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.