Battalion eliminated in second round sweep (PHOTO GALLERY)

Losing on home ice is never a nice way to end a season. 

But for North Bay Battalion fans, at least they got to say goodbye to some of the franchise’s most revered players in person after their 6-0 shutout loss to the Barrie Colts on Thursday night. 

The Troops were officially eliminated as the Colts overcame a slow start to score six unanswered goals and strike playoff revenge against the team that eliminated them the past two seasons. 

First star Andrew Mangiapane was the lead horse with two goals and two assists, while Kevin Lebanc snapped up second star with a goal and two assists and Cordell James buried two of his own. 

“Feeling the defeat of the past two years I guess stung, but I guess this kind of makes up for it sweeping them here so I mean, they are a great team and it’s nice we get the momentum going into the conference finals,” said Mangiapane, who was on the losing side in 2014 and 2015 to the Troops. 

The Battalion offensive weapons, on the other hand, were nowhere to be found when they needed them most. 

Mackenzie Blackwood played a big role in shutting them down though, stopping all 29 North Bay shots in his first clean sheet performance of the post-season. 

“You could really see in this series that our depth just wasn’t there,” Battalion bench boss Stan Butler said after the game. “Through the whole playoff series, their top line badly out-played our top line. We rely on our top line to do the damage and tonight they got damaged. 

“It’s tough to chase teams that are as skilled as they are from behind,” he added. “Other than game two, that’s pretty much what we did the whole series.” 

The loss marks the first time the Troops have been swept since being in North Bay, with the last four-game series loss coming to Niagara in the 2012-13 season when the team was in Brampton. 

But it looked promising early on in game four. 

The Troops came out to a storming start, winning all battles along the boards and races to the puck. They pushed the horses back on the heels with two early power play opportunities too, but ultimately couldn't convert and it cost them. 

Not long after, Barrie buried two goals before the first period was out to sprint to the early lead. 

On just their second shot of the game, Colts forward Giordano Finoro came out on top of a doorstep scramble in the North Bay crease with what proved to be the game-winner. 

Before the period was out, Labanc buried a five-hole wrister while using defenceman Cam Dineen as a screen in front of Jake Smith for the two-goal lead. 

The Troops continued to stumble in the second too, committing a costly turnover inside their own blue line to Rasmus Andersson, who fed Mangiapane on the transition two-on-one for his first of the night. 

Down by three, The Troops switched to the high-risk, high-reward style that they needed to, but three more Barrie goals in the third period, two off the stick of James, helped the Colts run down the clock to seal the series-deciding win. 

“I would think before the game tonight I was pretty confident that we would come up with a strong effort,” said Butler. “I knew we were fighting an uphill battle into this series, but I didn’t expect it to finish in four games.” 

The Colts will now face the Niagara IceDogs in the Eastern Conference final series, both having swept their second round opponent. 

The Battalion, meanwhile, will reflect on a season of exceeding expectations given the adversity their lineup faced from day one. 

“I thought our guys had a good season, given the guys that we lost at the start of the year - with [Calvin] Gomes and [Zach] Bratina, we decided to move [Miles] Liberati to get some of our picks back and then we had Mike Baird decide to take a break from hockey, and then [Brett] Hargrave was starting to play really well and he got hurt,” said Butler. 

Overagers saluted, a new generation of Troops ushered in

While overage players Mathew Santos and Jake Smith were given an emotional send off from the seventh man after the game, they also helped welcome the newest crop of Battalion draftees before the game. 

Smith graduates as the all-time franchise leader in wins (90), games played (170), playoff games (49), playoff wins (27) and post-season shutouts (5).  

Santos, meanwhile, finishes his OHL career with a remarkable season in which he finished second in team scoring with a career-high 29 goals and 40 assists. 

Fellow veterans Mike Amadio and Kyle Wood, who both signed entry-level contracts with their respective NHL teams, were also saluted for their leadership, with Amadio capping off the first-ever 50-goal season in franchise history. 

“It’s a pretty special group of guys - it’s the last group of guys that have been with us since our franchise was in Brampton and I think every one of them - I call them the Big Four - have all left a real landmark here on the community and on the team,” said Butler.  

“They’re a group of guys that I’m going to really miss as we move forward,” he added. 

With a promising crop of young talent and a strong class of draftees waiting to prove themselves, Butler said he’s optimistic for the future though. 

“Hopefully they learn what it takes,” said Butler. “They now know what it’s like to get out of the first round, but they now know how hard it is to get to the conference finals and stuff like that.

“We call is passing the torch - now some of our guys that were in support roles really have to step it up,” he added. “Hopefully a series like this is motivation to our players to see what you need to do and what you have to do to be a good team and to do well as you go forward.”