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Of course, it’s hard to repeat as champions in a development league where rosters are constantly in flux and a good season can be followed by an entire new crop of players. But the Marlies attract and keep a lot of free agents because of their successful program, the close proximity to the Leafs and the lure of working in the Toronto market.

The team’s theme this season was Back For More, though a Cup was not necessarily the stated goal.

“That was not something we spoke of as a group or anything like that,” Keefe said. “We looked at this year as an entirely different group, entirely different challenge, despite there being some similarities and obviously some of the same people.

“The challenges this team faced were unlike anything that last year’s had to deal with. We’re a team that had to find its way a lot of different times. Whether it was goaltending inconsistency or injury, the defence being depleted, just roster changes and fluctuations – I don’t know how many players we ended up using this year, but it was a lot.

“We’ve had to rely on 18- and 19-year-old defencemen in Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin to just play so many minutes for us. The team has really grown, it’s been great to be a part of and the players have really come together.”

SOUTHERN COMFORT

The Checkers, farm team of the Carolina Hurricanes, have had their own challenges, despite the outward appearance of all being well with a league-high 51 regular season wins and seven of eight so far in playoffs.