According to USA Today's Kevin Allen, two Toronto Maple Leafs prospects have made the cut for Team USA.
2011 draft pick first round pick Tyler Biggs and seventh rounder Garret Sparks are among the 24 players selected for the upcoming Under 20 World Juniors in Ufa, Russia.
The 19 year old Biggs, who was selected 22nd overall, has played well in his first year in the OHL with 15 goals, 18 assists in 34 games for the Oshawa Generals.
Sparks, who was chosen 190th overall, has been a workhorse for the Guelph Storm, with a 2.75 GAA, 18-8-4 record and .917 save percentage in 33 games played.
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The Toronto Marlies recovered from a listless opening twenty minutes and rallied to defeat the St. John’s Ice Caps 4-2 in front of almost 6,000 fans at Ricoh Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
Keith Aucoin was the scoring star of the day, assisting on Toronto’s first three goals and scoring his sixth of the season into an empty net.
Spencer Abbott, Ryan Hamilton and Simon Gysbers also scored for Toronto and Ben Scrivens made 30 saves for his eleventh win of the season.
With the victory, the Marlies record improves to 17-9-1-1 on the year and they move into a first place tie with the Abbotsford Heat for the AHL North division lead.
Raymond Sawada and Ben Maxwell scored for St. John’s(14-16-1-1), who had won four of their last five games coming into this contest.
The first period was dominated by the IceCaps, who outshot Toronto 12-5 and had a distinct territorial advantage. After defenseman Korbinian Holzer flubbed one of the few good Marlies scoring chances of the opening twenty minutes, he took a holding penalty that ushered in the opening goal.
As Holzer was returning to the ice after the man advantage expired, Raymond Sawada deflected blueliner Zach Redmond’s point shot past goalie Scrivens.
Toronto appeared more lively in the second and got on the scoreboard midway through the middle frame Aucoin’s cross ice pass found Abbott, who rifled a shot high over the shoulder of IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale for his second of the season.
The Marlies appeared to take the lead moments later, as the goal light went on after Nicolas Deschamps shot got past Pasquale, but video review found that the puck did not cross the line.
The reprieve did not last long, as Toronto took the lead for good at 16:57 as Jesse Blacker’s shot was deflected by team captain and Marlies’ all-time goal leader Hamilton for his twelfth of the season.
Toronto continued to press throughout the final period and scored an insurance goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation, as Simon Gysbers c rashed the net and buried a loose puck past Pasquale, but that insurance was much needed, as Maxwell narrowed the gap to 3-2 with 2:07 left.
Aucoin sealed the victory with his third goal of the season and fourth point of the night as St. John’s pulled their goalie for a sixth attacker.
The Marlies have enjoyed a high level of success in December, as most of their schedule has been at home. The win over St. John’s improved their record this month to 6-2-1 and they have gone 5-1 at Ricoh Coliseum. Even more impressive is that their level of success has not faltered with the absence of key players Nazem Kadri, Mike Zigomanis and Jake Gardiner.
Toronto will play next on Boxing Day, as they face the Hamilton Bulldogs at the Air Canada Center.
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