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 North Bay Battalion

Battalion Puts Colts out to Pasture Again

April 19, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - For the second consecutive season, the North Bay Battalion has eliminated the Barrie Colts in the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

The Battalion, its offence bookended by goals from Mathew Santos, defeated Barrie 7-5 Saturday night to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Oshawa Generals.

Third-seeded North Bay gave up the first goal, took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission and, after second-seeded Barrie closed to 5-3 late in the middle period, grabbed momentum again on Nick Moutrey's power-play goal 21 seconds into the third.

Kevin Labanc scored two goals, the first during a two-man advantage, to get the Colts to 6-5 with 3:44 to play, but Santos beat goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood at 18:32 to end Barrie's season in five games of the best-of-seven conference semifinal.

The shaky Blackwood, who had played well through four games, looked like anything but the top-rated North American-based goalie for the National Hockey League Draft in June, giving up the seven goals on 36 shots.

While no game was decided by more than two goals, the Battalion defence shut down the ballyhooed Barrie offence, paced by Joseph Blandisi, Labanc and Andrew Mangiapane, all of whom had at least 104 points in the regular season, when the Colts took the Central Division title from the reigning champion Troops on the basis of more wins after they tied at 85 points.

In the series, Blandisi and Mangiapane each managed two goals and three assists for five points, and Labanc had two goals and two assists for four points.

In contrast, Moutrey led North Bay with four goals and three assists for seven points, while Nick Paul had three goals and four assists for seven points. Mike Amadio scored two goals and added four assists for six points, and Ryan Kujawinski and Brenden Miller each had five points, Kujawinski with three goals and defenceman Miller with two.

Rather than for their scoring, Blandisi and Brendan Lemieux, who had 60 points in 57 regular-season games, drew attention to themselves for discreditable conduct. Blandisi received a diving penalty in the series opener, a 3-2 Barrie win at home, and Lemieux matched it in the last game, also receiving a game misconduct for abuse of an official.

Lemieux took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in Game 2, a 3-2 Battalion win at Barrie, and Blandisi drew the same with a misconduct in the finale.

Their late banishments in the series closer could be seen to have excused the pair from skipping the traditional handshakes.

"I think one of the things we struggled with all season was discipline, and it came back to bite us a few times," the Colts' Jonathan Laser told the Barrie Examiner.

North Bay gained the series lead with a 4-2 home-ice victory in Game 3 and took control with a 4-3 fourth-game win on Kujawinski's rocket at 3:49 of the second overtime period, which ended one of the most memorable games in franchise history, played before a Memorial Gardens sellout crowd of 4,137.

In the two games at North Bay, the Colts managed a total of 34 shots on goal in seven-plus periods.

The Battalion has faced Barrie in seven playoff series, including five in the the Troops' first 15 seasons, played in Brampton. The Colts won four of those sets, but on those occasions the Battalion didn't have the loud fan support prevalent in the Gateway City.

There were numerous Battalion backers, from both North Bay and Brampton, at the Barrie Molson Centre for the fifth game, often drowning out the increasingly glum home supporters with cheers.

The Battalion opens the best-of-seven series against the Generals at Oshawa at 7:35 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.


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