The Marlies played their third game against the Hamilton Hammers on Sunday and walked away with a sweep of that series, winning all three games, though it wasn't domination, the games were all tight, the Marlies even having to win one in a shootout. Nevertheless, it is a great start to the season for the team after their first game was a loss to the Rochester Americans.

First, my apologies for the delay in this recap, as Thanksgiving and travel for work got in the way, but let's round up quickly what happened on Sunday. Coming off a 5-3 win on Friday night, and a previous win against the Hammers the prior weekend, the team came together again to win one more game, heading to a 3-1 record in the first four games of the season.

The forward lines were largely the same on Sunday, except on defence where Marshall Rifai and Ben Danford were out, swapped for Blake Smith and Vinny Borgesi. This was because Rifai was called up to the Leafs on that day. Samuel Hlavaj had his second start of the season in goal.

The key to the win here in the game was Brandon Brisson who had his first ever professional hockey hat trick.

Here's goal #1.

Here's goal #2. Of the three Brisson goals, I love this one the most where Brisson comes out of nowhere and gets a perfect pass form Letterri to get the puck on his stick and he fires it right into the goal, though it turns out it didn't go right onto his stick, more on that below in the interview with Brisson.

And here's goal #3 which puts the Marlies back up by one after the Hammers got two back to tie the game. This was a turning point in the game from which the Marlies would not look back.

The Marlies picked up two empty net goals as the Hammers made a futile attempt at a comeback. Final score was 5-3 for Toronto, but all the goals that were not on an empty net were by Brandon Brisson.

Post Game Comments

Steve Sullivan

On winning three in a row against the Hammers and where is the state of mind of the team with this successful start to the season:

Steve Sullivan: I don't think we played complete hockey games yet. I think we've seen some stretches where we've been really, really good and some stretches where we got away from it. So for us, it's trying to kind of get to that point where we can kind of put a complete hockey game together.

But being able to teach after wins is a lot easier than having to teach after losses, so the mood in the room is good. The players are understanding, they're seeing some success, so that's really nice for them to get. And then, you know, we'll just keep working at, you know, progressing day-to-day.

On Brendan Brisson:

Steve Sullivan: Brendan, yeah. He's been really good for us. He's a natural goal scorer. He's an offensive threat. Every time he's on the ice, he's dangerous, and you know what, he's been—and I loved his compete today—he really, really worked hard on pucks, he won his battles, and then he just has a knack for the back of the net. So, really good for us.

We're going to need some goal scorers on our team. We're going to need people to step up. We've lost a lot of goals with Nylander so we're going to have to have people replace them and he looks to be like one right now.

On Brisson's second goal:

Steve Sullivan: It was great. I mean, I think a lot of his goals were very similar in regards to his timing, to hit the pocket at the right time, um, not being, you know, too eager. You know, bought some ice, took some time, got to the right area, and then, yeah, Vinni made a great pass on that one, and it was a great shot, too.

On Noah Chadwick:

Steve Sullivan: I've had Chatty for a little bit at the beginning of the year last year, and I thought he had a slow start to the beginning of the year, but I think every single day that he's been coming, it's been better and better. I like him a lot. I think there's a lot of upside to him. I think he just continues to get reps and working with Mark Giordano is going to be really, really beneficial for him on a day-to-day basis. His development path is right where it should be.

On Sammy Hlavarj:

Steve Sullivan: There's a guy I didn't know anything about him coming in. As a coach, I'm really fortunate because both my goalies give me the warm and fuzzies behind the bench. I just feel like, no matter how dangerous the other team's chance is going to be, I feel like our goalies are going to make a save. It's been outstanding and Sammy was really good for us. He's calming in the net.

On playing the Belleville Senators for the first time this season, back-to-back in a home-away series:

Steve Sullivan: We've got a week to kind of prepare for them. So we'll do a deep dive, you know. We'll do a review here the next couple days with this game, and then we're going to start doing a deep dive to see what changes they made from last year. They've always been a hard-working team, so it'll be interesting to see what have they changed from last year. Obviously with Travis Green being the coach of Ottawa, they shouldn't be making too many changes, but we'll take a peek this week and see where they're at.

