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Valpix · 03-19-2024, 06:17 PM

When Louise St. Martin left Toronto several seasons ago, she was a young gun who'd just completed her second year of top-flight ice hockey and who was trying to find herself. The adjustment to the pro game from junior is hard. It's harder when your team is trying to win now and you're playing high-stakes games. But it was in those high-stakes games that she started to show flashes, with a strong S68 playoffs on the North Stars that gave her more responsibility.

It was at that point that Toronto saw that they needed to rebuild. The team was very veteran heavy, and with few prospects and little draft capital, they knew tough decisions had to be made for the good of the club.

So, Louise was traded (along with d-partner Luca Hunziker) to Edmonton for a slew of draft picks. A tough pill to swallow, but it was for the best for the Stars.

Louise found herself in a new situation with the Blizzard. Reunited with some old friends from the junior days, with a building team that aligned with her prime a bit more.

It turned out that it was everything she needed to absolutely break out.

An eighteen point improvement followed for her personally, and she helped Edmonton win their first playoff round in eight years with a decisive sweep of the Dragons (before falling to Seattle). The next season, her numbers and ice time would spike even higher - 61 points and her first of five consecutive All-Star Games.

All the while, Edmonton continued to build and build. The Dragons got them back in a rematch in the S70 playoffs, but in S71 the Blizzard truly broke out. A 17 point team improvement. Offseason add Evan Winter on the SHL Second All-Star Team; Louise and goalie Justin Time on the third. Edmonton cruised past Texas and LA, earning a spot in the league semifinals.

Waiting for them was the Winnipeg Aurora.

Winnipeg had built a playoff-tested juggernaut. They had represented the conference in the Challenge Cup final two years in a row. They won 54 games that season and hit 111 points. And while the Blizzard put up a fight, the Aurora were not to be denied a third straight finals trip, taking Game 5 in Manitoba in OT. (It would be a third straight unsuccessful finals trip, though, as they fell to Buffalo.)

So began the trilogy.

Round 2. S72. As a team, Edmonton saw a small uptick, while Winnipeg dropped by 16 points. Louise dropped out of the end-of-season All-Star teams, but Winter jumped to the first team, Time to the second, and Benjamin Surkhi-Ze'ev earned a spot on the third team. Both teams cruised into the conference final, with a combined 3 losses.

Home ice held through the first three games (though Edmonton scared Winnipeg by going up 3-1 in Game 1 on the road; the Aurora were 32-1 at home that regular season). But the ceiling of Rogers Place seemingly cratered in Game 3. The Aurora showed no mercy in a 9-3 bloodbath, then took Game 5 at home. They eventually finally got over their Challenge Cup hump over New England.

The bar was set and two straight exits to the same team gave the Blizz a chip on our shoulder. And it showed. 50 wins and snagging the #1 seed from Winnipeg. This time, WE control our fate at home in an inevitable WCF matchup.

Louise had her best season yet. She led the league's blueliners in assists and points, and for her efforts she secured the Scott Stevens Award as the league's best defender and earning a spot on the First All-Star Team. She was joined there by Winter and Surkhi-Ze'ev, and Time was once again on the second team. Hell, Alvin Wong was on the league All-Rookie team.

But all that mattered for this team was the playoffs. Can we get it done against Winnipeg?

The first round was a little sketchy. I maintain that outside of Winnipeg, around this time, New Orleans gave us more trouble than anyone. (Texas, too, to a lesser extent. But moreso NOLA.) And that held serve in a first round series that was way closer than it should've been. An easy sweep of LA and lo and behold, Winnipeg is waiting.

A Game 1 home less made you think the script would be the same. They just knew what it took. Aaaaaaand then we took the next four games in convincing fashion, all multi-goal wins.

So the team that gave us trouble is out. But we weren't done. There was still one more playoff enemy waiting for us in the back.

The Philadelphia Forge had won the S69 title, and were regulars in the late rounds. Their series win over New England ended a run of three straight years losing at the conference final stage. They were experienced champions who'd also gotten a monkey off their back.

Two games in and we were feeling good. We stole home ice with a Game 1 win, and bodied them 6-2 in Game 2. But perhaps we were cocky headed home. Our frantic comeback ended a goal short in Game 3, and we were flattened in Game 4. Series tied headed back to Southeast PA.

But home ice dis-advantage kept coming. A back and forth third period necessitated overtime, and in that OT, Luke Laraque was our hero. We were headed home with a chance to become champions.

....Subsequently, we were shut out 3-0. Credit to BASE PACK who made 42 saves, but my god was that frustrating. So instead of celebrating in front of our home crowd, it was back to Philly for Game 7, a game that lived up to the hype.

