OHL North Bay Battalion

Divisional Encounters on Pre-Break Schedule

Published on December 16, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion hosts the Mississauga Steelheads at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first of three games this week to close out the pre-Christmas portion of the Ontario Hockey League club's schedule.

Next up after that are the other two teams ahead of the Battalion in the Central Division standings, with the Niagara IceDogs at Memorial Gardens at 7 p.m. Friday and the Troops visiting the Barrie Colts on Saturday night.

The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 14-12-3 for 31 points, while Mississauga topped the division at 18-13-2 for 38 points, two more than Barrie, before the Colts' visit Wednesday night to the Owen Sound Attack. Niagara, at 16-12-2 for 34 points, is three points ahead of North Bay.

"We're close enough that with a bad streak we could be out of the playoffs, but we're also close enough that with a win streak we could be right back in the middle of things," Battalion coach Stan Butler said Wednesday.

"Like I've always told people, playoffs start the third week of March and it's how your team plays then, and that's what we're going to strive for here, in the next 10 weeks or so to try to push our team and see how much we can improve. It's such a young team those guys should improve every day just by being young."

Butler, whose charges have won their last two games, both at home, allowed that overtures from other clubs looking to bolster their lineups before the trade deadline, which falls this season on Jan. 11, are routine.

"I'm always listening, and if I feel there's something out there that makes sense for both teams, like (Miles) Liberati's situation, then obviously we'll make the moves as we go forward.

"But we're like the Canadian dollar: We're not going to sell for 67 cents on the dollar. I think a lot of teams that are calling, that's where they're at. If a situation doesn't make sense, we're quite happy to go with the group of kids we have here."

The Battalion dealt defenceman Liberati to the Kitchener Rangers on Nov. 30 for four OHL Priority Selection picks, consisting of two second-rounders, a third and an eighth.

North Bay will be without left winger Mike Baird for all three games and centre Brett McKenzie and defenceman Zach Shankar for two after they were suspended for actions in the third period of a 7-2 win Sunday over the visiting London Knights.

London had four players suspended, defenceman Aiden Jamieson for three games and each of goaltender Brendan Burke, rearguard Brandon Crawley and left winger Jack Hidi for two games.

"As I always tell Mike, he's no angel, but that was about as close as it's ever been to him being an angel," said Butler. "He gets pushed into the net. He really didn't want to fight at that stage of the game; he had a goal and an assist going at that time."

Added Butler: "In fairness to the league, they can only go on what's put on paper. I guess the way it was written up he gets two games for a second fight in the same stoppage, and it's an automatic one-gamer in our league now if you remove another player's helmet. Jamieson on their team got the same thing.

"It's really unfortunate for Mike that now he won't be able to play until after the Christmas break, because I thought that was one of his better games for the season."

Despite the absence of three regulars, Butler noted, the Battalion must stick to the task at hand.

"Points are points. You have 68 opportunities in a season to get points, and these three games here are just as important as the games at any time of the year to get those points, so we've got to try to do our best to get them."

Check out the North Bay Battalion Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 16, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central