The North Bay Battalion continue to exceed expectations in 2021-22 and tonight a Troops team that finished last in the OHL standings in 2019-20 before COVID-19 hit, is poised to clinch a Central Division OHL regular-season title as the Mississauga Steelheads visit Memorial Gardens Thursday night.
With a victory, North Bay, which boasts a won-lost-extended record of 39-18-6 for 84 points, would clinch first place in the Central Division ahead of both second-place Mississauga and the third-place Barrie Colts.
Mississauga is 36-22-7 for 79 points with three games left on its schedule, meaning it can get to no more than 85 points, the same number as Barrie, which is 33-22-7 for 73 points with six games to play after a 1-0 overtime loss Tuesday night to the visiting Peterborough Petes.
“I think the biggest thing is approaching it as another notch, no different than when we clinched playoffs,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said during Wednesday's media conference.
“We acknowledged it early in the week with the players, but then after that, I really don’t want to talk about results to them. For me as a young coach, I’ve learned big time along the way that, when you start talking about results before the game even happens, that’s when you kind of get away from certain things.
“We talked about it already a couple of days ago, and now we’re just going about our business as usual, planning things like we always do, having our structure and routine the same, and hopefully tomorrow night turns into a good night.”
Oulahen admits that Mississauga poses a significant challenge.
“They’re a really strong, big strong hockey team. They’re built on the back end with big bodies that can really defend and be physical, and their structure as a team is what makes them successful, so we’ve got to fight through that. We can’t get frustrated when things don’t happen our way. There’ll be ebbs and flows in the game.
“We’ve got to be prepared to have our best tomorrow.”
The Battalion, on a four-game winning streak and 20-3-0 in its last 23 games, completes its weekend schedule with a Saturday night visit to Barrie.
The Battalion’s 39 wins are the most since relocation from Brampton in 2013, surpassing the 38 games won in 2013-14, and 23 home wins tie the club record in the North Bay era, set in 2015-16. The franchise records are 47 wins in 2008-09 and 29 home wins in the same season.