And for Louise, it brought the moment that defined her career.

We had taken a 3-1 lead in the second. Ricky Koivu turned to the Forge and said "HOP ON MY BACK AND I WILL CARRY YOU." Goals 2 and 3 of his Game 7 hat trick had the game tied late in the third.

Offensive zone draw. Louise is situated at the top of the slot, ready to let it rip. Julian Eaglesong knows this. A drop of the puck. A backhanded faceoff win. Louise waiting to tee up. She's never been afraid to shoot. She's one of the shootingest blueliners of her generation. And it's worked; S73 is her first of four straight 20-goal seasons. The crowd, and the TV audience at home, hears only the sound of stick hitting puck, and puck hitting twine. Louise jumps into the boards in front of a traumatized Philly crowd. It's 4-3 Edmonton. There's only 2:03 to go.

Forge pull the goalie. No dice. Time ticks away. Sticks and gloves go flying. The team mobs Time. Champions. And hoo boy did it feel earned. After all Winnipeg had put us through. After a seven game war where home ice was like a hot potato. All worth it to drink gallons from that Cup. Louise had won before in her career, internationally. But those were when her career was young, and one was straight-up a youth competition. This one felt earned after years of scrapping and scrapping.

We hoped we could repeat in S74. We were the top seed in the West all season and the best team in the league by a mile. Louise won a second straight Stevens Award (a feat so rare it hadn't been done in over 50 seasons and had previously only happened twice before - one threepeat and one repeat). Her and Time were on the first team All-SHL; Time (and backup Isabella Bouchard) had won the Honcho as well. Winter won the Dar and was second team All-SHL alongside Surkhi-Ze'ev. Emil Egli made it five Blizz players on the end-of-season All-Star squads, earning a spot on the third team and a nomination for the Biscuit for best defensive blueliner. The road looked pretty clear and a first-round sweep of the Monarchs seemed to be just business as usual.

Sometimes though, the playoffs decide to playoff and you get bit by bad luck or someone getting hot. It's about form, after all.

San Francisco was an unremarkable team in the regular season. They won less than half their games and finished 38 points behind us. I don't think a ton of people even expected them to get past LA in Round 1.

We knew not to underestimate them. But hockey sometimes has other plans.

We got bit in an OT Game 1. Okay, shake it of- oh my god we just got absolutely mauled and we're on the road down 2-0. We whomped the Pride in Game 3, but came out flat in Game 4 and were down 4-0 before we even knew what hit us. A narrow win in Game 5 kept us alive and sent it back to San Fran. If we won this game, I genuinely believe we probably win the title. We would've had the momentum to take care of business in Game 7, and we knew we could've beaten Winnipeg in the semis as we'd done it the year before.

But Walter Sobchak had other ideas. A superb 44 save effort sent it to OT. There, Kyle Murray would apply the dagger. There would be no Round 4 with Winnipeg, or no repeat title. Back up and back at it.

This past season we took the slightest of steps back (still finished with the best record in the league for a second straight season), but Louise's play cratered. Not even close to her high standards. I genuinely apologize to anyone who took her in fantasy.

This time though, it was clear the changing of the Western guard was happening. Winnipeg was bounced in Round 1 by New Orleans. We bowed out a round later, getting smacked by a LA team that entered the Avatar State in the playoffs.

And that seemed to be the final straw. Much like Toronto years earlier, Edmonton found themselves with no prospects, no draft capital, and an aging squad. The pulling of the plug commenced.

Toronto wanted in. A bajillion picks later, Louise was headed back to where her pro journey started, along with the entirety of Edmonton's second line.

Louise St. Martin left Toronto as a young player just starting to spread her wings in the SHL. She returns as a champion, someone who will be leading the blueline, trying to help a young Stars team build towards a title. She'll have a chip on her shoulder, too, trying to prove last year was an anomaly and she can still play puck with the best of 'em. Her hockey school back in Switzerland is flourishing, too, with one of her top pupils expected to jump overseas in the next few seasons.

For now....Go Stars. Let's make this a storybook return. Stars

(1875 words, ready for grading)

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 03-19-2024, 06:23 PM

:edmlove: What an incredible pick up and couldn't script a better cup winning goal

***Wally*** · 03-19-2024, 06:30 PM

<3

One of my favorite memories of this league will be HFFO messaging me after Louise potted the cup clinching goal thanking me. Can’t wait to have the blue slipper back in Toronto!

ValorX77 · 03-19-2024, 06:30 PM

Finish the story @Valpix

*Zerg* · 03-19-2024, 07:39 PM

Boy am I glad to see you headed east. Point that howitzer at someone else!

Good luck in Toronto. See you in the cup finals. Cool

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