Over the last few months, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke has used the word "truculence" time and time again to describe the disagreeable disposition he wants his team to display.

So far, not so good for Burke's Leafs, who are off to a cover-your-eyes awful 0-6-1 start to the NHL campaign, much to the consternation of the Toronto fans and media.

But if Burke could have watched Tuesday night's AHL game between the Toronto Marlies and the Abbotsford Heat, it might have brought a smile to the GM's face. A little bit of truculence went a long way for the Maple Leafs' farm team, as they out-muscled the Heat en route to a 3-1 victory at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.

"They came out hitting, and we didn't answer them," Heat winger David Van der Gulik said afterward. "We played like boys tonight, and they were a team of men."

The Marlies were easily the most physical team the Heat have seen this season, and they set the tone early, dishing out a series of thumping body checks that left more than a few Abbotsford players with an unwanted eye-level view of the ice surface.

By the time the dust had settled, the two teams had combined for 105 minutes in penalties – including 10 fighting majors – and the Heat had sustained their first regulation-time loss in franchise history.

Marlies centre Christian Hanson, whose father David starred in the 1977 cult classic film Slap Shot, did his old man proud with a goal, a pair of assists, and a fight with Heat centre John Armstrong.

Afterward, the younger Hanson revealed that he'd received a post-game text message from dear old dad.

"It said four words: Gordie Howe Hat Trick," said Hanson, who earned first star honours.

Hanson opened the scoring at 4:54 of the first period on a Marlies power play. Heat goalie Leland Irving lost track of the puck when a shot from the perimetre deflected up in the air, and the puck landed right in front of Hanson, who whacked it through Irving's legs.

Less than two minutes later, Marlies forward Dale Mitchell made it 2-0, when he took advantage of an odd bounce off the end boards to stuff the puck past Irving.

Mikael Backlund cut the Marlies lead in half at 2:12 of the second when he chipped his own rebound over Toronto goalie Adam Munro on the power play, but Jiri Tlusty restored the two-goal lead at 8:40 when he ripped home a wrist shot from the slot.

In the third period, Marlies defenceman Andy Rogers earned a one-way ticket to the showers after crushing Heat centre Jason Jaffray into the side boards long after the puck had left the vicinity. Rogers was assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct.

In the melee immediately after the hit, Van der Gulik – all five-foot-11, 185 pounds of him – launched himself into the six-foot-five, 225-pound Rogers.

"It was a dirty hit," Van der Gulik explained. "I'm not much, but I tried to knock him over and show him that if you do that, you have to answer to someone."

The Heat and Marlies renew hostilities on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre) and Van der Gulik issued a post-game challenge to his teammates to match the Marlies' physicality.

"Obviously tonight was a real physical game with some fights, and I think it's great – I think that's what hockey's all about," he said. "I think we've got some guys who might not want to play like that or something, and that's a problem for us. We're going to have to step up tomorrow night, and I think we're going to need everyone ready to play that physical type of game."

As for the Marlies, Hanson said that Burke's much-publicized "truculence" doctrine has trickled down to all corners of the Maple Leafs organization.

"You see the type of team we have, and we're pretty skilled, but at the same time we're hard-working and really physical," he said. "We're going to come out and bang bodies, and if we have to drop the gloves, like you saw tonight, we're more than willing to do it."

ICE CHIPS:

n Calgary Flames GM Darryl Sutter and Leafs senior VP of hockey operations Dave Nonis were in the building on Tuesday to look in on their prospects.

n Tuesday's attendance was 2,703.