NORTH BAY, Ont. – The North Bay Battalion’s improbable playoff push got a huge shot in the arm Thursday night, as the Troops completely neutralized the Kingston Frontenacs in a 1-0 victory.
The win moved the Battalion within four points of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The win was the team’s third in a row, tying a season-high. The victory continued an excellent run of hockey the team has turned in over the last calendar month, going 6-1-2 since a 9-1 thumping at Ottawa on Feb. 9.
Goaltender Joe Vrbetic made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season, though he didn’t have to make many huge saves due to the stingy defensive effort put forth by his teammates. Kingston’s Christian Propp, the Battalion’s starter the previous two seasons, did not get the same support from his squad, with a number of his 36 saves needing to be stellar. The lone goal off the stick of Harrison Caines in the third period was enough to give the home side a big win in front of 1,984 fans.
“That’s as complete a hockey game as I think we can find.” said head coach Ryan Oulahen . “We felt going the third that if we stuck with it, we thought we would get a bounce to go our way.”
“It’s been something we’ve really stressed is how we’ve been playing in front of our net, how we’re coming back into our zone,” said Oulahen of Thursday’s strong defensive play. “We were on loose pucks really quick, and when you don’t spend a lot of time in your zone, you just have more energy.”
North Bay accomplished the shutout without several starting defencemen including Paul Christopoulos, Pacey Schlueting and Avery Winslow. Oulahen was extremely pleased with what he saw from his rearguards who stifled the Frontenacs, including underage phenom Shane Wright, all night.
“That was an impressive performance.” said Oulahen of the defence that played increased minutes. “Obviously, Ryan Thompson getting a big assist on the goal was huge. We’re going to need those guys to step up. We’re not getting a lot of guys back in the lineup, so we’re going to have to stick with the status quo. We’ve had the theme of interchangeable pieces. It shouldn’t matter who is in there as long as we’re all playing the same way and buying into the systems.”
The entire night’s effort was encapsulated during a late penalty kill when Mason Primeau was sent off on a fairly soft hooking call. North Bay was barely threatened as it took almost 90 seconds for the Frontenacs to even get the puck past the faceoff circles in the Battalion end, and what would typically be tense final moments at 6-on-4 went by with essentially no danger.
The Battalion now finds itself caught between two interesting potential outcomes. On one hand, a last-place finish would earn the organization the no. 1 overall OHL and Import Draft selections, while on the other, a playoff berth would provide a huge boost in morale for both the team and fanbase, saying nothing of the business perks at least two home playoff games would provide. The mushy middle would be a 9th place finish where the club wouldn’t receive any of the benefits of either scenario. All that being said, the players and coaching staff remain rightly focused on pursuing the playoff spot that was a pipe dream just weeks ago.
The Battalion is in Mississauga tomorrow night to face the Steelheads and are back at home Sunday to take on the league-leading Ottawa 67’s. The Troops are still building off the terrific game the last time they faced Ottawa, a 6-2 win on Feb. 20.