By Stan Smith
Marlies 8 – Belleville Senators 0
The Toronto Marlies came into this game on a seven-game losing streak. Coincidently the Belleville Senators came into it on a seven-game win streak. Toronto has also had a limited amount of luck versus the Senators this season. This was their sixth of ten meetings (more about that later). Belleville had won four of the previous five of those meetings.
The good news for the Marlies was that Dennis Hildeby was back and would be getting the start.
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1st Period
This game started the same way that most of the games have started on this losing streak, with the Marlies carrying the play and getting the bulk of the scoring chances but not being able to capitalize on their chances. By my calculations the good scoring chances were 8-4 for Toronto but neither Hildeby nor Kevin Mandolese let one get by them. The shots in the period were 13-9 Toronto.
The game was also relatively clean to that point with no indication of what was to follow.
2nd Period
The Marlies got on the board at 2:49 of the second when a “seeing eye” shot from the point by Marshall Rfai found its way past about six bodies in front of Mandolese into the net.
Dylan Gambrell would make it 2-0 Marlies at the 11-minute mark on the power play. Keiffer Bellows’ shot from the half-boards to the left of Mandolese was deflected by Kyle Clifford. Mandolese managed to stop it but the deflection prevented him from controlling the rebound. The puck dropped into the crease to Mandolese’s right and Gambrell tapped it in the open net.
Josiah Slavin would make it three-zip Toronto at 17:41 when he tipped a William Villeneuve shot past Mandolese with Zach Solow creating havoc, and a screen, in front of the Belleville goal.
As the score grew for Toronto the game began getting rougher. There were five roughing penalties called in the period and fighting majors between Max Lajoie and Brennan Saulnier with 11 seconds left in the period.
Then, as the teams were skating off to end the second all hell broke loose as Bokondji Imama gave Hildeby a poke with the blade of his stick as they were passing each other. Clifford immediately jumped Imama and they both dropped their gloves. When the dust had cleared both Imama and Clifford were ejected from the game and nine penalties were called including three majors and four misconducts.
3rd Period
The 3rd period started with the Marlies on a five-minute power play as a result of Imama getting called for spearing Hildeby. All of the other calls at the end of the second balanced out.
It was that power play that kicked off the best period of Ryan Tverberg’s career. First, Tverberg had a natural hattrick when he scored at 1:53, 8:52, and 14:40 of the period. All three goals were on the power play as the parade to the penalty box continued. After Max Ellis scored to make the score 7-0 Toronto at 15:25 of the third, Tverberg scored his fourth goal of the game at 17:58 to complete the scoring at 8-0 Marlies.
The amazing thing is if you watch all four of Tverberg’s goals you might think the last three were replays of the first one as all four goals were scored on one-timers from the faceoff circle to the right of Mandolese who was unfortunate enough to remain in the net for all eight Toronto goals.
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Point Night
Ryan Tverberg not only scored four goals in the game, he added an assist to finish the night with five points. In 16 games previous to this one Tverberg had two goals and 13 points.
William Villeneuve had four assists in the game giving him a goal and 12 assists on the season.
Max Ellis scored a goal and added two assists to finish the night with three points.
Marshall Rifai scored his first goal of the season and added an assist.
Josiah Slavin had a goal and an assist.
Strangely enough three of the top four scorers on the Marlies, Alex Steeves, Nick Abruzzese, and Joseph Blandisi failed to register a single point in the game.
Dennis Hildeby
Dennis Hildeby had to make a few difficult saves in his first game in 2024 but his biggest problem may have been staying focused. The shots were 43-20 Toronto in the game. Belleville only managed two shots on Hildeby in the third period.
Penalties and Power Plays
Altogether there were 35 penalties totalling 150 minutes called in the game. Belleville had 21 calls go against them.
The Marlies went 4 for 10 on the power play and killed off all four of the man-advantage situations Belleville had in the game.
One note I want to add here is I critique the referees when I think they do a bad job. I want to commend the referees in this game. I thought they did an excellent job of preventing things from getting completely out of hand.
Belleville Senators 6 – Marlies 2
A lot of us thought Dennis Hildeby might get the start for the Maple Leafs in Detroit on Sunday night. He did not. Instead, he was between the pipes for the Marlies in Belleville on Sunday afternoon. His day did not last long. Hildeby was pulled 13 minutes into the game after giving up three goals on eleven shots. I’m not sure if that means it was a good thing Hildeby did not play in Detroit or if he was feeling down because he was sent down without playing a single game. Whether or not that had anything to do with his performance this is the first negative thing that has happened to Hildeby this season. It will be interesting to see how he handles it and whether or not he bounces right back.
The Marlies Signed Kieffer Bellows
A couple of other things to mention is that previous to the Sunday afternoon game the Marlies did sign Kieffer Bellows to a one-year AHL contract. The second is that the AHL handed down three-game suspensions for Kyle Clifford and Belleville’s Bokondji Imama “for their actions” in Friday’s game. I can understand Imama getting suspended after getting a five-minute major for spearing Hildeby. I’m not sure I get Clifford being suspended for standing up for Hildeby and fighting Imama. But, it is what it is.
As it was, there was very little animosity shown between the teams in this game so both teams must have got it out of their system on Friday. I’m sure each team also had a stern warning from the AHL that if Sunday’s game went in the same direction that Friday’s game did more action could be taken.
Back to the game. After giving up three goals in the first 13 minutes of the first period, the Marlies did settle in. They made a game of it by scoring two goals nineteen seconds apart at the start of the second period. The first goal was scored just 1:16 into the period when Joseph Blandisi stole the puck from Tyler Kleven in the Senators’ zone and fed it to Bellows who fired it past Belleville goalie Leevi Merilainen’s blocker into the net.
Grant Cruikshank Scored His First AHL Goal
Then, while the goal was being announced, Grant Cruikshank, playing in his second game this season and his 7th game overall for the Marlies tipped a wrist shot from Alex Steeves past Merilainen. Cruikshank signed a one-year AHL deal with the Marlies after finishing the 2022-23 season as an amateur tryout. Cruikshank was burning up the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers scoring 16 goals and 30 points in 28 games for the Growlers before being called up by the Marlies.
The game remained 3-2 Belleville until the 9:28 mark of the third period when Jiri Smejkal tipped an Igor Sokolov shot past Keith Petruzzelli to make it 4-2 Senators. Belleville upped the score to 5-2 just over three minutes later when a seeing-eye shot made its way through a crowd in front of a screened Petruzzelli and into the Toronto goal.
Belleville would add a power-play goal with 35 seconds left in the game after Max Ellis took a tripping penalty 18 seconds before that.
Last Place Marlies
After losing eight of their last nine games the Marlies find themselves in last place in the seven-team North Division, two points out of a playoff spot. (The top five teams all make the postseason in the North Division). They do have a game in hand over the Utica Comets and they play them five more times this season. In the only meeting between the two teams this season, Toronto walked away with a 5-2 win. The Marlies are two points back of the 5th-place Laval Rocket with two games in hand. They have six more meetings with Laval this season. The two teams split their first two meetings. Laval won the first game 5-3 and Toronto shut out the Rockets 5-0 in their second game.
What’s Next?
After having six days off the Marlies set off on their annual “Toronto Boat Show” lengthy road trip. In that time they will play eight away games over 15 days. Their next home game is not until February 9th. They start the trip off with two games against the Checkers in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday game has a 4:00 pm start while the Sunday game goes at 1:00 pm.
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