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OHL North Bay Battalion

Dennis, Oulahen Take Reins

December 10, 2019 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion has made changes to its hockey personnel, with Adam Dennis named general manager and Ryan Oulahen interim head coach, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Tuesday.

Stan Butler, director of hockey operations and head coach since the club began play as an expansion franchise in Brampton in 1998-99, has been reassigned to a role as special adviser to owner Scott Abbott.

Bill Houlder, previously a part-time assistant coach, has been added to the staff on a fulltime basis to work alongside Scott Wray, an assistant in his third season.

"The objective is to develop the roster of talented young players we have here and to add more in OHL Priority Selections to come, as we work to getting the Battalion back in contention for a championship," said Dennis.

The Battalion, the OHL's youngest team and undertaking a rebuild, has a won-lost-extended record of 5-23-0 for 10 points, last in the Central Division, Eastern Conference and league. After a 5-3 home-ice loss Sunday to the Flint Firebirds, North Bay next plays when it hosts the Erie Otters at 7 p.m. Thursday.

"I've wanted to coach in the OHL and, from the time I was a player, it's the Battalion that I've wanted to coach," said Oulahen. "I'm looking forward very much to getting started."

Oulahen, a 34-year-old native of Newmarket, Ont., served as a Battalion assistant for five-plus seasons starting during the 2010-11 campaign before two-plus years as head coach of Flint, which went 52-78-13. Oulahen, who had served this season as the Troops' skills coach, played three years at centre with the Battalion, culminating in 2004-05, when he was captain.

Oulahen, selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft, played for the affiliated Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League for four seasons, including one as captain, through 2008-09 and twice has been an assistant coach with Canadian entries at the World Under-17 Challenge.

Houlder, 52, is a Thunder Bay, Ont., native who played three OHL seasons with the North Bay Centennials. A fourth-round pick by the Washington Capitals in 1985, he played 16 seasons on defence with seven NHL clubs before retiring from the Nashville Predators in 2003. He has been with the Troops since 2017.

Dennis, a 34-year-old Toronto native, played four seasons as a goaltender with the Guelph Storm and London Knights ending in 2005-06.

A member of London's 2005 Memorial Cup championship team, he played a total of 160 games, producing a goals-against average of 2.58 and a save percentage of .917 while posting a record of 100-39-6 and 10 shutouts. In three playoff seasons, including two with London, he played 49 games with a 2.48 GAA, a .923 save percentage and three shutouts while recording a won-lost mark of 36-12.

A sixth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2005 NHL Draft, he played three seasons in the AHL and five years in Europe, in Italy, Germany and Austria. Before joining the Troops in a variety of capacities numbering goaltending coach, assistant coach and assistant GM, he was the OHL's director of player recruitment and education services.

Butler coached the Battalion to a won-lost-tied record of 667-737-52 in 1,456 games over 21-plus seasons, taking the club to the OHL Championship Series in 2009 and 2014, where it lost to the Windsor Spitfires and Guelph respectively.

Butler also coached the Oshawa Generals for two seasons starting in 1994-95 and the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League in 1996-97. His Canadian Hockey League record is 765-825-70 in 1,660 games over 24-plus seasons.

He ranks fourth all-time in OHL wins with 737, behind Brian Kilrea, Bert Templeton and Dale Hunter, and third in games coached with 1,588, behind Kilrea and Templeton. Butler's OHL record is 737-786-65.

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