Nash, Knights up next for Troops Friday night

BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Battalion faces another key Western Conference matchup Friday night when it travels to London to face Brampton native Rick Nash and the Knights. Game time at the Ice House is 7:30 p.m., and fans in the Brampton area can see the game live on Rogers Cable 10. The audio feed from the Rogers telecast will be available on BattalionHockey.com.
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The Troops, who have won their last five home games, beat the Sarnia Sting 2-1 at the Bunker on Thursday night. The Battalion is one point behind London for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
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We’re on a bit of roll now,” said defenceman Jay Harrison. These are big points, and these are the games we are going to need to win if we want to be involved in games in late March.”
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They play well in their barn,” said goaltender Brad Topping, who grew up in Strathroy, Ont., near London. We have to go there and get two points. We’re battling them for a playoff spot and, if we can get this win, we can begin to move up the standings from there.”
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We have 44 points and 22 games to go,” said head coach Stan Butler. The games are all big now.”
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Friday night’s game will be the final regular season meeting of the year between Brampton and London. The Troops won the first game 5-4, at the Ice House on Sept. 28, when Jay McClement scored with less than one second remaining in overtime. The rematch, at the Bunker on Oct. 28, ended in a 3-3 tie. The Knights edged the Battalion 5-4 in the last meeting, at the Brampton Centre on Dec. 16.
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Nash, who played with McClement and Harrison on Canada’s silver-medal-winning entry at the recent World Junior Hockey Championship, is second in scoring for the Knights with 58 points (28 goals, 30 assists) in 38 games and is among the OHL leaders in power play goals with 11. The sophomore winger was rated second among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s mid-season rankings.
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He’s a very versatile player and he has moves for everything,” said Harrison. He’s got a couple of gears in speed and he has a big reach, and that’s one thing you have to watch. He uses his reach a lot, and you have to get his body and his stick out of the way.”
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The Battalion returns to the Bunker on Sunday afternoon to host the Ottawa 67’s. It will mark the only regular season visit to Brampton for the defending OHL champions. Game time is 2 p.m.
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