Troops at quarter pole of OHL race
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Ontario Hockey League’s regular season is about to enter crunch time, and Brampton Battalion players and coaches know it.
“Some teams can be good at the start of the season, but what it comes down to is who’s playing the best down the stretch and through the playoffs,” defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti said Sunday.
“We want to stay on this roll here and keep winning key games so we can stay at the top of our division. We want the challenge. We know what kind of team we have here.”
The Battalion hit the three-quarters mark of its 68-game schedule in a 7-3 home-ice victory Sunday over the Erie Otters. The Troops lead the Central Division with a won-lost-extended record of 30-18-3 for 63 points, six more than the Niagara IceDogs. The Battalion trails the Belleville Bulls, first in the East Division and Eastern Conference, by 10 points.
The power play produced four goals in nine opportunities against Erie, equaling its total for the previous seven games. The man-advantage unit ranks seventh in the OHL, with 65 goals in 318 opportunities for an effectiveness rate of 20.4 percent.
The Troops’ penalty killers are second in the league, having allowed 35 goals in 267 shorthanded situations for a kill rate of 86.9 percent. The Battalion, the OHL’s third-least penalized team, trails only the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, at 87.5 percent.
“Right now, getting the power play going is a big thing for us,” noted Sanguinetti. “But we need to play our game at both ends of the ice.”
The Troops have done well at home recently, posting a 10-3-0 mark in their last 13 such games. The Battalion, 16-9-0 at home and 14-9-3 on the road, are tied with Belleville for the most road victories in the conference. Both teams trail the Kitchener Rangers, who have 17 away wins.
At this point in the season, Battalion coach Stan Butler, whose charges host the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors at 7 p.m. Thursday, wants to know what he’s going to get in every outing.
“As a coach you want to know, when you put a player out there, that you’re going to get the same game out of him every night. You don’t want players who are going to be up and down. A coach has to know what he’s getting. He can’t guess or hope at what a guy can do.”
Butler said he hopes that left winger Cory Emmerton’s game is returning to its level at the time he was acquired Dec. 5 from the Kingston Frontenacs. Emmerton, who missed nine games in December and January with mononucleosis, has four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 14 games with the Troops.
“To be fair to Cory, there’s probably a big adjustment when you get over that. But he’s an experienced player and, as things progress here, I’m confident he’ll get his game to where it needs to be for the playoffs.”
The Battalion has 11 games left against conference opponents, including six with division rivals.
“Niagara’s playing well, and Mississauga’s really stepped up its game,” said Butler. “We’ve gone through some stretches where we haven’t been consistent, and in the last quarter we will really have to strive to be better in that area.”
Butler said every team, no matter its place in the standings, has something on the line down the stretch.
“Everybody has different reasons for wanting to play well. Some players want to show their teams what they can do for next season. Some teams may be battling to make the playoffs, and some teams may be battling for first place.”
Said defenceman and captain John de Gray: “We have to make sure we show up every game, especially against teams battling for a playoff spot. We can’t take anyone lightly at this time of the season.”
