I mean, there's no way to start this off without posting this again.

The Marlies knocked out the Rocket in game #5 of the series and boy did Dakota Mermis (whom I originally misidentified as Luke Haymes) ever deserve that beer, though it looks like there was none left in the can, but I'm sure he had one, or more, later that evening.

The origins of this go back to the beginning of the game, with both teams seemingly very unhappy with many penalty calls, or non-calls, but not as unhappy as the fans in the packed arena in Laval. If the only AHL games you've been to are Marlies games you may not understand how the Laval Rocket have a legitimately huge fanbase of their own. When you go there you will find thousands wearing Laval Rocket jerseys, not Habs jerseys, even though they are certainly still Habs fans too. Marlies jerseys are only fraction compared to Leafs jerseys at their games.

The Place Bell arena has a capacity of about 10,000 and it was almost sold out for this game which was moved to Saturday as it was originally scheduled on Friday for the exact same time as the game between the Habs and Sabres.

The crowd was absolutely roaring, and the crew put on a fantastic show there. The arena is relatively new, about 10 years old, with all the modern sound and ribbon banners and strobe lighting effects, an in-house DJ for intermissions, stage-sized props and smoke machines for the player entrances, and an excellent variety of concessions etc., and with all due respect to the historic Coliseum, Laval built this out to be a total entertainment district with restaurants, both sit down and take out, and outdoor patios available, a hotel across the street, and it's right beside a subway station with Laval police pedestrianising the adjacent streets on game days (remind me to finish someday that article I started about "Where is Toronto's missing middle indoor arena?"). A few weeks ago there was even a medieval fare outside before the game.

But like typical Montreal-area hockey fans, they don't like it when they lose, and the refs bore the brunt of that. The "Refs you suck!" chants came fast and early, though at first I was confused as they were garbled, but then I learned there is both an English and a French version of that chant, so it was a bit of a jumble by the crowd.

At the end of the game the beer cans and other junk went flying all over the ice, nominally targeted at an official standing near the glass.

It was a perfect ending... for the Marlies, and that ending was wonderful, but how the Marlies got there is the most interesting part.

Many of the games in this series were basically decided in the first 10-12 minutes. The Marlies or the Rocket would simply take control, score twice, and that was that as the team would crush it for the rest of the game. This time was different.

While the Rocket scored the first goal at about 10 minutes into the first period, that was it until the second when Blake Smith scored this beauty.

I admit, I did not have Blake Smith scores a crucial goal on my bingo card for this game, but that was more because I didn't anticipate he would be playing at all. This was the first game where he drew into the lineup for the playoffs. I asked John Gruden about that and he pointed out "with them adding Arseneau, another big body, it was to protect the D back there and protect Chadwick in situations with scrums. You have to make sure you are putting people in positions to succeed." Arseneau is referring to Vincent Arseneau who is 6'2 and 231 pounds and an AHL journeyman with Laval being his 7th AHL team in the past 13 years. Smith is the taller but more agile and faster counter to him and it worked out. Also, Smith is now officially a goal-per-game player in the playoffs!

The Rocket scored to take the lead again, but Reese Johnson was there to turn it back to a tie game.

And goal number three was a Vinni Lettieri classic goal on a 4-on-4. Take a penalty? Put out Vinni. It works every time*!

*Not guaranteed to work literally every time.

The only other item I would note was Easton Cowan was oddly quiet in this game. I recall him trying what could generously be called a fun play that might work in the OHL, but it didn't here, and he didn't appear as engaged as I've seen him in all the previous games in this series. I'm not worrying about it, but it was notably inconsistent with all his prior appearances this series where he was running amok of the Rocket's defence.

What's next?

Ah, the Monsters. They are the Columbus Blue Jackets' affiliates and they knocked the Marlies out of the playoffs last season in the play-in round, now they face them in the division finals. The Marlies have played the Monsters eight times this season and won four.

John Gruden said the games while be different than the heavy contact and board battle games they've had against the Rocket, and a shout here to Henry Thrun who took some severe punishment in this series from the Rocket but kept putting himself in the way to stop them right through to the end of this game, but Gruden noted the Monsters have a different style, saying "They're quicker. They've got some smaller skilled forwards up and down the lineup, all four lines can basically all do the same thing." So more zippy little wingers to face versus lumbering Xhekaj's.

He also noted the presence of our old friend Zach Aston-Reese in their lineup, who has already been that ex-Leafs guy that scores on the Marlies this season, and he also moved the Monsters to the division finals with a goal in triple overtime. He's definitely one to watch out for.

The Marlies will also have one new addition to play in this coming series.

Cleveland has the home-ice advantage to start this series, so the first home game for the Marlies isn't until Wednesday next week. Here's the full schedule.

Elsewhere in the AHL:
The Scantron Penguins will play the Springfield Thunderbirds in the Atlantic Division Finals.
The Grand Rapids Griffins will play the Chicago Wolves in the Central Division Finals.
The Colorado Eagles will play the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the Pacific Division Finals.

Toronto Marlies