The North Bay Battalion are picking up a passenger en route to Erie for their tilt against Stan Butler's Otters on Friday night.
Shamar Moses, a talented 2007 birth year forward joined the Battalion on the road trip as they key piece of a trade that sent the popular forward Dalyn Wakely to the Barrie Colts in exchange for Moses and a pair of draft picks.
The Thanksgiving roadie is part of a two-game road trip this weekend to end a season-high run of six away dates before returning home for the traditional Thanksgiving Monday.
After the Friday visit to Erie, the Troops will head back into Canada to face Masen Wray and the Niagara IceDogs 7 p.m. Saturday night in St. Catharines and then head home to tackle Scott Wray's Owen Sound Attack at 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens on Thanksgiving Monday.
The Troops, who sit 3-2 on the season, head out after a tough eastern road swing that saw them beat Peterborough 5-3 last Thursday night but then fell 9-0 to Kingston Saturday night and then a 6-3 setback at the hands of the well-rested Ottawa 67's on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s tough,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday of the three-in-three challenge during his weekly media conference.
“You don’t want to ever put excuses on, make your players aware of that or anything like that, and we certainly didn’t as we were going through it, but I knew going into the weekend it was going to be tough, and certainly on reflection of the weekend that was a big difference, for sure, of just what our schedule was and what our opponents’ schedule was. It does help you as a coach, and I think this is where experience comes into play."
See related: Wakely heading to rival Colts
Nolan Laird, who played in his first three-in-three as a regular with the Troops, admitted it was a grind.
"It was our third game of the weekend it was Ottawa's first, but as our confidence grows, that experience is going to the help team put wins on the board," he said.
