Troops, Otters renew acquaintances in 1-1 tie
BRAMPTON, Ont. – David Chant made 33 saves, including several key stops in overtime, as the Battalion and the visiting Erie Otters battled to a hard-fought 1-1 tie in front of 2,105 fans at the Bunker Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s game was the first meeting of the Midwest Division rivals since the Otters ousted the Battalion in six games in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
The first two periods featured plenty of hitting but very few good scoring chances. The Battalion had the best opportunity with a little over six minutes left in the first period when Chris Rowan broke in all alone on Otters goaltender Adam Munro but the second year winger fired the puck over the net.
Lukas Havel, who excited the crowd by fighting Erie defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo in the second period, broke a scoreless tie at 3:28 of the third period with his seventh of the season. Brad Woods had fired a hard point shot that Munro handled but Havel corralled the rebound and drilled in home. Jay McClement picked up the other assist. Havel has now collected six points in his last three games.
Less than five minutes later, with Erie forward Jason Baird in the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct, Battalion defenceman Paul Flache fanned on a point shot and Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick Brad Boyes pounced on the puck and took off towards the Brampton goal.
Flache set off in hot pursuit and when he hauled down Boyes just as got to the Battalion goal, referee Pat Smola signaled a penalty shot.
After much discussion between the officials and captains from both teams, Boyes, who scored on a penalty shot in Erie’s 5-3 win over the London Knights Saturday night, picked up the puck at center ice and moved in on Brampton goaltender David Chant. Boyes appeared to hesitate just after the crossing the blueline but eventually released a shot to Chant’s glove side. The Battalion netminder appeared to make the save but the puck found its way into the net.
“I felt really confident before the shot and I was really ready for it,” said Chant after the game. “I thought I had a good chance to stop it but the delay before he took the shot was longer than I expected and it built up the pressure and took away some of my relaxation. I really wasn’t trying to read anything into what he might do but I know from our own practices dealing with guys like Raffi Torres and Lukas Havel, if you go right at them, they’ll go around you. I was really just trying to play it as honestly as possible and not try to anticipate anything because I think when you try to make the first move that’s when you get into trouble.”
Chant said that he got a “big piece” of Boyes’ shot. “He shot it in close on the glove side and I got my arm on it,” he explained, “and it was unfortunate how the puck fell because it fell on my leg and it rolled down my pad and picked up some momentum and rolled into the net. But for a split second I had control of it.”
The game opened up following Boyes’ goal and the Troops came close to regaining the lead when Jay McClement fired a wrist shot off the post with less than five minutes left.
Kurt MacSweyn punctuated what had been a very physical contest when he dumped Otters forward Brad Yeo headfirst into the photographer’s bay between the two benches.
The game headed into overtime and both teams had excellent scoring chances in the extra frame.
Brad Yeo drilled a shot off the post with a little over three minutes left and a few seconds later Lukas Havel had Adam Munro beat but was unable to life the puck over the prone Erie goaltender. Chant also made a huge pad save on a point blank drive by Nikita Alexeev.
Final shots on goal favoured Erie 34-32.
“I thought we played pretty well today and anytime you can hold a team like Erie to one goal in 65 minutes it’s good,” said Battalion Head Coach Stan Butler. “I think this was the first game this year where we worked for the whole game. Erie is a team that is 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and they have been playing extremely well. Any team that has Brad Boyes and Nikita Alexeev (selected eighth overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft) is going to be a big, strong hockey team.”
“They had a few good chances that I was fortunate to make good saves on,” said David Chant, “but to be honest, for most of the game, I think we did a really good job defensively of making them shoot from outside. We were really clearing the front of the net well and I was almost like a quarterback in the pocket in that I was protected when long shots would come in. When long shots come in and the forwards are coming back and giving me space to block out rebounds, it makes my job a lot easier.”
Battalion sniper Raffi Torres was held pointless on Sunday for the first time this season. The New York Islander draftee had scored in each of the previous eight games he had played this season and had not been shut out of a regular season game since February 24, 2000.
Tyler Hanchuck, Jesse Harnden, Ryan Bowness and Scott Thompson did not dress for Brampton.
Mike McKeown, Marc Higginbotham and Joey Sullivan were scratched for the Otters.
Erie (7-3-3) is still in first place in the Midwest Division, three points ahead of the second place Owen Sound Attack. The Battalion (4-3-3-1) is in third place in the division, two points behind Owen Sound.
Brampton is back in action again Thursday night when they host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at the Bunker. The Troops travel to Erie for a rematch with the Otters Friday night and return to Brampton to host the Barrie Colts Sunday afternoon.
Erie is idle until the Battalion visits Friday night.
