Dennis likes Troops’ outlook
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Adam Dennis, the North Bay Battalion’s president and director of hockey operations, has taken a broad-brush look at the club’s upcoming Ontario Hockey League season and sees “lots of potential.”
“I really believe that this group is set up for a lot of big things this year,” Dennis noted this week. “The age is appropriate. There’s guys with playoff experience. There’s depth up and down the lineup, and really there’s no outlying holes.
“There are certainly going to be some changes made throughout the season as we find out chemistry and things like that, but I think this group has the makings to do a lot this season and, without putting too much pressure on them as far as expectation goes, I don’t want to limit what they can do. I think there’s lots of potential here.”
Dennis pointed to centre Cam Warren, North Bay’s first-round pick in the 2025 OHL Priority Selection who starred with the Canadian under-18 team that won gold in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament at Edmonton under the direction of Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen, as among the developing leaders of the Troops.
“Cam is the player that we drafted, and he’s turning into the potential that we saw from him. I thought he was very good for us last year and dealt with some bouts of not scoring, which I think is normal for a 16-year-old, but the things that Cam does on the ice, his speed, his ability to create space, his IQ, he’s going to have success. Our job is to help him have as much success as possible.
“Whatever the aftermath of that is, it is what it is, and then we deal with what happens after. But the job that we feel is most important to us is put the best program out there so that players feel that they can get better here.”
The Battalion has added three veterans via trades this offseason, acquiring left winger Max Crete and centre Rene Van Bommel in separate deals with the London Knights and right winger Nikolas Rossetto from the Brantford Bulldogs, all for the combined cost of fifth-, sixth- and eighth-round OHL Priority Selection picks, none of them North Bay’s own.
“We really didn’t spend that much to do it,” acknowledged Dennis.
“Rene Van Bommel comes with championship pedigree. He’s one that has played to the depths of the season, and I think he’s going to add a lot to our roster.
“Guys like Max Crete and Nik Rossetto, they’re guys who were highly touted in their draft year, guys that we have a lot of homework done on, and for different reasons we’re here where we are today. We were able to add them for picks that were much later than where they were drafted, but we still feel the ability to get that high-end player out of them is still there.”
Van Bommel, left winger Nolan Laird and goaltender Mike McIvor figure to be the Battalion’s three overagers.
“I don’t want to put more on Mikey than there needs to be, because I think we’ve seen he can carry the load of this team on his own at times.
“We’re very confident in his ability and we know what Money Mike can do, and I think that’s a great start for us. Like every single one of our players, though, he needs direction and he needs to find ways to improve his game, and that’s what the job of the coaching staff is.”
The Battalion opens a three-day development for younger recruits Aug. 24, followed immediately by training camp, both at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
