17 – 13 = 24 x 1

I have always been bad at math. In fact, every math teacher I’ve ever had agreed to give me the sympathy 50% on condition that I promised never to take math again! That’s probably why when I think and talk about hockey, the stats don’t matter……its how I’m left feeling at the end of the game that does.

At the start of the season, I commented that the key to the Marlies playing well this year would be their ability to come together a team. With lots of new faces on the roster and the possibility of big changes that would impact the Marlies over the course of the season, it seemed pretty obvious to me that gelling as a team would be critical to the their success. Wirh a 1-1 record this weekend and another win on Wednesday, we learned something important:

17 Marlies goals
– 13 opponent goals


----------------------------


24 players playing as 1 team

The Marlies are starting to play as a team, act like a team, be a team!. Whether it is playing on the ice after the team practice, the guys hanging out together at the Hockey Hall of Fame during the season seat holders meet and greet, or players like Jiri Tlusty and Jaime Sifers with multiple assists that helped Andre Deveaux and Tim Stapleton get hat tricks during Sunday’s thrashing of the Griffins. Even Alex Foster (who scored 2 goals in the 10-5 win over Grand Rapids), when asked about how it felt to score 2 and not be one of the 3 stars recognized that it doesn’t matter. What matters isn’t your +/- percentage or what others rank your worth as player to be. Accepting the responsibility to come out onto the ice prepared to play as a team is what wins you games and at the end of the day, that’s what is most important. The Marlies players understand this and are living it out each day. You can feel the “team spirit” permeating through the walls, the ice, the bench, and the players themselves!

If there is one thing that you can count on this season, it is that the Marlies are not out of the race for the Calder Cup. As we get closer and closer to the playoffs, the Marlies are going to be a force to be reckoned with! Brian Burke said two weeks ago to the season seat holder base at the Ricoh Coliseum that he believed that winning is a trait that can be learned and it is so very true. There is an underground movement afoot that is being led by the Marlies players who not only want to play, but more importantly they want to win; the players themselves can see the light at the end of the tunnel; that if they play well in the AHL and win Calder Cup titles, sipping champagne from Lord Stanley’s mug (as a Toronto Maple Leaf of course) isn’t that far off in the distance!

Strap on your seatbelts because we’re in for an exciting couple of months, particularly as we head towards the NHL trade deadline. It will certainly be a season to remember!