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OHL North Bay Battalion

North Bay-Oshawa Echoes in Playoffs

April 15, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - It's been 27 years since the Oshawa Generals faced a team from North Bay in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. And it ' s happened twice in that span.

Oshawa and the North Bay Centennials squared off in not one but two series in the 1986-87 postseason. While other teams faced elimination in the opening round, Oshawa defeated the Centennials in seven games in a Super Series to determine which would host the Memorial Cup tournament.

After merging into the playoffs for the second round, the teams met again in the league final, with Oshawa prevailing 5-3 at home in another Game 7. The Generals eventually fell 6-2 to the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League in the final of what proved to be the last three-team Memorial Cup tournament, the other participant being the Longueuil Chevaliers of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Canada ' s Motor City and the Gateway of the North renew playoff hostilities Friday night, when the Generals host the opener of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal against the North Bay Battalion.

But many remember the action, and re-action, from more than a quarter-century ago.

"It was some of the best hockey ever played in North Bay," recalled John McLellan of the Centennials' 14 postseason clashes that year with Oshawa.

Bert Templeton coached North Bay, which finished first in the Emms Division, while Paul Theriault led the Generals to top spot in the Leyden Division and the league. Oshawa ' s Scott McCrory was the OHL scoring leader with 51 goals and 99 assists for 150 points in 66 games. North Bay ' s Dave McLlwain finished second, with 46 goals and 73 assists for 119 points in 60 games.

A North Bay native who worked 14 years as the Centennials' director of marketing and public relations, at the time McLellan was a student at Durham College and working as an intern in the OHL office.

"I was a North Bay guy living in Oshawa and working for the OHL, and I probably wasn't allowed to cheer for anybody, but deep down I was cheering for North Bay, which was my home town," McLellan said Tuesday.

"I went to every game in both rinks. The Super Series was a tough series, as was the final. The Centennials had an amazing team. It was unbelievable they didn't win anything.

"I think for fans in North Bay their biggest rival has always been the Sudbury Wolves, but the team the fans loved to see them play against was the Generals. That year really resonated with the fans in North Bay. There ' s still probably a dislike for the Generals from those days. I think there was a lot of emotion in the Memorial Gardens this year when the Generals came to town."

Two Battalion coaches also have a history with the Generals.

Stan Butler, director of hockey operations and head coach since a year before the Battalion began play in Brampton in 1998-99, coached Oshawa for two seasons starting in 1994-95. John Goodwin, who ' s in his first season as a Battalion assistant, worked with Butler in the same capacity for Oshawa before spending a third season under Bill Stewart as the Generals won their most recent OHL championship.

Goodwin then served three seasons as Oshawa's head coach starting in 1997-98.

"It was a great place to start as a coach," said Butler. "When I was there, there were people like Wayne Daniels and Frank Jay working with them, and it was an organization that was always successful. I learned how to do things the right way and how to put together a competitive organization."

Goodwin, a resident of Whitby, adjacent to Oshawa, who retired last June after 28 years with Ontario Power Generation, said he expects to see plenty of family and friends in attendance at the General Motors Centre.

"There ' ll be a lot of familiar faces there. There have been some changes in ownership, and they have a new rink, but it's still the Oshawa Generals. It's a great organization that has been around a long time and has had so many great players go through. I think it's one of the flagship franchises in the OHL.

"It ' ll be great to go back there. We'll have a lot of family and friends there and a lot of people I worked with at OPG. I ' m sure the Oshawa fans will be much louder than our contingent."

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