Kitchener visit debuts December
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion embarks on its December schedule Thursday night when it hosts the Kitchener Rangers in the first of eight games before the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas break. Start time is 7 p.m.
The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 14-9-3 for 31 points, first in the tight Central Division, which sees the fifth- and last-place Sudbury Wolves only four points behind after a 2-1 overtime victory Tuesday night over the visiting Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Kitchener is 17-7-1 for 35 points, second in the Midwest Division behind the London Knights. The Rangers, who have won three straight games, went 9-2-0 in November, when the Troops were 6-4-1.
“Kitchener is an extremely solid team and they’re very hot right now,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler, who noted his charges need to increase their productivity.
“We’ve been working hard. We just need to get more results for the effort we’re putting in. We have to score on our chances.”
Captain Sam Carrick acknowledged the Troops have had trouble finishing.
“We’ve been playing well. We’re getting our chances. We’re just having a tough time burying those chances.”
Said Carrick of the Kitchener visit: “It’s going to be a good game. They’ve been playing well so far this year, and I think it will be a good test for us. Considering how close our division is, we have to consider it a must-win if we want to stay at the top.”
Kitchener’s Radek Faksa leads OHL rookies in scoring with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 24 games, while the Battalion’s Patrik Machac, a fellow Czech import, is third with eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 26 games.
The Battalion’s recent schedule included a three-game northwestern swing that opened a season-high stretch of five straight road games before the Troops dropped a 2-1 decision Sunday to visiting London, which boasts the OHL’s best record at 20-5-1.
“We’ve had a real tough run with our schedule here,” said Butler. “We played a lot of tough teams in a row and just came off that big road trip, so we just have to keep going and keep our head above water.”
Said Butler: “It’s an extremely balanced year where there’s not a lot of room between teams. In a race like this, you try to make sure you don’t get into any bad runs.”
Butler noted that the biggest issue facing the Troops is a lack of offensive depth.
“The problem for us right now is we don’t have a lot of depth at forward. We have some key injuries to Matt MacLeod, Michael Santini and Ian Watters. Add in the suspension to Alex O’Neil and it’s been pretty tough.”
MacLeod suffered a concussion when crosschecked by Darnell Nurse in a 7-2 loss Nov. 18 at Sault Ste. Marie. Santini separated a shoulder in a 3-0 win Nov. 20 at Sudbury, and Watters is recovering from surgery on severed tendons in his right wrist. O’Neil drew a 10-game suspension for a head check on Frank Schumacher in a 6-4 home-ice victory over the Niagara IceDogs on Nov. 11.
The Battalion visits Sudbury on Friday night before hosting Niagara at 2 p.m. Sunday.
