OHL North Bay Battalion

Battalion Coaches Look for Leaders

Published on September 19, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Stan Butler focused on more than just results during the North Bay Battalion's Ontario Hockey League preseason.

The Battalion, which posted a won-lost-extended record of 2-3-1 over the six-game slate, ended it with a 3-1 road loss to the Peterborough Petes on Wednesday night. The Troops, reigning champions of the OHL's Eastern Conference, open the regular season against the visiting Barrie Colts at 7 p.m. next Friday.

Butler, director of hockey operations and head coach, said Friday that he looked for players to step up in the wake of the departures of overage forwards Barclay Goodrow, Ben Thomson and Matt MacLeod and veteran defenceman Dylan Blujus.

"Our team needs to create its own identity. Last season's team is gone and, even though a lot of the players are back, this group still need to finds its own identity. We need new guys to step up as leaders, and as a coaching staff that's what we were looking for in the exhibition games."

The Troops swept a home-and-home series against the Sudbury Wolves before falling 5-2 to the visiting Petes on Sept. 4. The Owen Sound Attack took both ends of a home-and-home set, winning 3-1 at home on Sept. 6 and taking a 4-3 victory via shootout at Memorial Gardens the next day.

"Guys have been given an opportunity, and they have to decide they want to run with it," said Butler, who saw six players leave for National Hockey League rookie camps. "They need to take advantage of what they get."

Centre Brett McKenzie, a first-round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, led the team in preseason scoring, producing three goals and three assists for six points in as many games.

Centre Zach Poirier, taken in the first round of the OHL Priority Selection last April, also played six games, generating one goal and two assists for three points to lead first-year players. He trailed only McKenzie and centre Mike Amadio, who had four goals and one assist for five points in five games before joining the Los Angeles Kings' rookie camp.

"The young guys did well," said Butler, who observed exhibition action from elsewhere while assistants Ryan Oulahen and John Dean handled the bench. "McKenzie did a pretty good job in the games. Poirier played pretty well. He reminds me a lot of Sam Carrick. He's going to be a big, strong guy."

Right winger Alex Henriksson, who had been sidelined with a head injury since a training camp intrasquad game, made his preseason debut at Peterborough, scoring the Battalion goal. A first-round pick in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft last year, Henriksson, a 19-year-old from Skovde, Sweden, scored 11 goals and added 17 assists for 28 points in 68 games in 2013-14.

"We need Alex to be a really good player for us," noted Butler. "He's a very important part of our team."

In goal, veteran Jake Smith and rookie Evan Cormier both saw plenty of preseason action. Smith and Cormier split duties in each of the first two games before Cormier, a fifth-round pick in 2013, went all the way in the next three. Smith made 30 saves in the preseason finale.

"We'll need those guys to be good for us," said Butler.

"Cormier was pretty good. Like a lot of young goalies, he came in with high expectations, and he's going to have to show that on the ice. We play 68 games and we hope to give him 20 starts, and we hope he'll give us 20 good games. He has a guy like Jake in front of him, who's a great guy and a great leader. If Jake was a player, he would have a letter on his sweater."

The Battalion has 24 players on the roster, numbering 14 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders, after making two personnel moves during the preseason.

Right winger Kyle Moore, a fifth-round choice in April who scored two goals in six preseason games, was assigned to the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, while defenceman Shawn Tessier, an 18-year-old who played seven games last season, was traded to the Kingston Frontenacs.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from September 19, 2014


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