Ah, the Boxing Day Classic, followed up with a rematch in Belleville. It's a fine tradition in the AHL North Division, and the Marlies made the most of it winning both games, a 3-0 shutout on Boxing Day followed by a 4-3 win on Saturday. The wins keep the Marlies at the top of the North Division.

The Roster

Dennis Hildeby got both starts, and credit for the shutout on Boxing Day. The roster changes and moves from the Leafs reunited the line of Grebenkin-Minten-Nylander on Boxing Day, though they were held completely off the score sheet in that game other than the empty net goal by Minten. Minten was bumped up to the top line between Steeves and Abruzzese for Saturday, but still didn't get a point. That move was to cover the space vacated by Logan Shaw who was recruited by Hockey Canada to play in the annual Spengler Cup tournament in Switzerland.

Kyle Clifford also returned from injury for these games, though Zach Solow is still out.

Boxing Day

Well it was one interesting game. The officials maybe were grumpy and didn't like working the day after Christmas because they were grinches and called 19 minor penalties through the game.

It was actually ridiculous at times what was being called, but you have to play with the hand you are dealt. Jacob Quillan said they simply stuck to the process regardless of whether on the power play or the penalty kill, saying "just keep going, there's nothing you can do, the refs are out of our control." He still managed to get a goal in the game.

The team persevered through this unusual game and won it 3-0 with the following three goals, two on the power play and one on the empty net.

Marlies coach John Gruden said after the game it was difficult to manage the lines in circumstances like this game, but he sticks with his plan to get all lines out on the ice.

"You've got to keep everybody going, and I tried to do my best to do that. It's hard to get everyone going when there's so many special teams, but you know they've got to play, so we try to juggle it to where you might have an older guy with the younger guy, or depending on which side of the ice is for faceoffs you make sure Paré or our guys who take those important draws are out there, but for the most part, regardless our guys understand their job and what their responsibilities are. For them to execute that was impressive."

Saturday

The rematch against the Senators was in Belleville, and while they were able to put a few past Hildeby it was not enough to win. Of note, Jacob Quillan notched another goal in this game.

I will have to ask Todd Crocker about the origin of "right in the snack-o-box" because that one is beyond me.

Another player to note is William Villeneuve, with a goal and two assists over these two games, he's definitely making improvements and developing his game beyond where it was last season.

Next Games

The Marlies now have four home games in a row on January 1, 4, 5, and 8, then they depart on the annual three week Boat Show Road Trip where the Coliseum is literally turned into a miniature lake for people to look at and try out fishing boats they may want to buy.

This year's trip is quite different from past ones for the Marlies, starting in Upstate New York like usual, they will then make a swing through Manitoba, and then go all the way to California where they will have their first ever visits to the Pacific Division teams which have already come all the way to Toronto this season: the Bakersfield Condors (Edmonton Oilers affiliates), the San Jose Barracuda (San Jose Sharks affiliates) and the San Diego Gulls (Anaheim Ducks affiliates).

The trip will end with the start of the AHL All-Star Classic which is hosted this year by the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Seattle Kraken affiliates), so it's a convenient place for the Marlies to be as last season's attendees, Dennis Hildeby and Alex Steeves, had to make a trans-continental flight to the game hosted in San Jose after playing the previous night in Syracuse, New York. Steeves told me they landed at the San Jose airport only about one hour before the event started, but they still made it to the rink on time. There's no word yet on which players will be attending for the Marlies this year, but we know who will be the head coach for the North Division.

Here are the current standings in the North Division sorted by PTS%.

Utica... WYD? 6 wins in 25 games?

Toronto Marlies