Tonight is game 4 of the first round of the playoffs and quite frankly, after 3 pre-season, 80 regular season and 3 playoff games, this is where the real hockey season begins. As it stands, we are 14 games from the Calder Cup and the whole atmosphere around the Ricoh has changed. You can sense the need for a championship banner this year among the players, the fans, and the media. People want the Marlies to win this year! Everyone is pulling out the stops to make that happen.
On Sunday, I had the great privilege of being one of the first people (out of the hundreds of fans who did) to sign the Duke’s Dog Pound playoff banner for the Marlies and the best part of the day was watching the excitement on everyone’s face, particularly as the clock counted down to zero and we were one step closer to a much needed championship for our fair city. It was great to see the fans get into the game and the players to see that the AHL does matter to their fan base. I’ve talked a lot this year about Toronto being a hockey town and not just a Leafs town and you can see that starting to happen. What an end to Burke’s first season it would be if Calder came knocking at his door!
As for the rest of the week, it was pretty good too! On Monday, I had the pleasure of talking about how well the Marlies are doing to family and friends. On Tuesday, the pleasure of the day was welcoming member #116 into Duke’s Dog Pound. It has been a great week for me both personally and as a fan.
As we round out this home stand and we hopefully (fingers crossed) get the remaining two wins we need to progress to the second round, remember that now is the time that the Marlies need butts in seats cheering them on. Just 14 more wins to go and every voice counts!
You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Oh, What a Feeling!!!!
As the 2008-2009 regular season winds down, I wanted to take a chance to look back on the season that was, and next week, look ahead to 2009-2010. This has been a remarkable year for the Marlies and one that will go down in the record books!
All-Star
Defensemen Jaime Sifers played in his first-ever All-Star Game in Worcester in January.
Player Accolades
With a talented roster filled with players who did great things on an off the ice, we won:
AHL Player of the Week – Tim Stapleton (February)
AHL Player of the Month – Jiri Tlusty (February)
Specialty Man of the Year – Darryl Boyce (April)
Team Records
We set some pretty exciting team records this year:
Most Consecutive Home Wins
January 30 – We took our 7th straight home win to set a franchise record.
Most Team Goals in a Single Game
Nobody will ever forget being at the Grand Rapids game on Sunday February 8th when we won 10-5, setting a record for the most goals in a single game. Tim Stapleton got his first hat trick in the AHL, Deveaux got his second, and Tlusty chipped in with 4 assists. This really set-off the magic of February with Stapleton and Tlusty in what has to be one of the most deadly lines in the league. Stapleton set a record of 4 goals in a single game to set a franchise record (now surpassed!)
Most Player Goals in a Game
Jiri Tlusty lit up the goal lights like a pinball machine in what can only be described as February Fever with a 5 goal night against the Providence Bruins on February 18th breaking Stapleton’s 10-day old franchise record and setting an AHL season high.
Player Performances
Although the Marlies have really had an up and down year (and the transactions tend to show just how up and down it was), we’ve had a tonne player transactions between the Marlies and the Leafs this year. Notables were the performances of Tlusty, Stapleton, Oreskovic, Mitchell, Williams, Deveaux, Devereaux, and Ondrus.
This year also marked netminder Justin Pogge’s first regular season NHL games with some big wins and some big losses.
Closing Out the Season
The Marlies need a big 5 games if they want to make the playoffs this year and they need Rochester to really end their abysmal year with a bang at the expense of the Syracuse Crunch. Pick-up your tickets. Attend the games. Get loud and proud. This has been an incredible year. Although they have taken the Pollock award to this year’s North Division champions in Winnipeg and it wasn’t the season we thought it would be, it has been one that I will never forget!
You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.
All-Star
Defensemen Jaime Sifers played in his first-ever All-Star Game in Worcester in January.
Player Accolades
With a talented roster filled with players who did great things on an off the ice, we won:
AHL Player of the Week – Tim Stapleton (February)
AHL Player of the Month – Jiri Tlusty (February)
Specialty Man of the Year – Darryl Boyce (April)
Team Records
We set some pretty exciting team records this year:
Most Consecutive Home Wins
January 30 – We took our 7th straight home win to set a franchise record.
Most Team Goals in a Single Game
Nobody will ever forget being at the Grand Rapids game on Sunday February 8th when we won 10-5, setting a record for the most goals in a single game. Tim Stapleton got his first hat trick in the AHL, Deveaux got his second, and Tlusty chipped in with 4 assists. This really set-off the magic of February with Stapleton and Tlusty in what has to be one of the most deadly lines in the league. Stapleton set a record of 4 goals in a single game to set a franchise record (now surpassed!)
Most Player Goals in a Game
Jiri Tlusty lit up the goal lights like a pinball machine in what can only be described as February Fever with a 5 goal night against the Providence Bruins on February 18th breaking Stapleton’s 10-day old franchise record and setting an AHL season high.
Player Performances
Although the Marlies have really had an up and down year (and the transactions tend to show just how up and down it was), we’ve had a tonne player transactions between the Marlies and the Leafs this year. Notables were the performances of Tlusty, Stapleton, Oreskovic, Mitchell, Williams, Deveaux, Devereaux, and Ondrus.
This year also marked netminder Justin Pogge’s first regular season NHL games with some big wins and some big losses.
Closing Out the Season
The Marlies need a big 5 games if they want to make the playoffs this year and they need Rochester to really end their abysmal year with a bang at the expense of the Syracuse Crunch. Pick-up your tickets. Attend the games. Get loud and proud. This has been an incredible year. Although they have taken the Pollock award to this year’s North Division champions in Winnipeg and it wasn’t the season we thought it would be, it has been one that I will never forget!
You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.
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