Troops face Knights’ might
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Coach Ryan Oulahen knows the North Bay Battalion can ill afford to be spectators when the puck drops for a 7 p.m. Thursday visit by the high-powered London Knights.
“The biggest thing is, you fear when you play a top team like this, and it’s probably what caught us when we played in London, is you don’t want to come out and watch them,” Oulahen said Wednesday.
“We want to maybe play a little free, just play on our toes, play our aggressive style that we’ve been playing, and then you give yourselves the best chance. You’re not going to do well if you just want to watch them play. The teams that just go out and play them hard are usually right there with them, and we’ve got to find a way to do that tomorrow.”
The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 16-22-3 for 35 points, fifth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division. London, which lost 5-2 Tuesday night to the host Kitchener Rangers to end a five-game winning streak, is 34-7-1 for 69 points atop the Midwest Division and Western Conference.
North Bay, which lost 6-2 at London on Nov. 8, won its most recent home game, 2-0 last Thursday night over the Barrie Colts, before a pair of road losses, 3-1 Saturday night to the Niagara IceDogs and 2-1 Sunday to the Brantford Bulldogs.
Apart from an empty-netter at Niagara, the Battalion gave up four goals in the three games and came away with one win. Oulahen said the Troops have to keep up their work on offence, which saw them put 44 shots on IceDogs goaltender Owen Flores, and results will come.
“With how we played this weekend, you’d almost expect three wins. That’s how well we’ve played. I know there’s no moral victories. The guys need to get some results to continue the belief here, but I think there are ways that, if we stick with it, the puck is going to go into the back of the net.”
The Battalion, with a game in hand, sat one point behind the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth before Ottawa’s road game Wednesday night against the Kingston Frontenacs.
“I think it’s a really good situation that we’re in, that we’re in a competitive hunt for the playoffs,” noted Oulahen, whose charges complete weekend play by hosting the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday.
“It’s going to go right down to the wire. Everybody’s excited about that. I feel like it’s very similar to chasing a division (title). I just sense that same type of pressure, which I think is a really healthy thing.”
Oulahen said that Jacob Therrien, who has missed eight games since suffering an upper-body injury in a 3-1 home-ice loss Dec. 29 to Barrie, may return against London.
“He’s very close. He’s had a good week so far. If things go really well, then we’re optimistic that we see him tomorrow night.”
Ethan Procyszyn opened the scoring at Brantford with his 14th power-play goal of the season, which gave him the league lead. The freshly minted captain paces the Battalion with 41 points in as many games, from a team-leading 25 goals and 16 assists.
Jacob LeBlanc has six goals and a team-high 33 assists for 39 points in 41 games, while Shamar Moses has 10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points in 34 games since an Oct. 10 trade from Barrie.
Denver Barkey leads London with 15 goals and a team-best 40 assists for 55 points in 35 games, and Sam Dickinson has 17 goals and 35 assists for 52 points in 31 games. Sam O’Reilly has 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points in as many games. O’Reilly’s 18 goals are tied with Blake Montgomery and Landon Sim for the team lead.
The London game features Soiree Carnival Night.