Brandon Brisson

On how he feels getting the hat trick:

Brandon Brisson: Yeah, I feel good. My first one, so it was cool. But it's cool to get the win, and they played hard, so it wasn't an easy game. They kept fighting back, so getting the win was cool, and a couple of nice plays from the guys I was out there with to find me, so good on them, too.

On his second goal and how it was set up:

Brandon Brisson: All the guys go out early for practice, stay out after for practice, and we work on a lot of those things. I always know Vinni's going to be looking to make a play if he doesn't have a shot, so I'm just trying to jump into those areas and be ready to shoot.

I think that one hit my knee and then came to my stick, so I shot it low blocker and it went in. I'm just always trying to be an option because I know they can find those pockets. Even on the third one, he came up and made that backhand pass to me, and no one was really near me. It's fun playing with those guys and just being ready to shoot because they can find me there.

On how well he fit in with this group so quickly:

Yeah, it's a great group of guys. I probably speak for all the new guys—obviously, they won last year, and you can see why. There's such a close group of guys outside the rink, and the way we play, people can probably see that. We're a pretty close family there, so it's been awesome so far, and everyone's made the transition very easy. The way we play is fun, too, so it makes everyone look good when we're buzzing around like that and confident in our game. Any game we're in, we're in it, so it's been awesome so far.

Logan Shaw

On what the mood is like right now with the team after three straight wins:

Logan Shaw: I mean, it's good. We're in good spirits. I think, you know, we're still learning new systems and a new coach, but we have a great group of guys and we're just going to try to get better every day.

On how they won all three games but they were all close:

Logan Shaw: I think we are a great team. We just have to prove to ourselves that we are. So far this year, I think we've played certain periods [well], but we haven't played full games.

We're still learning. I think it's a process, right? Yes, we win the game, but then you break it down and look at the first period—one of our best periods of the year. Second period, we lay off them, they bring it to us a little bit. And then the third period, we bounce back a little bit, we shut it down, you know, let them tie it up, but then we jump back and get the lead.

So it's a process throughout the whole game. For us, it's how do we get better next game to have, you know, a more consistent game? Maybe it's not the absolute best game that we've ever played, but it's more consistent throughout the whole thing. It takes time to get there, and another week of practice, but I think we're in a good spot.

On what he thinks of Brisson:

Logan Shaw: I think he's awesome. Great guy, which, you know, kind of goes further than anything else. His play on the ice is spectacular. I think, you know, we're still finding chemistry together—me, him, and Vinni, but he's a shooter, and he's great at it. He can find those little soft areas in the ice and make himself open, and once he gets that puck, you know it's going to the back of the net.

On the weekend series against the Senators:

Logan Shaw: They're always the same kind of team—they play hard. Their work ethic is always up there, you know, at the top in the league, and they've got some skill this year. They're going to be a tough team this year to play. You play them ten times, and it's, you know, who can do the same thing over and over and over and keep doing it the right way for as long as you can?

The games against Belleville are always tight, so for us, it's just about having a good week of work and making sure we're ready to go on Saturday.

Subsequent Events

Forgive the auditor-speak here, but 'tis the season if you work in, or are subject to that business. We do have one here you have probably already heard about, but for those who missed it, the Leafs made a trade with the Canucks sending Jacob Quillan west and bringing Aatu Räty east to Toronto.

Maple Leafs trade Jacob Quillan for Aatu Räty
A swap of centres.
PPP LeafsCathy Squires

Next Games

The Marlies have a home-away series this weekend against the Belleville Senators, with the Marlies playing in Belleville on Saturday, and in Toronto on Sunday at 4:00 p.m..

A special note for anyone thinking of going to the Marlies game on Sunday, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon is happening in the morning and it won't really wrap up until about 3:00 p.m., but I'm sure there will be a backlog of traffic and disruptions to surface TTC routes from a massive amount of diversions. If you are coming down from the east side of the City, this is a game where getting to a GO train station and riding to Exhibition is probably the best option.

Here is the Sunday game highlights pack.

Here are the very early North Division Standings sorted by points%.

Toronto Marlies