Surging Battalion captures Central title
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion did double duty Sunday, winning an Ontario Hockey League division title and drawing closer to first place in the Eastern Conference.
Cody Hodgson scored two goals and added two assists to pace the Battalion to a 7-0 victory over the Peterborough Petes, clinching the Troops’ second consecutive Central Division championship.
The win, before a crowd of 2,988, was the Battalion’s third in three days and moved its won-lost-extended record to 42-18-2 for 86 points, two behind the Belleville Bulls, who top the East Division and conference. The Troops have one game in hand.
The Battalion, which won the division crown for the third time in four years, got two goals from Scott Tanski, while Matt Duchene had one goal and three assists. Matt Kang produced one goal and one assist, and Craig Moore also scored. Goaltender Patrick Killeen made 12 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Ryan Daniels faced 34 shots in goal for Peterborough, 25-34-3 for 53 points, fourth in the East Division, ninth in the conference and on the outside looking in for a playoff berth.
The Battalion enjoyed a banner weekend, beating the visiting Niagara IceDogs 6-0 Friday night and winning 4-1 at Belleville on Saturday night.
“Our guys worked very hard today,” said coach Stan Butler. “You always get worried about an emotional letdown after a big win like we had last night. But, to their credit, the guys really competed. We knew there was a lot at stake for the Petes.”
Butler, who juggled his lines, said the move paid off.
“We wanted some more balance and we wanted to play four lines, since this was our third game in three days. We put some guys in different situations, and it worked out great. We didn’t worry too much about matching lines and we got some good results.”
Hodgson said the Battalion built on the big win over Belleville.
“We know when we play our game we can compete with anyone. This game was an extension of that. We just rolled with that momentum we got from last night. We didn’t want any letdowns. Killeen was great when he was tested. That had to be a tough game for him to not get a lot of shots. Our defence did a great job, too.
“To give up only one goal in three games means we had to play well everywhere, offensively and defensively. Our forwards were coming back breaking up plays, and our power play and penalty killing were good.”
Duchene said that, while the division title is an accomplishment, the Troops have loftier aspirations.
“We’d love to finish first in the conference. We have a great chance to do well in the playoffs, and having home-ice advantage all the way through would really help.”
Hodgson opened the scoring on the power play at 7:20 of the first period, drilling home a pass from Josh Day. It extended Hodgson’s club records for single-season and career game-winning goals to 11 and 22 respectively.
Duchene made it 2-0 with his 30th goal of the season with the man advantage at 1:09 of the second period, and Tanski extended the lead at 5:38. Moore made it 4-0 at 13:31 with his fifth goal.
Hodgson scored his 36th goal on the power play at 2:47 of the third period, tying Evgeny Grachev for the team lead. Kang netted his 20th goal at 11:52, and Tanski finished the scoring on the power play at 19:46.
The Battalion scratched Kyle Pereira, Cameron Wind and Derek Gregorack. Peterborough was without Jake Laplante, Jack Walchessen, Adam Sedlak and Barron Smith.
The Battalion visits Niagara at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The crowd was the third-largest of the season … The Battalion has won the Central title four times in seven years in the division, the first win coming in 2002-03 … Peterborough’s 12 shots were the fewest the Troops have allowed this season … The Battalion had a season-high four power-play goals in seven chances. Peterborough was 0-for-5 … The Troops are 26-4-1 at home. The Petes are 10-20-1 on the road … Killeen has won his last six decisions … The game was delayed five minutes early in the first period as arena staff replaced a pane of glass at the timekeeper’s bench. The glass was knocked loose by a collision between Andrew Merrett and the Petes’ Zach Harnden … Opening Battalion line combinations included Hodgson centring left winger Kang and right winger Anthony Peluso, Duchene pivoting left winger Grachev and right winger Merrett and Thomas Stajan centring left winger Stephon Thorne and right winger Tanski. Sam Carrick centred Moore on left wing and right winger Dale … Hodgson has 99 goals in 178 games, having moved past Adam Henrich to rank fourth on the Troops’ career list. With 113 assists, Hodgson has passed Raffi Torres for fourth place on the club’s all-time list … Duchene has 126 points in 117 games, two more than Michael Vernace and 18th on the club’s career list … Hodgson and Kang have six-game points streaks … Day’s assist was his 100th in 251 games with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the Mississauga and Niagara IceDogs and the Battalion … Defenceman Ben Alavie was honoured as the Battalion’s scholastic player for January … The Troops outscored the Petes 21-6 in sweeping the four-game season series.
