Rob Madore shall forever be etched in Toronto Marlies’ history.
He was one of eight goaltenders to play at least one regular-season game for the Maple Leafs affiliate during the 2015-16 campaign.

Who were the other seven I hear you ask?
Antoine Bibeau, Garret Sparks, Ray Emery, Alex Stalock, Jonathan Bernier, Kasimir Kaskisuo and Ryan Massa.

None of the eight goaltenders owned a losing record and together the group posted a combined 0.916 save percentage and ten shutouts that season.

Madore was a 13th overall selection by Chicago Steel in the USHL Entry Draft and played two seasons before moving onto the NCCA with the University of Vermont.
The goaltender was named to the NCAA (Hockey East) All-Academic Team in 2010-11 before turning professional late in the following season with Chicago Steel (ECHL).

It was bright beginning to the pro-level as Madore posted an 8-3 record, a 2.41 GAA and 0.926 Sv% but unfortunately, the Pittsburgh native was never really allowed to prove himself consistently at a higher level through his playing career.

In 2012-13 Madore suited up in nine AHL games for the Charlotte Checkers, posting a .951 save percentage and two shutouts.

That wasn’t enough to convince Charlotte to re-sign him so Madore ended up penning an ECHL deal with the Cincinnati Cyclones for the 2013-14 season, which ended up being quite a whirlwind.

The then 25-year-old was loaned out to Charlotte and Binghamton in the space of just over a fortnight and played just one game during that span (for Charlotte) before signing an AHL contract with the San Antonio Rampage.

The Rampage was not a particularly good team at that time, finishing with the fifth-worst record in the entire American League, so making a strong impression was never going to be an easy task.

The season was far from done however for the goaltender, however, as he backstopped the Cyclones to the Kelly Cup Final after returning to the ECHL.
Although Cincinnati lost the final in six games to the Alaska Aces, Madore was named as the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs MVP (June M. Kelly Award) for his performances.

The Milwaukee Admirals sought Madore’s signature for the 2014-15 campaign but failed to give him an AHL opportunity as once again he was confined to the ECHL for the entire campaign.

In the summer of 2015, the Toronto Marlies came calling and following two solid months for the Orlando Solar Bears (Toronto’s ECHL affiliate), Madore made his debut on December 5th, 2015

It was almost the dream debut as Madore was named First Star of the game posting twenty-three saves and only had his shutout bid broken inside the final four minutes in what was a 3-1 Marlies victory against Manitoba at Ricoh Coliseum.

A second start had to wait until the final day of the month but led to two games in three days on home ice.
Both were victories as the goaltender gave up just two goals against Lake Erie and Syracuse respectively.

A fourth and final game in a Marlies uniform arrived six days later, this time on the road in Manitoba.
On this occasion Madore would post a shutout, turning aside all 26 shots by the Moose as the Marlies won 3-0.

His Marlies career may have been a brief one but Madore won all four starts, allowing just five goals, posting one shutout and a .954 save percentage, along with being apart of history as one of eight goaltenders to tend the net that season for Toronto.

The Pennsylvanian native would retire that summer at a relatively young age in hockey terms but undoubtedly for some, the grind of hockey in the lower tiers isn’t for everyone and there are other considerations in life.

Now 32 years of age, Madore is currently working for WebMD Health Services in Charleston, South Carolina and has a young family.

Despite settling down to life as a family man and in a different profession, he has almost returned to hockey on four separate occasions between February 2019 and February 2020.

The South Carolina Stingrays have called upon the former Marlie to be their Emergency Back-Up goaltender though he saw no ice-time during those calls to action and I imagine he’s probably quite thankful!

Madore’s AHL career consisted of just 21 games but he retires with a winning record (10-7), three shutouts and a .937 save percentage.