Through depth and confidence, the Toledo Walleye have broken an ECHL record with 22 straight wins. Entering the conference finals of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, they're looking to keep winning.
Through depth and confidence, the Toledo Walleye have broken an ECHL record with 22 straight wins. Entering the conference finals of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, they're looking to keep winning.
Riley Sawchuk left Toledo on a high note back in March. After he and the Walleye had won seven straight games dating back to March 15 — aided by his three goals and seven points in that span — Sawchuk got a call-up to Grand Rapids. It was a successful one, where he scored on his very first shift and stuck around through the end of the regular season. Playing tougher competition with a harder style, Sawchuk found a confidence boost from that call-up, and he carried with him back to Toledo after being sent down for the Walleye’s Kelly Cup Playoff run.
By the time he returned, that seven-game hot streak had raged into 22 games that all but shattered the previous ECHL record for a win streak at 18. The wins included two sweeps in the opening rounds of the playoffs, a run that included three overtime victories.
“I was excited to come back down to see these guys continuing this win streak and just jump right back in it with them,” Sawchuk told The Hockey News. Later, he continued that the streak “just speaks to the depth of the team right there, how it almost doesn't matter who's in or who's out that night. They'll find ways to win.” With or without Sawchuk, with or without anyone, they’re finding what they need to win up, down and across the lineup.
Winning is a standard in Toledo, evidenced by another streak at play — a more impressive one, if you can believe it. The Walleye have made the conference finals for the fourth straight playoffs and the sixth time in eight playoff runs. That streak dates back to when current Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde coached the Walleye in 2014-15, and when current Griffins coach Dan Watson coached there for five of those playoff runs, too. Now, first-year Walleye coach Pat Mikesch has carried that standard forward.
When it comes to the 22-game win streak, even the Walleye aren’t quite sure exactly why everything’s been clicking. They’ve got an idea though.
For Mikesch, it all started during the Walleye’s southern road trip back in March. After their last loss to South Carolina on March 13, Mikesch and his staff felt the team hadn’t played a full 60 minutes for too long. It was time for a reset, so they told the players as much.
“We had a rather direct conversation on our southern trip and had some what I would call harder video,” Mikesch told The Hockey News.
That isn’t so groundbreaking — nearly every coach hits the video hard after some poor habits creep in. But what’s different about the Walleye is the way they responded to the message. Such open feedback is an ability made possible by the way that Toledo’s coaches and players communicate. Sawchuk noted that coaches feel almost like players themselves with how much they hang out and connect with players. It makes it easier to stomach constructive criticism, and to know that those kinds of harder video sessions come from necessity and tough love.
The next batch of video came from two great games against Greenville, the opening wins of the streak. It’s safe to say that there’s been a lot of good tape as of late, as hitting the reset button set the Walleye on their historic 22-win course.
“It was a good time of the year and since then we've just, game by game, done things the right way and been rewarded,” Mikesch said. “I don't think we were aiming to go on a long winning streak. We were just aiming to lock in on principles that were going to be needed to be playing in the playoffs.”
At the same time, there were hurdles to overcome. Sawchuk, a point-per-game rookie, and nearly point-per-game playmaker Mitchell Lewandowski both got extended call-ups to the AHL. Losing two big pieces to their depth, the Walleye needed other players to step up in their place. The usual suspects like leading scorers Brandon Hawkins and Trenton Bliss maintained their pace, and others like Red Wings signee Alexandre Doucet stepped on the gas. They also got big contributions from forwards Jason Willms and Brady Gilmour, as well as defenseman Jed Pietila, who came from college programs whose seasons ended. Combined with superb goaltending from the tandem of John Lethemon and Red Wings draftee Jan Bednar, who have let in two goals or less in 17 of the 22 wins, this helped the Walleye maintain excellence with some significant pieces gone. By the time Sawchuk and Lewandowski came back, Toledo was rolling.
“It was interesting, going into that first round of the playoffs when we got both Mitch and Riley back that we knew we had just become a better team,” Mikesch said. “But now you're gonna have guys that really helped us get to that point that weren't getting the same opportunity. But it was kind of like well, we just got better and we've been playing very well. So I think it was a nice little boost at the right time to really get playoffs started.”
Since then, the Walleye have torched the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Five players — Sawchuk (11 points), Hawkins (11), Sam Craggs (11), Lewandowski (9) and Bliss (8) — are a point per game or better in the postseason. Defenseman Michael Prapavessis has seven points from the blue line, while defensemen Matt Anderson (6) and Riley McCourt (5) have also made big contributions as facilitators. Sawchuk is tied for the ECHL playoff lead in goals scored with seven, though he did it in five fewer games than his peer, Adirondack’s Tristan Ashbrook.
“We have so much depth on this team, so it almost doesn't even really matter who you're playing with,” Sawchuk said. “You can almost build chemistry with everyone because everybody on this team is a great player. And so giving credit to everybody else, I think if it wasn’t for a lot of these guys, I wouldn't be able to produce the way I have been. And so it's definitely an honor, but I think it just goes back to the chemistry and the basics of our systems and our team that we have that's helping me in this process.”
After sweeping their first two playoff opponents, Kalamazoo and Wheeling, the Walleye will play for a spot in the championship series against the Kansas City Mavericks.
Such a position was expected for Toledo going into the season. A pedigree of winning hockey dating back to Lalonde lends itself to lofty ambitions. When Mikesch took the Toledo job after a year away from coaching, he was tasked with maintaining the Walleye’s success.
“There's been an expectation in Toledo for for a good stretch of time stretching back to when Derek first came here,” Mikesch said. “They've had a ton of success. They've had long runs, whether it's into the semifinals or into the finals.”
To keep the standard, Mikesch used some learnings from his season-long sabbatical in 2022-23. The long-time coach and general manager of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, Mikesch wasn’t renewed after 2021-22, and the best job offers he got were in Europe. With his youngest son a senior in high school, Mikesch didn’t want to uproot his family at such a pivotal time. So, he took a year off to just study the game, while also helping coach his son’s high school team. Through his film study, he developed a new way to teach the concept of the “second stick” on the forecheck, emphasizing supporting roles to overwhelm opposing defenders. He also spent a lot of time watching power play tape. And when he got to Toledo, he found an experienced, winning roster that could apply his systems. In the regular season, the Walleye scored the third most goals of all ECHL teams. In the playoffs, no one has scored more than their 4.4 goals per game average.
Mikesch also found a fan base passionate about its team in a way that he compared to NHL teams. It’s a passion that has only grown with the Walleye’s winning streak, one that will see the first three games of the conference finals played at Huntington Center on Friday, Saturday and Monday.
Against Kansas City, the Walleye have the chance to continue writing history as they look to keep extending their win streak. As much as the 22 wins in their streak are important, the Walleye also want eight more — streak or not — to win the first Kelly Cup in their 14-year history.
Given their depth and confidence, they’ve put themselves in a good spot. Now, they just have to maintain those winning ways.
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