Marlies Schedules and 3-in-3 Sets

Five games into the 2012-13 season, and the Toronto Marlies have completed their first three-games-in-three nights sets. They line up six times over the season in 3-in-3 sets, a fairly low number when considering the Providence Bruins play an AHL high 17 sets, while their provincial rivals, Hamilton Bulldogs, in a league low, four – all after March 1.

Below is a look at the Marlies schedule, with the focus on 3-in-3 sets, and some distance traveled. Distances and schedules are complicated by long distance bus travel instead of late night charters, taking it’s toll over the course of a season. Proper conditioning can make a difference late in games, and game sets, especially on the road.

 

The Marlies have two sets of 3-in-3 where they are the road team, once early and once late.

 

The first 3-in-3 featured the first of two home-and home sets among the six 3-in-3 nights  versus the Bulldogs, traveling 63 km to Copps before the return affair at Ricoh, before hosting the Griffins. The second set has all three games on the road.

Toronto flies to Houston to start their second set, travel 298.3 km to Texas for the following day’s game, and another 158.7 km to complete the set in San Antonio.

 

Four of the six sets are completed by December 2, followed by a 40 game span without any sets.

 

During that time, the Marlies are on the road for 15 games and play within a days gap in 11 games, eight at home. The average gap in days in the 29 remaining games is 3.3 days. Six of nine games in January are on the road, a contrast of 16 of 19 at home in six weeks starting February, with one road games 63 km, one hour away in Hamilton. 

 

The first 3-in-3 set – after wandering 40 games into the schedule – is on the road starting in Chicago, and 130.5 km away to Milwaukee, and then a third game 354.9 km to Peoria for a 5:05 start.

 

This series has a strange round-robin quality in that all three teams and the Marlies play a 3-in-3 exclusively amongst each other.

 

 

The final set begins in Rochester on a Friday night 7:05 start, and travels 266.9 km to a 3 pm start for both weekend games against St. John’s.

 

Of course, the Marlies also line up against a few teams in their three-game sets. They’ve already played the first of two games where the Monsters are playing their third game in three nights against divisional rivals Lake Erie, a 4-0 loss. The next meeting is in December.