The Toronto Marlies have their opponent for the Calder Cup Western Conference Final and it is the Texas Stars, the affiliate of the Dallas Stars.
Texas put the coup de grace on the reigning Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins in six games with a 7-1 drubbing at Cedar Park Center on Sunday and have home ice advantage in the series as they led the AHL with 106 points.
Veteran Travis Morin leads the Stars with 10 points, 21-year-old Brendan Ranford(nephew of former Edmonton and Boston goalie Bill Ranford) has a club-leading seven goals and boasts former Dallas first rounders Radek Faksa(2012), Toronto native Jamie Oleksiak(2011), Jack Campbell(2010) and Scott Glennie(2009).
The two clubs split their four regular season games, with Toronto taking both games at Ricoh Coliseum 3-2(SO) and 4-1 and Texas winning 5-2 and 6-0 in Cedar Park, just outside of Austin, TX.
The first and final two games of the seven game series are 8:30pm EST starts in Texas. Game One is on Friday, May 23rd, Game Two on Monday, May 26th, before the two clubs travel to Toronto. Games Three and Four are 7pm starts at Ricoh on Wednesday, May 28th and Thursday, May 29th. Game Five will start at 3pm on Saturday, May 31st. The series will return to Texas for Games Six and Seven if necessary on Monday, June 2nd and Tuesday, June 3rd.
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Guelph team captain and Leafs defensive prospect Matt Finn registered two assists in the Storm's 6-3 victory over Val d'Or at the MasterCard Memorial Cup in London, ON Monday night.
The Storm are guaranteed a spot on the Cup championship game after consecutive victories over Edmonton and Val D'or.
Leafs 2013 sixth round pick Antoine Bibeau followed up his 51 save shutout performance against the host Knights with a less stellar effort against Guelph, as he was pulled after two periods for allowing six goals on 36 shots.
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