Petes complete Brampton circle
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion, which played its first Ontario Hockey League regular-season game against the Peterborough Petes, plays its last against the same club at 2 p.m. Sunday.
While the Battalion reaches a milestone before relocating to North Bay next season, the visiting Petes compete for their playoff lives, with a win guaranteeing an Eastern Conference postseason berth ahead of either the Kingston Frontenacs or Mississauga Steelheads.
Peterborough has a won-lost-extended record of 26-34-7 for 59 points, third in the East Division and eighth in the conference. Mississauga completed its schedule Saturday with a 4-3 road victory over the Ottawa 67’s to climb into seventh place in the conference at 60 points. With the top eight qualifying for the playoffs, ninth-place Kingston, which has 58 points, hosts Ottawa on Sunday.
“It’s the last regular-season game in Brampton,” said Matt MacLeod, who scored three goals and added one assist in a 5-3 home-ice verdict Friday night over the Barrie Colts. “Obviously, we want to close it out with a win, so we’re going to come out hard and do what we can to get one.”
The Battalion must do that without forwards Connor Jarvis and Brandon Robinson, both of whom were injured against Barrie. Jarvis, diagnosed with a concussion after taking a solid centre-ice check from Jake Dotchin, wore a neck brace Saturday, while Robinson had a swollen ankle.
Calvin Gomes, who has played five OHL games this season but none since being called up at the end of the junior B Brampton Bombers’ season, was expected to dress against Peterborough.
The Battalion, 33-25-9 for 75 points, frozen at second in the Central Division and fourth in the conference, faces the Sudbury Wolves in a best-of-seven playoff series starting Thursday night at home. The Troops, 2-1-0 against Peterborough this season, have won three straight games and five of their last six.
“These three or four games ahead of the playoffs are great tuneup games,” said MacLeod. “We’ve been having success playing a playoff style of hockey already, so we want to carry that through against a tough team like Peterborough that’s fighting for one of the remaining spots.”
MacLeod and linemates Patrik Machac and Blake Clarke sparked the offence against Barrie and goaltender Mathias Niederberger, with Machac scoring one goal and assisting on three while Clarke provided three assists.
“It was probably one of the best full-team efforts I’ve ever seen us play,” said MacLeod. “From our penalty killing to the power play and goaltending, everything was spot on. We were tracking pucks and blocked a lot of shots. We made sure we got it deep into their zone.
“Clarke and I have had success from the get-go. We threw Patrik in there, and he’s gelled well with us. We all bring something different to the table and complement each other well.”
Clarke, the Battalion’s first-round pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection, has a three-game points streak during which he has earned five assists. Among the league’s top rookie points producers, he has 19 goals and 32 assists for 51 points in 67 games.
“I think our line has been playing really well lately,” said Clarke. “We’re starting to see the rewards of it now that things are starting to go in for us more regularly. It’s big for our line to step up and provide some secondary scoring, because it will help us go far in the playoffs.”
MacLeod said he was pleased with the way the Battalion, 5-0-1 against Barrie, closed out the season series with the Colts, first-place finishers in the Central.
“They’re not really a physical team but more of a skilled team. We’ve had success against them all year playing our style of hockey. We knew that we had to stick to that for this game, and it worked.”
Said Clarke: “We did a great job shutting down the Colts, but what’s even more positive for us is that we were able to score five goals on one of the top goalies in the league.”
The expansion Battalion played its first game at Peterborough on Sept. 24, 1998, with Jason Maleyko scoring the Troops’ goal in a 5-1 loss.
