Troops return to action in New Year´s Eve date with ´Dogs
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Troops will return to action Monday afternoon when they welcome the Mississauga IceDogs to the Bunker for the regional rivals´ annual New Year´s Eve encounter. Game time is 2 p.m., and the Brampton-based pop group ic6 will perform the national anthem.
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The Troops will be looking to snap a three-game losing skid, while the ´Dogs come to the Brampton Centre off a 5-3 win over the Peterborough Petes on Friday night. Mississauga scored three goals in a span of 1:50 in the third period to pick up its third win in its last 10 games. Nathan O´Nabigon scored a pair of goals and added an assist for the ´Dogs, who have also registered recent wins over Erie and Kingston.
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Patrick O´Sullivan, the top pick in the 2001 OHL Priority Selection, leads OHL rookies in scoring with 18 goals and 28 assists. Veteran forward Matt Passfield is second in team scoring with 37 points, while Igor Radulov, Mississauga´s first-ever import selection, has scored 15 goals and added 15 assists. Third-year netminder Miguel Beaudry, who joined Missisauga in a recent trade from Sudbury, was between the pipes for the ´Dogs´ recent wins over Erie and Peterbrough. Beaudry has a 3-7-0 record with a 3.54 goals-against average in 10 games.
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The game will mark the first appearance at the Bunker for former Battalion defenceman Travis Parent as a member of the IceDogs. Parent, traded to Mississauga for rearguard Grant Buckley on Nov. 6, has earned four assists in 20 games with the ´Dogs. Buckley, the first player chosen in the 1999 OHL Bantam Draft, has earned four points in 18 games with the Battalion.
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Monday´s matinee will be the third meeting of the season between Brampton and Mississauga. Kurt MacSweyn scored a hat trick in a 7-5 win for the Troops at the Hershey Centre on Oct. 24. In the last game, Nov. 1 at the Bunker, the ´Dogs rallied from a 4-1 first-period deficit to earn a 5-5 tie.
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The Troops are 8-1-1 against the IceDogs at the Bunker and have a 15-1-4 all-time mark against Mississauga. The Battalion is 3-0-0 on New Year´s Eve against Mississauga. The ´Dogs have not beaten Brampton since Mar. 14, 1999.
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The Battalion and the IceDogs will meet again at the Hershey Centre on Wednesday night. The Troops will travel to Kitchener on Friday before returning home to host the Erie Otters at the Bunker on Jan. 6.
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