Majors Struggle again with Battalion

Published on December 31, 2011 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


The Brampton Battalion continued their winning ways and also continued their dominance of the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors this season thanks to their power play on New Year's Eve in Brampton.

The Battalion scored four power play goals and beat the Majors for the fourth time in as many tries this season, 4-1 before 2,741 fans at the Bunker, including Majors season ticket holders who were invited for free by the Battalion for the game. Battalion season ticket holders can attend the game between the two teams Friday, January 6, 2012 at the Hershey Centre by redeeming their free coupons as well.

Ian Watters and Barclay Goodrow both had a goal and two assists for the winners, while Sam Carrick and Dylan Blujus both had a goal and an assist.

Jordan Mayer scored the lone goal for Mississauga at 16:48 of the third period.

General Manager/Coach James Boyd was pleased with his team's work ethic in the second of back-to-back games, but not happy with the nine power plays his team allowed in the contest.

"I thought our compete level five-on-five was pretty good, and so was our effort, but penalties were the difference today," Boyd said. "We started to tire on the penalty kill as the game wound down and that was the difference.

"When you spend that much time killing penalties it really makes a difference in the long run."

Brampton improved to 21-10-1-4 with the victory and are now unbeaten in regulation time in their last eight games (7-0-0-1), while remaining in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Mississauga ends the calendar year with a record of 17-15-1-4 and in seventh place in the East.

With the first penalty of the game called on the Majors just 50 second into the first period, the Battalion wasted no time putting their powerplay to work, as Carrick set up Watters to give the Battalion a 1-0 lead at just 1:30 of the opening frame. Brampton would hold a one goal lead until 16:24 of the second period when Goodrow scored on a 5-on-3 to make it 2-0, assisted by Watters and Blujus. With 57 seconds left of 5-on-4 powerplay time, the Battalion once again capitalized as Blujus made it 3-0 just 25 seconds later from Brenden Miller and Goodrow at 16:49.

Shots were 13-6 in favour of the Battalion after the first period, and deadlocked at 12-12 during the second for a two period total of 25-18 for Brampton.

Midway through the third period with the Battalion once again on the powerplay, Carrick gave the Battalion a 4-0 lead from Goodrow and Watters at 10:23. With 3:12 to go in the third period the Majors finally got on the board, as Mayer scored for the third straight game registering his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Riley Brace to squander the shutout bid of Matej Machovsky at 16:48.

The Battalion finished 4-for-9 on the powerplay, while the Majors were 0-for-8.

Machovsky made 27 saves for the win, while JP Anderson made 32 saves and was dealt the loss.

The Majors return in 2012 with their first game on Friday, January 6th when they again take on the Brampton Battalion, this time at the Hershey Centre for a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets are still available online at www.ticketmaster.ca, or in person at the Hershey Centre box office.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2011


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