Klesla, Topping star as Troops beat 67´s

OTTAWA, Ont. – Rostislav Klesla set a Brampton record for defenceman with a goal and three assists and rookie netminder Brad Topping steered away 38 shots as the Battalion beat the Ottawa 67´s 4-2 in front of 8,401 fans at the Civic Centre Friday night. The victory was the first ever for the Troops over the 67´s and made a nice present for Head Coach Stan Butler, who was celebrating his birthday on Friday.
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The win moves the Battalion back into fourth place in the Western Conference playoff race, one point ahead of the Windsor Spitfires. The Troops now have the fifth best record in the Ontario Hockey League.
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The game started several minutes late as referee Rick Schaly was delayed on his way to the arena, but once things got going the Battalion wasted little time challenging Ottawa goaltender Seamus Kotyk.
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Kotyk was forced to make a huge early save on Raffi Torres, who had parked himself on his doorstep but less than nine minutes into the game, Lukas Havel split a pair of 67´s defenders and slid the puck between Kotyk´s pads for his 14th goal of the year. Rostislav Klesla and Jay McClement picked up assists. Klesla´s assist extended his points scoring streak to 13 games, tops in the league this season for a defenceman.
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Ottawa rookie Vadim Sozinov tied the game for the 67´s at 6:18 of the second period when he directed a pass from Zenon Konopka past Battalion goaltender Brad Topping for his 15th goal of the year.
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Topping came up big a short time later when he made a fine glove save on a shot from Adam Chapman.
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The two teams turned up things physically in the second period and seconds after Raffi Torres and Zenon Kenopka engaged in a thunderous collision in the Battalion zone, Rostislav Klesla dumped Lance Galbraith into the Brampton bench.
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The 67´s took advantage of a Paul Flache slashing penalty to take the lead at 14:38 of the middle frame when Carter Trevisani´s point shot eluded Brad Topping, who appeared to be screened on the play.
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Klesla tied the game with less than two minutes to go when he lofted a shot from in close over a prone Kotyk for his 10th goal of the season. Raffi Torres notched the lone assist.
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The Troops came out and took the lead for good 26 seconds into the third period when Chris Rowan skated down the left side and guided a shot between Kotyk´s legs for his 13th goal of the year. Klesla and Kurt MacSweyn earned assists.
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Klesla set up Brampton´s fourth goal when his point shot hit Aaron Van Leusen before getting behind Kotyk. The goal was Van Leusen´s 17th of the season, which equaled his career high from last season. Raffi Torres picked up the second assist and has now recorded 100 helpers in his OHL career. The New York Islanders draftee has also scored 100 goals in his junior career.
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Brad Topping held his ground and made several fine saves throughout the remainder of the third period and with only seconds left on the clock, Torres and Van Leusen almost combined to give the Battalion a three goal lead but Torres´ shot just slid wide of the cage
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Final shots were even, 40-40, but the Battalion outshot the 67´s 18-11 over the final period..
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Brain Finley, Travis Parent and Jeff Bateman did not dress for Brampton. Bateman was serving the first game of a six game suspension incurred last Monday night against Kitchener.
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Brett McGrath and Pierre Mitsou were scratched for Ottawa.
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The Battalion will be in action on Saturday afternoon in Kingston against the Frontenacs. The game will be shown live on Global as part of their OHL Game of the Week series. Game time is 2 p.m.
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