You have to love it when a good plan comes together, and today was a great example of this. While they may not have sold out the building, the crowd was loud, evident, and split between the two fanbases. The weather, while a bit nippy, was exactly what was needed for a gamel ike this. The ice held up, the mid-3rd period Sweet Caroline sing along was awesome, and most importantly, 20,565 fans got to see a heck of a game today.
The game started with arguably the most action packed first 30 seconds the league has ever seen. Twenty seven second was all it took for the Bulldogs to open the coring, with Dany Masse leading the way for Hamilton. The Marlies would have no part of this result, deeming it much too quick of a start. Kelsey Wilson concluded that this was a matter that would be best resolved with fisticuffs, and Zack Fitzgerald agreed. Honetly, it ws one of the better fights I’ve seen live, the two trading several strong punches until it was broken up. Oh, and I forgot to mention, this was just one second later. The Marlies would take control of the game from there. Five minute slater, Mike Zigomanis tied the game for Toronto, courtesy of Ryan Hamilton and Nicolas Deschamps. That wouldn’t be all. Three minutes later, Greg Scott turned that trail-come-tie to a tie-come-lead, with Jerry D’Amigo and Philippe Dupuis getting assists. Continuing the momentum Drew Paris gave the crowd an uncharactaristic bullet to marvel at, giving the Marlies a 3-1 lead, and awarding multi-point games to Zigomanis and Dechamps. Matt Frattin slowed the momentum down with the only minor penalty of the period, followed by another scrap, this time between Koribinan Holzer and Aaron Palushaj. Holzer got some punches in, but was tripped by Palushaj shortly after.
The second offered more traditional action. Marcel Mueller extended the Marlies lead by scoring his 10th of the year, unassisted, on a goal that bordered between a snipe and a bad goaltending effort. Hamilton would finally return the favour though, with Louis Leblanc socring the goal of the game, deking out Scrivens handily. Gabriel Dumont and Kesley Wilson tradeded minors to round out the period, but that’s all the major action we would see for the second.
The third was a different story all together, with nothing happening for the first half. The teams switch sides with 9 minute to go to the tune of a crowd-driven Sweet Caroline, and that’s when the pressure that Toronto had early in the game came back. First came a Joe Colborne snipe assisted by Matt Frattin and Jerry D’Amigo. Two minutes later, and this time it was Dechamps with his first goal but third point of the game, with Jesse Blacker and Philippe Dupuis getting helpers. To close out the scoring, Greg Scott scored his second of the game, giving Dupuis and D’Amigo their third assists of the night. To close things up, Ian Schultz tried to get his team’s dignity back by fighting Kyle Neuber. Bad idea, as Neuber made him very familiar with his fist in the final minute of the game. A few seconds of pointless skating occured, and the blowout ended as a 7-2 victory.
Other Notes
Ben Scrivens looked shaky to start, and didn’t solidify much after the fact, but looked pretty decent statistically, and got the Marlies what they were looking for, a win.
Nicolas Deschamps looked fantsatic today with two assists, but made things even better with a goal. He was good without the puckk as well, and the best player on either team today.
Don’t look now, but Philippe Dupuis has 5 assists in 3 games. Amazing for a guy who until that point hadn’t had a tallyof any kind in the Leafs organization.
Neither team was effective on the powerplay, the Marlies going 0/1 and the Bulldogs 0/3. Works out fine for Toronto.
The attendance was a solid-ish 20,565. Overall, a success, but could’ve been better, but a success with all things considered. I’m going to talk off-ice bits to more detail in my next article.
