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OHL North Bay Battalion

Battalion opens at home Thursday

March 30, 2009 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


BRAMPTON, Ont. - The Brampton Battalion will open a second-round Ontario Hockey League playoff series at home at 7 p.m. Thursday, but the Troops' opponent in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal has yet to be decided.

The Battalion, which defeated the Peterborough Petes in a four-game sweep of their quarterfinal, will have home-ice advantage over one of the Ottawa 67's, Mississauga St. Michael's Majors and Sudbury Wolves.

The Battalion won the Central Division title, finishing second in the conference. The Belleville Bulls, champions of the East Division and first in the conference, lead eighth-seeded Sudbury 3-2 with home games scheduled Monday and Tuesday nights. Third-seeded Ottawa, trailing the sixth-seeded Niagara IceDogs 3-2, has home dates Monday and Tuesday nights, while fourth-seeded Mississauga has advanced over the Barrie Colts.

If Sudbury rebounds to oust Belleville, the Battalion will face the Wolves. If Belleville prevails, the Troops will play either Ottawa, if it rallies to beat Niagara, or Mississauga, if the IceDogs advance.

"We might know tonight who we'll play or we'll have to wait until tomorrow night, but right now we need to prepare the way we normally would early in any week," Battalion coach Stan Butler said Monday. "Either tomorrow or Wednesday, we'll get a lot more specific to the team we're playing."

A circus is booked into the Powerade Centre from April 14-16, with one day required for setup, meaning the Battalion's series must finish no later than April 12.

"The OHL gives us 13 days to complete the series and, with the possibility of playing a team that might have to play tonight and tomorrow, we couldn't start Wednesday," said Butler. "We lose a day at the end with the circus coming here, so we have only 11 days to play seven games, and that'll be tough."

League rules preclude scheduling four playoff games in a five-day period, and schedules may not feature three games in three days unless they are the last three games of a series.

The Battalion isn't the only team with arena availability issues. The Troops hosted the first two games of their first-round series because the Peterborough Memorial Centre was occupied by a home show.

"In all the years I've been in the OHL, I've never seen so many teams have arena issues and date conflicts," said Butler. "A lot of the rinks in our league are multipurpose facilities used for more than just hockey. That wasn't always the case."

The deadline for submitting playoff schedules to the OHL office was noon Monday.

"For guys who are playing tonight it's tough, but we had a deadline to get the schedules in," said Butler, who spoke Monday with Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea and Sudbury coach Mike Foligno. "But their main focus right now is Game 6."

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