Toronto’s second crack at having a team in the Maritimes (the first being the AHL St. John’s Maple Leafs who existed from 1991 to 2005), faced adversity, there was always a plan.
The adversity came before the season got to December when head coach Ryane Clowe, a native Newfoundlander himself, was forced to the sidelines and eventually away from the game with concussion symptoms stemming from head injuries suffered during his NHL career. Into the breach stepped assistant coach John Snowden, who had been hired by the Leafs after helping to train system prospects while in Orlando – some of whom were assigned to the Growlers like Alex Gudbranson, JJ Piccinich and Sam Jardine – as well as bringing in Todd Skirving, another one-time Solar Bear.
Snowden had the Growlers competing for the top spot in the conference well into March while dominating the North division. With the rest of the roster made up of rookies like Scott Pooley, Giorgio Estephan, Brady Ferguson, Marcus Power and Josh Kestner along with some more experienced guys like team captain James Melindy, Zach O’Brien and goalie Michael Garteig, Newfoundland excelled.
That excellence continued into the Growlers first trip to the Kelly Cup playoffs. In the divisional semifinals, the Battle of Canada saw Newfoundland take on Brampton. After jumping out to a 3-0 series lead, the Growlers sputtered in games four and five (an 8-2 loss) before closing the series out in six games.
Pitted against Manchester in the division, Newfoundland fell in game one before winning the next three. After an overtime loss in game 5, the Growlers headed back home and ended the Monarchs season with a victory in game six.
Newfoundland headed into the Eastern Conference finals against the more experienced Florida Everblades as a slight underdog. That mantle was quickly set aside as the Growlers and Garteig shut out the Everblades on the road in game one and proved that was no fluke by winning game two in convincing fashion.
Following a wild loss in game three at the Mile One Centre, the Growlers quickly righted the ship, blanking Florida in game four (a 6-0 shellacking) and again in game five by a final of 3-0 to end the series.
The way in which Newfoundland dispatched Florida was stunning. The Growlers allowed a mere six goals – five of them coming in game three – while scoring 20 of their own against Callum Booth who had almost single-handedly beaten Orlanfo in the South division finals. Newfoundland’s special teams also played a big role, holding the explosive Florida power play to just one goal in eight chances while the Growlers man advantage units clicked for five scores in 21 attempts.
O’Brien has led the high-octane Growlers offense with 14 goals including a pair of hat tricks (one against Florida in game 5) and 24 points. Ferguson has also eclipsed the 20-point plateau with 5 goals and 16 assists. Estephan (7 G, 10 A), Pooley (7 G, 7 A), Power (3 G, 9 A) and Kestner (6 H, 5 A) have all contributed mightily as well as carrying plus ratings.
As for Garteig, he has been strong between the pipes. With a 12-4-1 record and those three shutouts against Florida, Garteig has a 2.07 goals against average and a save percentage of .934 (508 saves on 544 shots faced). In the conference finals alone, he turned away 150 of 156 Everblades shots.
Special teams have been a plus for the Growlers. They have an overall power play success rate of 24.3 percent. On the penalty kill, Newfoundland has succeeded on 83 percent of its times short with an outstanding 94.7 percent rate of kills on home ice.
With an impressive 7-2 record on home ice and a solid 5-2-1 mark on the road, Newfoundland has proven it can win anywhere. The Growlers can play a speed game or a heavy, grinding style, making them dangerous whichever way the opposition wants to play.
If they play like they did against Florida, St. John’s may just be celebrating a championship before too long.
Standing in the way of Newfoundland’s championship aspirations, is the Toledo Walleye.
Finishing second in the Central Division, Toledo punched its ticket to the Kelly Cup Final after defeating the Fort Wayne Komets 4-2 in the Central Division semifinals, the Brabham Cup champion Cincinnati Cyclones 4-1 in the Central Division Finals before claiming the Western Conference Finals in seven games over the Mountain Division Champion Tulsa Oilers.
While this is the first trip to the Kelly Cup Final for the Walleye, the City of Toledo has seen two previous ECHL championships. The Toledo Storm, ECHL members from 1991-2007, claimed the Riley Cup in back-to-back seasons in 1993 and 1994.
The Walleye is a skilled defensive team, relying on a relentless forecheck and pesky neutral zone pressure to create offensive opportunities. Through 18 games, Toledo has allowed just 37 goals.
Make no mistake, the defense starts at the net, with goalie Pat Nagle (12-4-2). In his eighth ECHL season, Nagle posted 22 wins in the regular season behind a 2.81 GAA and 0.91 save percentage. The second-year Walleye has reached another level in the post-season, allowing just 33 goals on 549 shots for 1.79 GAA and 0.94 save percentage.
The defensive unit is anchored by three-time and defending Kelly Cup champion Matt Register and second-year Walleye defenseman Kevin Tansey. The tandem have each contributed 12 points, while Tansey leads the league with a plus-minus rating of +16.
Offensively, the Walleye will rely on several weapons. Dylan Sadowy (8 G, 8 A), Greg Wolfe (7 G, 8 A), Shane Berschbach (5 G, 9 A) and David Pope (4 G, 9 A) are all in the top 12 for playoff scoring. A.J. Jenks and Tyler Spezia pace the special teams with two power play goals apiece. The Walleye have converted 14-of-53 power plays (26-percent), while their penalty kill ranks eighth among all playoff teams.
Toledo arguably played its best game of the post-season in game seven of the Western Conference Finals at Tulsa on Wednesday night. The determination displayed by the Walleye showed that the Growlers could have their hands full with the Western Conference champions. If Toledo can steal a game in St. John’s, the series could be a toss-up when it shifts to the glass city for games three through five next week.
Contact the Writer: Don.Money@prohockeynews.com
ECHL Western Conference Editor John Hall also contributed to this story.
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