It's Wednesday night, there's no Leafs game on, the Marlies game is on 640 AM here, and there is a Habs/Flyers game to trash on TSN. Scrivens is in net, and Colborne is trying to continue his point streak.

So if anyone is interested in continuing the hockey convo, or wants some more advanced stats discussion feel free to continue in the comments section.

Update: Kyle Cicerella, the Marlies reporter for AM640, reported that the team is not calling it a concussion yet but are saying that he had stitches on his eyebrow and 'had his bell rung'. Great. 

In tonight's 6-5 win by the Toronto Marlies over the Rochester Americans, Florida Panthers "prospect" Eric Selleck laid a garbage hit on Leafs prospect Joe Colborne. You might recognize him as the player that came to Toronto in the Tomas Kaberle trade otherwise known as a player with a future. Eric Selleck, in addition to not being fit to carry the name of Magnum P.I., is a filler player with no future in the NHL. The referees rightly assessed a five minute major for interference - but that never happens right? -  and sent him to an early shower.

The hit was atrocious but what is worse is that these kind of hits aren't going anywhere. 

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The Toronto Marlies have announced their 2011 Clear Day List. This is essentially their playoff roster. The following players will be part of the squad that will compete for the Calder Cup if they make the playoffs:

Jussi Rynnas, Ben Scrivens, Keith Aulie, Mike Brennan, Fabian Brunnstrom, Joe Colborne, Jeff Cowan, Josh Engel, Alex Foster, Simon Gysbers, Ryan Hamilton, Christian Hanson, Justin Hodgman, Korbinian Holzer, Nazem Kadri, Matt Lashoff, Juraj Mikus, Marcel Mueller, Danny Richmond, Greg Scott, Aaron Voros, and Mike Zigomanis.

There a few familia names missing from that list including Joey Crabb, Darryl Boyce, and James Reimer. Crabb and Boyce are no longer exempt from waivers so I would imagine that that is one of the main considerations in keeping them from the playoffs. Leafs' GM Burke had previously said that he wanted Aulie and Reimer back with the Marlies so I'm surprised that Reimer isn't on the list. My initial thought is that he's not on the list because the Leafs have already made a decision on him as a pending RFA (staying, of course) and want a better look at Scrivens and Rynnas. He should be waiver eligible by my reading of the rules but I'm following up on that.

So the Marlies topped the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (1st in the AHL) by a score of 2-1 on Friday night, and Nazem Kadri was easily the most noticeable player on the ice from either team, despite not registering a point.

He was a plus 1 on the night, but his presence was felt all over the ice by the Penguins - largely as a result of his extremely physical play.  He managed to dodge a hit and dump the opposition player in the bench in the 1st.  He got riled up near the end of the 2nd and solidly punched the guy in the face in response.  Then most noticeably he laid a huge hit on Penguin D man Joey Mormina, who outweighs him by about 30-40 lbs.

After Mormina returned to his skates, he attempted to return the favour on the much smaller Kadri, only to end up flat on his back side all over again.  It was an impressive physical demonstration of where Kadri's strength is at, and how he's improving in a wide number of areas of the game beyond just his offensive contributions.

Check out the video and decide for yourself if Kadri's approaching the levels of physicality we expected when Burke drafted him 7th overall.  Follow me after the jump for a further update on the rest of the Marlies.

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Today's AHL matchup is being aired live on CBC nationally.  Hopefully Glenn Healy isn't sitting in on this one.  The Marlies look to continue their recent dominance of the Moose, as they have won 3 in a row over their North Division opposition.

The Moose have now only won 2 in their last 9 games, and are in a pretty serious tail spin.  Their offense has dried up, and they don't seem to have the parts to fix it with the likes of Hodgson unavailable.  Sergei Shirokov and Bill Sweatt lead the way up front for Manitoba, and Shirokov only has 1 goal in the last month.  He has 9 assists in that stretch though so he's still contributing.  Sweatt only has 1 goal and 2 assists in his last 10 games, so his dry spell may have more to do with the team's struggles.  Pay attention as he may look to break out of his slump in a strong way.

Jonas Gustavsson gets yet another start between the pipes for the Marlies as Dallas Eakins looks to get his game going:

"I’m happy with the games I get here and hopefully I can bring it if I’m going to play up in the NHL. But right now, it just feels good to get a couple starts, play with the Marlies for a short while and help the team improve in the standings."

-Jonas Gustavsson after yesterday's 3-1 victory

The Monster is now 3-0-1 with a 1.17 GAA and .950 SV%. That's the highest SV% registered by any goalie in the AHL this season (admittedly in only 4 games).  He's probably a bit beyond the AHL at this point, but it's good to see him get his confidence back.

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Baby Buds vs. Baby Canucks in a different version of an All Canadian matchup today at the Ricoh in the first of back to back matchups.  This is yet another chance for the Marlies to make a push for the Calder Cup playoffs as the Moose are currently 2 points ahead of them with 2 games in hand.

Look at this as an opportunity for the Marlies to continue what they did in delivering back to back victories over Manitoba in Winnipeg last week.  Manitoba is really falling apart recently, and has only managed to win 2 games in an 8 game stretch against divisional opponents.  Toronto is in the midst of a hot stretch, currently sitting at 6-3-0-1 in their last 10, and unbeaten in regulation in the last 3 games.

Nazem Kadri and Joe Colborne will hopefully continue some excellent play up front, while Mike Zigomanis continues to provide veteran leadership. Gustavsson should be getting the start, so hopefully he continues to get back to what works well for him and salvages this season in Blue and White.

Keep up the good work Kids!

The Marlies are at home tonight to face the Hershey Bears.  Hershey just signed Washington's 2009, 2nd round draft pick (55th overall) Dmitri Orlov to an amateur try out contract.  Orlov was an Alternate Captain, playing D for the Gold Medal winning Russians at the WJC in Buffalo this past January.

Hershey are back to back Calder Cup Champs, and currently sit 2nd in the AHL Eastern Division with 74 points, 9 ahead of the Marlies.  They're Washington's farm team, and they're pretty damn skilled.  Jonas Gustavsson gets the start against Brayden Holtby (the kid that shut out the Leafs earlier this season in Washington).

Colborne and Kadri look to continue scoring streaks, and Christian Hanson is back in the lineup on Colborne's wing. Have at it kids.

Toronto playing another home game on Family Day.  1:00 PM start so we're 5 minutes into the 1st at this point.  Watch to see Joe Colborne continue to light it up, and push the play of Nazem Kadri.

Andrew Engelage is back in goal, and the Marlies are looking for their 2nd straight win.

Oh and RYAN HOLLWEG PLAYS FOR SAN ANTONIO.  Just saying. Fun times.