Troops host North Bay on Sunday afternoon

BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Troops will be looking for their first-ever home-ice win over the North Bay Centennials when they welcome the Cents to the Bunker on Sunday afternoon. Game time is 2 p.m.
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Both teams come into Sunday´s contest after games with the Erie Otters. Despite having a pair of one-goal leads, the Battalion dropped a 4-3 decision to the Otters Friday night in Erie while North Bay lost 5-2 to the Otters at the Tullio Arena on Saturday night. The Centennials shut out the Kitchener Rangers 3-0 on Friday night and have three wins and a tie in their last five games.
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"I thought the effort was there against Erie," said Battalion Assistant Coach Brent Loney. "The difference in the game was that their key players stepped up when they had to. They got a shorthanded goal and won the game.
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"There was a pretty good flow to that game," Loney continued. "It was probably the best game we have been in this season, five-on-five. There weren´t a lot of penalties."
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"Erie´s rink is a tough one to play in and we haven´t had much success there," said veteran winger Chris Rowan, who picked up a goal and an assist against the Otters. "We played a good game, but we just couldn´t pull it out in the end and those are the kind of games we need to win."
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"It was a close game and a tough one to lose because we worked so hard," said defenceman Jay Harrison. "We worked so hard and didn´t get anything and I think that should make us want to work even harder. We should be really upset because we had a chance to win that game and we didn´t."
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Brampton and North Bay split their season series last year. Rostislav Klesla scored two goals as the Troops beat the Centennials 6-3 in North Bay on Nov. 16, and Canadian National Junior Team goaltender Alex Auld stopped 36 shots as the Cents beat the Battalion 4-2 at the Bunker on Feb. 22.
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North Bay has never lost in Brampton. The Centennials overcame a four-goal deficit with six third period goals to beat a young Battalion squad 8-6 on Dec. 20, 1998, and skated to a 7-3 win on Dec. 19, 1999.
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Veteran forward Jeff Doyle leads the Centennials in scoring with 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 10 games. Centre Chris Thorburn, a second-round draft choice of the Buffalo Sabres in 2001, has 12 points (6 goals and 6 assists). Overage forward Brad Yeo, traded from Erie to North Bay on Oct. 2, has nine points (5 goals, 5 assists) in eight games this season. Former Battalion defenceman Alex MacDonell, who was traded from Brampton to North Bay on Oct. 3, has two assists in five games for the Centennials. Sophomore Andrew Penner has succeeded Alex Auld in the North Bay goal. He has appeared in seven games this season and sports a 2-3-1 record with a 4.25 goals-against average. Penner made 50 saves in Friday´s win over Kitchener. Rookie Tyson Kellerman is the backup. Kellerman has played in five games, including Saturday´s loss at Erie, and has a record of 1-2-1 and a 3.56 goals-against average.
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"If we have an effort like we had against Erie, we´ll be alright," said Loney. "We need to put two or three wins together and start moving up the standings."
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"It´s going to be a big game," said Harrison, "and one we need to win at home. We can´t be winning a game and then losing two, especially with Erie coming up again next week."
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"It´s a big game for us," agreed Captain Kurt MacSweyn. "We can´t afford to be 3-6, it´s a lot better to be 4-5 and we can work from there."
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