Division 3rd North League 11th ECHL Home record 22-13-0-1 | Conference 8th American 2009-10 record 35-30-2-5 Road record 13-17-2-4 | |
The 2009–10 Toledo Walleye season was the Toledo Walleye's inaugural season as the Walleye in the ECHL. It was the first time in two years for the team and professional ice hockey to return to Northwest Ohio. The team was founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm. The team requested voluntary suspension from the ECHL at the end of the 2006–07 ECHL season.
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Preseason
On February 13, 2008, former Toledo Storm player and head coach, Nick Vitucci was named the first head coach of the Walleye, 20 months before the team's inaugural season. A week later the Storm was renamed "Walleye" in reference to the popular game fish that populates Lake Erie, on which Toledo is a port.
During the NHL's award ceremonies in Las Vegas, Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland stated that the Walleye would become Detroit's ECHL affiliate for the 2009-10 season and that the Wings would send one of their three goaltender prospects (either Jordan Pearce, Thomas McCollum or Daniel Larsson) to Toledo for the season. On June 21, 2009, the Walleye announced the schedule for their inaugural season which opens on October 16 as the Walleye host the defending Brabham Cup champion Florida Everblades in the first of a three-game series. The Walleye will play fifteen of their first twenty-one games at home. On August 5, 2009, the Walleye announced a second affiliation agreement, becoming the ECHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago's AHL affiliate the Rockford IceHogs.
On July 27, 2009, the Walleye introduced Spike, their costumed mascot at a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game. Spike is a yellow anthropomorphic walleye, adorned with a white Walleyes jersey, blue gloves, helmet and shoes and a gap tooth smile.
On August 26, 2009, the Walleye signed their first player, centre Malcolm MacMillan. The six-year veteran joined the Walleye from the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom and had previous stints in the ECHL with the Florence Pride, Peoria Rivermen, Cincinnati Cyclones (all in 2003-04) and Reading Royals (2005–08).
Regular season
The Walleye opened their inaugural season on October 16 with a home game against the defending Brabham Cup champion Florida Everblades. Prior to the game, head coach Nick Vitucci named defenseman Ryan Stokes as the team's captain and named centers Malcolm MacMillan and Adam Hobson. Despite a strong effort, the Walleye dropped their opener to Florida 2–1 in front of a sell-out crowd of 8,000, the largest crowd to ever watch a pro hockey game in Toledo. The Walleye would return the next night and rookie goaltender Jordan Pearce stopped 35 of 37 shots faced as the Walleye scored three goals in the final period to get past the Everblades for the team's first win, 5–2. The initial home series with Florida would end the next night in entertaining fashion as Toledo defenseman Jean-Claude Sawyer scored the game-winning goal with 55 seconds left in overtime as the Walleye won two of three games of the weekend series, 4–3. On October 20, Toledo defenseman Jamie Milam was named the Sher-wood Player of the Week for his five-point performance over the three game series with Florida.
On December 31, defenseman J.C. Sawyer and forward Maxime Tanguay were selected to the American Conference All-Star team and will play at the All-Star Game at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on January 20. On January 20, Sawyer was named the captain of the American Conference All-Stars.
At the end of the regular season, defenseman J.C. Sawyer was named as a First Team selection to the All-ECHL team and won the Defenseman of the Year award, while center Maxime Tanguay was named to the All-Rookie team.
Toledo would finish the season with the second best average attendance (6,294/game) and would tie the Elmira Jackals with the most sellouts (12).
Playoffs
The Walleye clinched their first playoff appearance on March 31, following a shootout loss to the Johnstown Chiefs, becoming the seventh of eight teams in the American Conference to clinch a berth in the Kelly Cup playoffs. The Walleye would finish the regular season in eighth place in the American Conference, guaranteeing the team a matchup with the American Conference regular season champions, the Charlotte Checkers in the American Conference Quarterfinals. Toledo would host Charlotte in the first two games of the series, then the third game would be played at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, as well as games four and five if necessary.
Behind a hat-trick from right winger Adam Keefe, Toledo took game one of the series, 7–2. Charlotte would answer the following night, with a 6–1 win to tie the series at one game a piece. The Checkers would gain an edge in the series when it shifted down to Charlotte, as Charlotte defeated the Walleye 3–1 in Game Three to take the 2–1 series lead. Charlotte would end Toledo's inaugural season in heartbreaking fashion, as the Walleye were unable to hold a lead in the third period and would lose Game Four and the series to the Checkers, 5–4 in overtime.
Conference standings
x - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division title, z - clinched best conference record, e - eliminated from playoff contention
* – division leader
Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Goaltenders
Note: GPI = Games Played In; MIN = Minutes played; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/Shootout Losses; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; SV% = Save Percentage
Transactions
The Walleye have been involved in the following transactions before and during the 2009–10 season.