“We were kind of expecting [the fights] at the start of the game, and [our players] did a great job. They gave us momentum. On the next shift that we actually started playing hockey, Vinnie (Lettieri) and I went out there and just fed off the energy that the boys gave us, and we got one early.”
– Bo Groulx
“From what happened in the last game, I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought our guys handled it. No one got hurt, so that’s a good thing. I think it kind of motivated our group. It was a big kill after that, and it created some momentum for us. Credit to the guys for dealing with it and then winning a hockey game.”
– John Gruden
This was as wild a start to an American Hockey League as I’ve witnessed, with three fights in 15 seconds. Springfield head coach Steve Ott dressed Kale Kessy (over 1,000 career penalty minutes) and sent him out for the opening faceoff for one reason: The Thunderbirds wanted revenge for Marshall Rifai’s extra punches in a tilt against Simon Robertson when the teams last clashed. Robertson hasn’t played since, and Springfield wanted blood despite Rifiai’s one-game suspension.
Pure chaos for our affiliate friends up north between the Toronto Marlies and Springfield Thunderbirds!
3 fights in the first 15 seconds of the game
Rifai, Thrun and Smith all drop the mitts. pic.twitter.com/oSvylVxQsK
— Cincinnati Clones Zone (@ClonesZone) February 7, 2026
First Period
John Gruden obliged Steve Ott, sending out Rifai to start the game. Rifai and Kessy dropped the gloves, and Rifai unsuccessfully attempted a Superman punch. It wasn’t much of a tilt, but the score should have been settled.
Except it wasn’t. Springfield was seemingly hell-bent on turning this game into a brawl as Dylan Peterson went after Henry Thrun after the next puck drop. The Toronto defenseman obliged and acquitted himself well against another notable face-puncher.
The Marlies were officially pissed off, and Blake Smith took matters into his own hands at the next puck drop by taking a run at Springfield’s leader, Chris Wagner. It was basically a huge F U to the Thunderbirds, with notice sent that the Marlies were done with Springfield’s nonsense. After the minor line brawl was sorted, Smith was informed his game was done.
When the game finally got underway with some four-on-four action, the Marlies struck immediately. Nice interplay between Bo Groulx and Noah Chadwick created space for Vinni Lettieri in the right circle, where the Minnesota native wired his shot far side past Vadim Zherenko.
Toronto then needed to kill a three-minute major penalty with only three defensemen at their disposal. Ryan Tverberg was deployed on defense on the PK and did a fine job. Artur Akhtyamov made a sharp blocker save to keep the Toronto lead intact.
The Marlies‘ goaltender made three more key stops before the midway mark — on Thomas Bordeleau, Hugh McGing, and Wagner — as Springfield didn’t take advantage of their early chances.
The Thunderbirds were left rueing those missed opportunities with 6:35 left when Toronto struck for a second time. Groulx executed the offensive-zone entry and dished off to Logan Shaw, who, from a few feet inside the blue line, opted to shoot. With plenty of traffic unsighting Zhederov, the puck found the net before the goaltender knew anything about it.
The Marlies made it 3-0 just 83 seconds later. There was a tinge of irony that the goal-scorer, Michael Pezzetta, was the player Springfield conveniently chose not to engage during the early shenanigans. Reese Johnson won the battle below the goal line after Chadwick kept the cycle alive. Johnson produced a beauty feed out to Pezzetta, who produced a sweet one-time finish.
With less than 15 minutes played, Springfield switched goaltenders in an attempt to stop the bleeding after conceding three goals on five shots. Toronto killed off a second penalty thanks to another 10-bell save from Akhtyamov, who robbed Dillon Dube from point-blank range.
Second Period
The team exchanged power plays in the first six minutes of the middle frame without changing the scoreline. The Marlies went close via Johnson (shorthanded) and Lettieri as they looked to pad their lead against a desperate opponent.
Toronto probably should have put the game to bed, but they couldn’t find a way past Romanov. Tverberg (x2), Lettieri, Groulx, and Johnson didn’t bury Grade-A chances before the Marlies suffered a late-period slip-up.
Toronto appeared to switch off in the final seconds of the frame when dealing with a defensive zone faceoff. Juraj Pekarcik’s shot missed wide to Akhtyamov’s left, where the puck bounced off the backboards and out the other side to a former Marlie. Calle Rosén squeezed the puck by Akhtyamov before the netminder could fully reset, giving Springfield a small foothold in the game.
Third Period
The Marlies were completely dominant in the third period, never giving Springfield a sniff of a comeback. It took the Thunderbirds nine minutes to record their first shot of the final frame.
Dakota Mermis and Luke Haymes drew good saves from Romanov, and William Villenueve struck the post before Toronto finally padded the lead with eight minutes remaining. The young guns connected on the power play, where Haymes deftly redirected Jacob Quillan’s clever slap pass.
An early pull of the netminder by Springfield during four-on-four action backfired when Groulx slotted home into the empty net from his own zone to seal the deal.
The game ended with more cheap shots. It was disappointing to witness such suddenly lenient officiating after Smith was kicked out of the game earlier. Quinton Burns delivered a cross-check from behind on Marc Johnstone away from the puck and proceeded to throw two cheap shots to the head while Johnstone regathered his balance. This came after Peterson (who fought Thrun) got away with a plethora of cheap shots after the whistle throughout the game. Thankfully, it’s the last occasion that the two teams will meet this season.
Post Game Notes
– The Marlies enter the All-Star break with a record of 23-15-7 and sit third in the North Division. An eight-game point streak (4-0-4) has consolidated a playoff berth for now, but there is a huge incentive to finish third and avoid the play-in round (4th v 5th). Just a single point currently separates third and fifth place.
– A tenth multi-point haul of the season for Bo Groulx (1G/2A) takes him to 39 points (21G/18A) this season, matching his total from the 2022-23 campaign in 19 fewer games.
– Noah Chadwick registered a pair of assists and took on a lot of responsibility in the first period, given the lack of defensemen available. A mature and responsible performance from the rookie included a second multi-point haul in three games.
– Captain Logan Shaw broke a five-game skid with his 15th goal of the season. His shots-per-game average is way down, but even at this stage of the season, his shooting percentage is way up at 19.5%.
– For the first time this season, Luke Haymes has scored in consecutive games. It’s the weakest part of his game offensively, but he continues to go to the dirty areas of the ice to find goals.
– Artur Akhtyamov turned aside 29 shots to record his 16th win. Making 15 saves in the opening frame paved the way for this victory as Springfield couldn’t gain a foothold in the game.
– Saturday’s lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Shaw – Lettieri
Nylander – Quillan – Valis
Barbolini – Haymes – Tverberg
Pezzetta – Johnstone – Johnson
Defensemen
Thrun – Chadwick
Rifai – Mermis
Smith – Villeneuve
Goaltenders
Akhtyamov
Peksa
