Top spot at stake in early showdown
BRAMPTON, Ont. – It’s only early October in what may be the last season for the Mississauga IceDogs, but that doesn’t detract from the importance of their 7:30 p.m. Thursday visit to the Brampton Battalion.
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First place in the Central Division is on the line in the first of eight Ontario Hockey League games between the Peel Region rivals. The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 3-1-1, good for seven points and first place in the division, one point ahead of the IceDogs, who have won their first three games while scoring 21 goals.
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The IceDogs missed the playoffs last season, but Battalion coach Stan Butler said Wednesday he isn’t surprised by their fast start.
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“They have three good lines and a forward group that is older and experienced,” said Butler, whose charges boast an all-time won-lost-tied record of 34-17-5, including two overtime losses, against Mississauga since the two clubs joined the league for the 1998-99 season.
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Butler said the IceDogs have benefited from the contributions of a number of players, including goaltender Lucas Lobsinger, defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, the third overall pick in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection, and veteran left winger Travis Fuller, acquired in a trade with the Barrie Colts.
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“Their biggest question to start the season was defence and goaltending, but Lobsinger has played extremely well for them in net and Pietrangelo has come in and taken some good minutes as a rookie, kind of like Cody Hodgson has done for us. Fuller is a good overage, and defencemen like Nathan Martine and Kyle Lamb have matured as well.”
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Battalion defenceman Phil Oreskovic has faced the IceDogs 22 times over the last three seasons.
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“There’s no way I’d miss this one, especially a division rival like this,” said Oreskovic, who returns to the lineup after sitting out two games with an ankle injury suffered Sept. 24 during off-ice warmups before a 4-3 win over the host Sudbury Wolves.
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“It’s a great rivalry no matter how each team is playing. The games are always exciting.”
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Defencemen Stephane Chabot and Ken Peroff also are available after sitting out two games with an ankle injury and flu respectively.
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“I came down hard on my ankle and rolled it a bit,” said Oreskovic, who played against Sudbury despite the injury. “It was a freak accident, but they kept me out of those games as a precautionary thing. It feels great now. I really wanted to be in there. I haven’t been in the stands watching too many games during my career, that’s for sure.”
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Oreskovic, a 19-year-old Brampton resident, is no stranger to the Battalion-Mississauga rivalry, having seen plenty of meetings before joining the Troops as a first-round pick in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection.
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“Things seem to be working for them now,” Oreskovic noted of the IceDogs. “They’re coming out strong and they have a hard-working team. At the same time, I think we’ve had a pretty decent start too.”
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Eugene Melnyk, owner of both the IceDogs and Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, has said he will sell the IceDogs for relocation and move the Majors into Mississauga’s Hershey Centre as soon as possible, whether next season or for 2008-09.
