The Toledo Walleye will be celebrating an anniversary when the 2024-25 season opens on Saturday, October 19 on the road against the ECHL’s newest franchise, the Bloomington Bison. This will mark 10th anniversary of their most successful season in the league as the Walleye. Toledo had a bit of everything that season and it showed on the ice.
The Walleye ended the 2014-15 season with a record of 50-15-5-2 for 107 points, placing them first in the North Division and taking home the Brabham Cup for the most points in the regular season. They would outscore their opponents 282-181 and had 785 penalty minutes. While that was one of the lowest penalty minutes for a team in that season, Toledo still had to fight from start to finish. The 107 points still is the highest in franchise history.
The regular season success would unfortunately end in the playoffs as they would have their season ended without a Kelly Cup appearance. In round one, they ousted the Wheeling Nailers four games to one, and the Fort Wayne Komets four games to three in round two. Toledo would fall to the South Carolina Stingrays four games to three in round three, but the Walleye ended up as the Eastern Conference runners up.
While the finish is not what they expected, the Walleye regular season is something they should be proud of. Rookie forward Tyler Barnes led the team with 74 points on 34 goals and 40 assists in 71 games, earning a place on the ECHL All-Rookie team. Goaltender Jeff Lerg would be outstanding between the pipes, posting a record of 32-9-3 with a 2.37 goals-against-average and a .920 save percentage in 45 games., earning a spot on the ECHL All-Second Team. The roster did not have one superstar, but the scoring depth on the roster was impressive, as 15 players had 20 or more points. Defenseman Tyler Elbrecht led the way in penalty minutes, racking up 117 on the season. Forward Kyle Bonis led the team with 36 goals.
It was not only the players getting recognized for their accomplishments. Toledo Head Coach Derek Lalonde, now head coach of the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, won the John Brophy Award for Coach of the Year. Coming from the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, he made the jump to pro hockey and he made it look easy. His adjustment was impressive as he led this team to the most successful season in franchise history.
The Walleye roster had a few faces that would go on yo bigger things in hockey. Forward Martin Frk was a sniper with a cannon of a shot that scored many big goals during his tenure with Toledo. He would make his way to the Red Wings on separate occasions and made a statement with the Ontario reign of the American Hockey League (AHL), scoring 40 goals in the 2021-22 season. Forward Alden Hirschfeld overcame as serious health scare to assume the assistant coach role with the Walleye once he retired, a role which he currently has today. During that record-setting season in 2014-15, Herschfeld scored 11 goals and 33 assists for 44 points.
