Conference race goes into final week
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion and Belleville Bulls have battled into the final week of the Ontario Hockey League season and have yet to decide first place in the Eastern Conference.
The Battalion, which clinched its second consecutive Central Division title on March 1, is two points behind the Bulls, champions of the East Division. Each team has three games left to play.
The Battalion visits the Oshawa Generals at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday and hosts the Barrie Colts at 7:30 p.m. Friday before entertaining Oshawa at 2 p.m. Sunday, the last day of the schedule.
Belleville hosts the Peterborough Petes on Wednesday night and finishes with road games against the Sudbury Wolves on Friday night and Barrie on Saturday night.
“Getting first place in the conference would be a big accomplishment,” Battalion defenceman Ken Peroff said Tuesday. “We have a pretty focused group here. The practices will be intense. We all know what’s at stake.”
Oshawa is tied with Peterborough for seventh place in the conference. Sudbury is one point back in ninth place and out of a playoff spot. Barrie is fifth, one point ahead of the Niagara IceDogs.
“In every game, someone has something to play for,” said Peroff, 19. “Teams are looking to move up, and even teams that are out of the playoffs, like the Kingston Frontenacs, are hard to play. It’s crunch time for all of us, and as players it’s an exciting time.”
Peroff, who leads Battalion defencemen in scoring with eight goals and 22 assists for 30 points in 60 games, said the arrival of Josh Day in a trade from Niagara provided the team’s defence corps with another offensive-minded member. Overager Day has four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 27 games with the Troops.
“We don’t have a go-to guy like Bobby Sanguinetti like we did last season. Bringing in a guy like Day is perfect. He’s used to running the power play. On any given night, it could be me, Day, Matt Clark or Ben Alavie throwing pucks to the net.
“I think the defence is pretty comfortable now. I’ve played a shift with every one of these guys. We’re feeling pretty good heading into the playoffs.”
The Battalion power play ranks 16th in the OHL with 63 goals in 377 opportunities for a scoring rate of 16.7 percent.
“When you look at the guys we have on the power play, it can be pretty lethal,” said Peroff. “We have good shooters and smart players. We shouldn’t have a problem setting it up. At any time it can get going, and it would be a difference-maker in a series.”
The Oshawa game is to be shown live on Rogers Cable 10.
