OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops' Strong Effort Overcomes Otters

Published on February 21, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Goaltender Brendan O'Neill made 19 saves for his first career shutout as the North Bay Battalion blanked the high-powered Erie Otters 2-0 Thursday night, clinching an Ontario Hockey League playoff berth.

Barclay Goodrow scored the second goal and assisted on the first, by Kyle Wood, before a crowd of 3,891. The Battalion, which avenged an 8-4 loss at Erie on Oct. 5, improved its won-lost-extended record to 31-21-6 for 68 points, second in the Central Division.

Goaltender Oscar Dansk made 27 saves for Erie, 43-12-2 for 88 points, second in the Midwest Division. The Otters were shut out twice previously this season, both times by the league-leading Guelph Storm.

"Our guys battled really well against a very good offensive team," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. " To hold them to no goals was a credit to our whole team. From the goaltender out, we played good team defence and scored the goals we had to.

"When you play a team that's that skilled offensively, you need to try to play the game in their end and in the neutral zone. We told the players we wanted the Otters to defend, not attack. We told the players that we were confident that, if they went out and played as well as they could, we had a chance to win."

The Battalion blanked Connor Brown, who sits atop the OHL scoring race with 111 points, and second-place Dane Fox, whose 56 goals lead the league, as well as the highly touted Connor McDavid, who has 77 points in 45 games after playing as a 15-year-old last season with exceptional player status from Hockey Canada.

After a scoreless first period, the Battalion dominated Erie in the second, outshooting the visitors 15-5 and notching a pair of goals.

Defenceman Wood scored his second goal of the season on the power play at 9:24, finishing off a two-on-one rush with Goodrow by beating Dansk high to the glove side from the inner edge of the left-wing circle.

The Troops struck again with the man advantage at 12:33 as Goodrow took a lead pass up the middle and broke in alone to slip the puck between Dansk's legs. Brenden Miller and O'Neill earned assists on Goodrow ' s team-leading 29th goal.

O'Neill made a fine glove save on Fox early in the period and was sharp late in turning aside chances by Adam Pelech and Troy Donnay.

O'Neill was under siege for much of the third period despite making only seven saves. He got his blocker on a shot from the right point by Darren Raddysh, slid across the crease to deny McDavid at the right post and foiled Brendan Gaunce as he moved alone into the goalmouth. O'Neill got his left pad on a Travis Dermott shot through traffic from the blue line in the 18th minute and stopped a Michael Curtis drive from the slot with less than two minutes left.

Dansk, who faced five shots in the frame, went to the bench for a sixth skater with 1:56 to play.

The Battalion forged a 9-6 edge in shots in the first period, when both sides enjoyed plenty of chances.

Dansk got his blocker on a Ben Thomson effort from the left circle and put a pad to a hard shot from the right wing by Mathew Santos. Dansk, who gloved an earlier Goodrow offering, got the stick on a Goodrow shot from the right circle in the 19th minute and couldn't locate the puck, which fell into the crease and was cleared by a defender. Dansk also turned aside threats by Mike Amadio, Vincent Praplan and Nick Paul. Praplan hit the crossbar on the power play.

O'Neill made two stops against McDavid, including sprawling at the right post to foil a backdoor play with Erie on the power play. O'Neill denied Andre Burakovsky from the slot and gloved a blue-line drive by Dermott.

The Battalion visits the Niagara IceDogs at 7 p.m. Saturday.

BATTALION BULLETS: The win assured the Battalion of at least an eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, ahead of the Belleville Bulls and Niagara IceDogs, giving the Troops a 14th playoff berth in the franchise ' s 16-year history ... Evan Cormier again backed up O'Neill with Jake Smith sidelined with a strained neck since early in a 3-2 loss Sunday to the visiting Oshawa Generals. Cormier got the win in relief of O'Neill on Monday as the Battalion rallied for a 6-4 victory over the host Peterborough Petes ... Goodrow has an eight-game points streak, second-longest of his career, during which he has scored six goals and earned four assists for 10 points. He also has a five-game goals streak ... Dylan Blujus and Marcus McIvor each played a 246th game, one more than Jay Harrison and tied for ninth on the Battalion's franchise list ... The Troops went 2-for-6 on the power play. Erie was 0-for-3 ... Two fights saw Thomson square off against Kurtis MacDermid in the first period and Brett McKenzie tussle with Erie ' s Dylan Strome in the second ... Opening lines included Amadio centring left winger Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Paul pivoting left winger Praplan and right winger Matt MacLeod and McKenzie centring Jared Steege on left wing and right winger Alex Henriksson. Jamie Lewis centred left winger Connor Jarvis and right winger Santos ... The Battalion scratched Smith, Riley Bruce, Mike Baird, Zach Bratina and Calvin Gomes ... Brown had an 11-game points streak snapped. He registered nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points during the run.

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