Some young Maple Leafs prospects already know that championship feeling

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Too many Maple Leafs have been on the losing end of a handshake line, versus raising a title trophy.

For a few players at development camp this week, the thrill of victory has already trumped the agony of defeat, which is great if you believe that winning is contagious.

Easton Cowan’s London Knights came back from a crushing loss in the 2024 Memorial Cup final to hoist it in June, along with camp invites Landon Sim and Andoni Fimis. Cowan, Toronto’s coveted first round pick in 2023, netted the Cup-winner against Medicine Hat.

And there’s Owen Michaels, whose double-overtime goal put his home state Western Michigan Broncos into the NCAA title game where he scored twice in the 6-2 final against Boston University.

“When you win, go through that grind of playoffs, that’s something you can’t teach,” said Hayley Wickenheiser, Leafs assistant general manager, player development and a women’s world and Olympic gold medalist.

“I’ve never been through seven games repeated, but in the Olympics, the grind of getting there, being able to win and take it over the top like that, those are things that stick with you as an athlete and as a person forever.

“So, whenever we get people in here who’ve won, we know that’s a quality we can’t just give them. They have an advantage over everyone else.”

Cowan is still basking in the Cup and the leadership role it provided, making him the big man on campus at this camp of 48 prospects.

“When the games got bigger, I got better,” Cowan said. “There are a lot of people watching and high stakes.

“It’s awesome. The experience of winning helps so much — and to do it with that group, that team.”

He was just as thrilled to get congratulatory texts from Leafs captains Auston Matthews and John Tavares, who remembered him battling hard for a job at the last two NHL training camps and sure to again in September.

“It means a lot that they’re still keeping tabs on me,” Cowan said.

Michaels, a 6-foot-2 right winger, was off the draft radar as he didn’t start at Western Michigan until age 21, after playing junior in the U.S. Midwest. But his 36 points in 42 games last season sparked conversations with the Leafs around December and his Frozen Four heroics sealed the invite.

“I’m super appreciative of management inviting me here,” Michaels said. “I feel I’ve earned this chance.”

The NCCA’s presentation trophy is new every year, compared to the 106-year-old Memorial Cup, not that Michaels are his teammates minded.

“Winning it was awesome, an unbelievable chance to share that with a special group of my brothers, tied together forever as national champions.

“We definitely had our fun with the trophy and celebrated properly back at school (where his father was once a Broncos’ pitcher/infielder) with all the people in Kalamazoo. It was really cool to bring it back to town and get a nice reception.

“It’s still there in the locker room. You walk by and make sure to get a close look at it and embrace it.”

That’s what Wickenheiser was referencing. A closer-to-home example for the Leafs would be the many players from the 2018 Calder Cup champion Marlies who went on to the Leafs and NHL.

“Winning is 90 per cent metal because everybody is pretty equal physically,” she added. “It’s the ability to grind day after day after day and be able to have that performance on demand when it matters the most.

“That’s really hard to do and people (watching the Leafs) see it every day. When you can get over the hump, winning breeds more winning. You see that with Florida (the Leafs added three Panthers last season and 2019 Stanley Cup coach Craig Berube) and you see that with any sport.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby

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