OHL North Bay Battalion

Battalion Captures Central Crown

Published on March 15, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


SUDBURY, Ont. - After 20 years, the Gateway City has another Ontario Hockey League division title.

Rookie Brett McKenzie scored two goals, including the winner, as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Sudbury Wolves 5-3 Friday night to clinch first place in the Central Division. The Troops have a won-lost-extended record of 37-24-6 for 80 points, five more than second-place Sudbury, 32-23-11 with two games left in its season.

Matt MacLeod had one goal and one assist and Mathew Santos and Barclay Goodrow, the latter into an empty net, a goal apiece for the Battalion, which earned a season-high fifth consecutive win before a crowd of 5,100.

Goaltender Brendan O'Neill, acquired from Sudbury in a trade last August, made 31 saves as the Troops clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The team will open a best-of-seven conference quarterfinal at home next Friday night against an opponent still to be determined.

The Battalion, which moved to Northern Ontario this season from Brampton, earned North Bay its first title since 1993-94, when the Centennials finished atop the Leyden Division and won the OHL championship under legendary coach Bert Templeton.

The Battalion won its fifth division championship, all Central titles, after playing the first four of its 15 seasons in Brampton in the Midwest Division. The Troops captured division banners in 2002-03, 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2008-09.

The OHL office said Friday that the only other team to win a division title in its first year after relocation was the St. Catharines Fincups of 1976-77. After finishing atop the Emms Division, the here-and-gone Fincups, who were coached by Templeton, promptly returned to Hamilton for the next season.

Nicholas Baptiste had one goal and two assists and Nathan Pancel one goal and one assist for Sudbury, which got its other goal from Connor Crisp. Goaltender Franky Palazzese faced 34 shots as Sudbury, which fell 4-1 at North Bay last Sunday in its previous outing, lost a third straight game.

Santos broke a 2-2 tie at 8:10 of the third period as he and Jamie Lewis jammed at the puck in the crease after a shot flipped high off Palazzese. Zach Bratina had the other assist.

McKenzie scored his 11th goal of the season on a breakaway at 15:49, showing patience in outwaiting Palazzese and pitching home a backhander, but Baptiste responded 20 seconds later with his team-leading 44th goal on a blast from the right wing.

Marcus McIvor went off for crosschecking at 19:18, giving the Wolves a six-on-four skating advantage with Palazzese gone for an extra attacker. But Goodrow, who paused to gauge the shot, put the insurance goal into the empty net from a sharp angle on right wing. Assisted by Dylan Blujus, it was Goodrow's team-leading 33rd goal and a franchise-record seventh shorthanded goal of the season, breaking the mark originally set by Wojtek Wolski in 2005-06.

Sudbury, which trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, rallied on a pair of second-period goals, with Pancel striking first at 8:05 for his 42nd goal, nine seconds after a Battalion penalty expired. Pancel charged into the crease and, falling, shoveled the puck into the net off a pass from Baptiste. Crisp connected at 19:48, seconds after McKenzie, carrying the puck out of the Battalion zone up the middle, was tripped from behind without a call. Crisp beat O'Neill from the left wing on assists by Radek Faksa and Baptiste. Earlier in the same sequence, Lewis was tripped behind the Sudbury net.

Battalion coach Stan Butler berated referee Joe Park until the ensuing faceoff and again after time expired in the period and the Troops filed from their bench to the dressing room. Butler then had a discussion with both Park and colleague Scott Ferguson before the third period started.

MacLeod opened the scoring with his 15th goal 1:05 into the game and then set up McKenzie, working the puck behind the net and emerging on the left side to deliver a crisp pass tight across the goalmouth that McKenzie directed home at 14:56. The Battalion hosts the Ottawa 67's at 2 p.m. Sunday in its last game of the regular season.

BATTALION BULLETS: Two busloads of North Bay fans, as well as others who made the trip west on Highway 17 independently, cheered on the Battalion ... Jake Smith, suffering from either flu or food poisoning, backed up O'Neill after playing the five previous games ... Sudbury's Jacob Harris challenged Kyle Locke 50 seconds after McKenzie made it 2-0, with the two exchanging solid punches in a draw ... In 255 games, Blujus has 17 goals and 102 assists for 119 points, tied with Tyler Harrison for 24th place in franchise history. Blujus's 102 assists are seventh all-time, one more than John Hughes and Michael Vernace ... Bratina has a five-game points streak in which he has two goals and four assists for six points ... Like Blujus, McIvor played a 255th game, one more than Sam Carrick and sixth in Battalion history ... The Battalion, 4-2-2 against Sudbury, finished 16-7-3 within the division ... The Battalion, which went 17-14-3 on the road, was 0-for-1 on the power play. Sudbury, which finished 20-10-4 at home, went 0-for-3 ... Opening line combinations included Nick Paul centring left winger Ben Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Mike Amadio centring left winger Vincent Praplan and right winger MacLeod and McKenzie pivoting left winger Bratina and right winger Alex Henriksson. Lewis centred left winger Connor Jarvis and right winger Santos ... The Battalion scratched Riley Bruce, Mike Baird, Jared Steege and Calvin Gomes ... The Battalion has an all-time won-lost-tied record of 61-39-4 against Sudbury.

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