By Mike Cadarette (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: November 7, 2012
Familiarity breeds contempt. It’s an old adage that rings true for many people, but for the Abbotsford Heat and the Toronto Marlies, it’s more along the lines of an unwavering fact.
When the Heat were ousted in game five of the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs by the Marlies last spring, a new chapter emerged in an already rivaling history between the two clubs. On Thursday and Friday, the two teams started where they left off in May, with chippy play, post-whistle shenanigans and an abnormal amount of expletives being exchanged.
“We don’t like each other,” said Heat forward Roman Horak. “It started last year in the playoffs. There’s always a couple [of] nasty shots even before they drop the faceoff . . . but we didn’t back off.
“We don’t like to get punched in the face, so we always try to come back and do the same thing.”
It was that nasty play that has defined the two teams’ relationship with each other. In the latest installment of the rivalry last weekend, the Marlies and the Heat had 35 infractions and over an hour-and-a-half of time spent in the penalty box collectively. They don’t like each other, indeed.
The head coaches of both teams agree there’s a blossoming rivalry – a rivalry that stems largely from two teams that are so similar in their style of play that they butt heads like two alpha males.
“Abbotsford’s a tough team to play against,” said Dallas Eakins, head coach of the Marlies. “They always play hard and when your team is a team that plays like that too it usually ends up with a little extra fireworks.”
“They’re a division rival,” explained Heat head coach Troy Ward, “[and] from a player’s perspective there’s still some emotion there from last year.”
That emotion Ward is referring to comes from getting kicked out of the second round of the playoffs after a very successful season that saw the Heat achieve a franchise record 42 wins. That disappointing ending to the season clearly came out in their aggressive play versus the Marlies last weekend.
It’s safe to say that while the two teams leave it all on the ice physically, the Heat have had the upper hand in the win column in regular season play. Over the last four years, the Heat are 13-6-1-2 against the Maple Leafs’ affiliate. What’s more, they boast a 9-1-0-2 record against the Marlies at the AESC.
Those winning ways continued last weekend for the Heat as they won both games in convincing fashion, exacting a measure of revenge for cutting their season short last May.
On Thursday evening, the Heat shut out the Marlies 3-0, breaking an AHL record in the process. Steve McCarthy opened the scoring for the Heat in the third period on a beautiful shorthanded goal. However, his goal was overshadowed by what would come next. On the ensuing neutral zone faceoff, Ben Street chopped the puck forward, which arched high through the air and landed in front of an oblivious Ben Scrivens beating him five hole. That goal set an AHL record for the fastest consecutive goals by the same team – only three seconds apart.
The next night, Heat sophomore Roman Horak stole the show by scoring a natural hat trick and led his team to a 4-2 victory. Horak currently leads the AHL in goal scoring with 10 goals in nine games. He is also tied with fellow teammate Sven Baertschi for third place in AHL points with 11.
To add to the Marlies frustration this weekend, they were unable to pick up a single powerplay goal on 12 opportunities. In fact, that result is hardly a surprise considering the Heat are maintaining a league leading penalty kill of 98 per cent (or 48-of-49 attempts).
Don’t expect the rivalry to end any time soon either. This season the Heat moved back into the North Division, which houses the Marlies. Not only do the two clubs face each other seven times this season, but they could be standing in each other’s way of getting home ice advantage, or worse, making the playoffs altogether.
