Battling Battalion takes some R&R
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion, after playing five Ontario Hockey League games in eight days, including four road dates, got a well deserved day away from the rink Friday.
In the late-season race for playoff positioning, the Battalion moved five points ahead of the Sudbury Wolves and stayed two points behind the Barrie Colts in the Central Division and Eastern Conference standings with a 3-2 victory Thursday night over the host Peterborough Petes.
The Troops, who lost 4-2 Tuesday night at Sudbury before completing a four-game season sweep of the Petes, have a won-lost-extended record of 34-21-10 for 78 points, third in the division and fourth in the conference.
Barrie, which blanked the visiting Wolves 7-0 Thursday night, holds a game in hand on the Battalion, while Sudbury, fourth in the division and fifth in the conference with a 34-24-5 record for 73 points, has two games in hand while preparing to host the Belleville Bulls on Friday night. The top four teams have home-ice advantage in the conference quarterfinals.
“Obviously, we want home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs and, with Sudbury losing to Barrie last night, the game in Sudbury on Tuesday night is kind of offset in the sense that the two points they gained on us we gained back,” said coach Stan Butler, whose Troops are 7-3-1 in their last 11 games.
“These last four or five games of the season, all the teams that are close to us keep winning, so we just have to make sure we keep winning too,” said goaltender Keegan Wilson. “We want to try to catch Barrie for third and keep our home-ice advantage.”
Sam Carrick opened the scoring at Peterborough with his team-leading 34th goal of the season and added an assist.
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster lately,” said captain Carrick. “We’re trying to get as many points as we can, and we’ve done a good job outplaying teams.
“It’s just a matter of bearing down on our opportunities. Our goaltending has been great lately, so we just have to be a little better at giving that extra inch and scoring on our opportunities.”
Wilson made 17 saves in moving his record to 11-9-6 with a 2.82 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage.
“We need to be getting playoff-ready, because it’s a different type of season and we want to be playing our best going into the playoffs,” noted Wilson.
He said the Troops gutted out the Peterborough game, which saw the Petes, desperate to keep their dwindling playoff hopes alive, get two goals from Andrew Yogan inside the final four minutes to make it close.
“A lot of the guys were tired both physically and mentally, but it was just one of those games where we knew we had the day off Friday so we could just go out there and empty the tank.
“It’s late in the season, so getting some rest and getting the vitamins in you is definitely important in repairing your body.”
Said Carrick: “It’s all about being mentally tough. We know it’s a long season, especially for the younger guys who aren’t used to it but, as one of the older guys, you just let them know they have to stay mentally tough and keep things simple. But we’re a team with good conditioning, and hopefully we can use that energy to win some of these later games.”
Carrick leads the team in scoring with 34 goals and 29 assists for 63 points, all career highs, in 65 games with three to play.
“It’s going to be big to get rest these next two days, and we can take some time to watch a little video of our last couple of games and see what we did wrong. The main thing is to keep things positive and just make sure our legs will be good to go for Sunday.”
The Battalion hosts the Oshawa Generals at 2 p.m. Sunday.
