Around The AHL: The Toronto Marlies are back

Heavy schedule, light schedule -- the Toronto Marlies just want to play again.

The Marlies will get that opportunity this Saturday afternoon for the first time in 20 days when they welcome the Belleville Senators back to Coca-Cola Coliseum following a lengthy hiatus due to league COVID-19 protocols. Toronto last played on April 10 when the Laval Rocket visited.

Since that visit from the Rocket, the Marlies have been through – and experienced – a lot. And they will be through a lot still to come. That return game against Belleville will start a run of 13 games in 20 days for the Marlies, who saw six games postponed during their April hiatus. Those postponements have pushed the end of Toronto’s regular-season schedule to May 20. Among the wrinkles in the Marlies’ revised calendar is a stretch of four games in five nights, a scheduling remnant from a bygone time in the AHL.