Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews laud assistant equipment manager Tom Blatchford for reaching 1500 NHL games

The Toronto Maple Leafs celebrated their assistant equipment manager Tom Blatchford’s 1500 NHL game milestone on Sunday after their 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The team gifted their ceremonial championship belt to Blatchford and clicked group photos with his in the locker room.

Leafs superstars Auston Matthew, Mitch Marner and Max Domi later shared a post from the team’s official Instagram account featuring Tom Blatchford with the championship belt while the whole squad posed with him.

“In his 1500th game, Assistant Equipment Manager Tom Blatchford got the belt 💙,” read the caption of the original post.

Reposting it on his own stories, alternate captain Mitch Marner added a one-word caption:

“GOAT”

Leafs Captain Auston Matthews added three goat emojis to his stories, while Max Domi wrote:

“1500🐐❤️TB”

via Instagram /@marner_93, @austonmatthews, @max

The Maple Leafs originally started the belt tradition in 2022 when WWE star Adam ‘Edge’ Copeland gave Morgan Rielly a Maple Leafs championship belt. At first it was for fun, but the team turned it into an award for the best player after each win.

Tom Blatchford started his hockey journey with the Belfast Giants in the UK. Later, he joined the Toronto Marlies in the 2005-06 season. After three years there, he moved up to the Maple Leafs in 2008-09 and has been with the team ever since.

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Craig Berube lauds Leafs team effort amid tight schedule

After the 4-1 win over the Hurricanes, Leafs head coach Craig Berube gave his team the flowers. When asked if the team is playing the way he wants this late in the season, Berube said that these types of games are expected to be tight.

He acknowledged that the Leafs lacked composure in the first period but felt they improved in the second and third by keeping their structure and staying patient. Berube also mentioned he was proud of how the players handled those tight situations throughout the year considering travel and fatigue.

“I think our record was um 10-4-and-2 maybe on back-to-backs this year. Pretty good record,” he said.

“Um, you know it's tough. A lot of times with the travel and where you're at and everything. So guys done a good job being smart and playing the right way and defending and and not, you know, opening it up too much, you know. So that's good. Yeah.”

Berube was also asked about William Nylander’s performance after scoring his 45th goal of the season on the night. He praised how Nylander has delivered all year and how that line, in the second and third periods, contributed both offensively and defensively.