The past twelve months may not have been the greatest for myself in general but did deliver some hockey stories and moments which provided me with so much entertainment and joy.

So this article is a self-indulgent run-down of my top five personal moments from 2018.

5) The journey of Andreas Johnsson

The Maple Leafs prospect began the year with a hat-trick before going on to play a pivotal role in the success of the North Division team in the AHL-All Star Game.
The Swedish winger made his NHL debut on March 14 and three days later I was in attendance at the Air Canada Centre as the seventh round draft pick scored his first ever NHL goal – against the Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada.
Johnsson returned to the Toronto Marlies after the Leafs were eliminated, and was selected as the AHL Playoff MVP as his scoring went a long way in helping to secure the team an inaugural Calder Cup.

4) John Tavares is a Leaf!

During my time as a Leafs fan I’ve been preconditioned to expect failure and fear the worse regarding any situation. I’m not sure if I ever really, truly believed that John Tavares would ‘come home’ to sign for his childhood team this summer.
However sat in the Maple Leaf Pub in London, on July 1 celebrating Canada Day having already consumed a few pints of Canadian ale, there was quite the celebration when the news filtered it’s way to my corner of the world via the internet.

3) Liam Kirk being drafted into the NHL

Who? Liam Kirk, the first English born and trained player to ever be selected in the NHL Entry Draft.
Arizona Coyotes took what some perceived to be a gamble and somewhat of a publicity stunt by selecting Kirk but the youngster stuck around until NHL training camp began and made a strong impression on the Coyotes coaching staff.
The Sheffield born forward was also selected in CHL Import Draft by OHL outfit Peterborough Petes and is currently sixth in team scoring.
Before this North American whirlwind journey began, Kirk was part of a piece of GB hockey history…………..

2) Team GB join the top echelon of World Hockey

British Ice Hockey is way off the radar for most average hockey fans let alone the general public in the UK.
GB achieved the seemingly impossible by recording a second successive promotion to make it back to the top flight of World Championship hockey for the first time since 1994.
The bottom seeds in Division 1, Group A were written off in most quarters and avoiding relegation appeared to be the only achievable target according to pundits.
However they dared to dream and a goal with fifteen seconds remaining in their final game of the tournament against hosts Hungary was enough to secure the gold medal.
You can read about the extraordinary tournament here: https://wp.me/p2gDti-Nj
Great Britain head into 2019 with the exciting prospect of facing Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland et al.

1) The Toronto Marlies being crowned Calder Cup Champions

This probably isn’t a surprise to those who follow me but to finally witness this club win a championship was an emotional experience and certainly made up for the heartache induced by the final loss in 2013.
It’s not often that the best team through the AHL regular season goes on to have playoff success but this Marlies team steamrollered their way to winning the League Title with a 54-18-4 record and a plus 84 goal differential.
Utica Comets would take the Marlies to a deciding game five in the first round of the playoffs but Toronto would prevail and go on to sweep Syracuse and Lehigh respectively.
Texas Stars were the defiant opponents in the final – never going away as they tied the series at one, two and three to force a winner-takes-all game seven.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more nervous for a hockey game in my life and not being able to attend the game in person did nothing to quell my anxiety.
The rest is history of course as Toronto produced a championship winning performance even if they had to survive a post being struck with the game scoreless and then a phantom goal award with the result still in the balance.