Stan Butler says its early. While he isn’t thrilled with a 0-2 record he says this isn’t his first rodeo, and the panic button isn’t something the long time Battalion bench boss is about to press any time soon.
“Unlike a lot of leaders, I call it like it is, we are a bad team right now, we proved that our first two games and as I said to the players we’ve got to decide where we want to go here. This group of guys is carrying the torch, the standards of the past two teams that have carried the torch are very, very high and it’s up to these guys to see what level they want to be at so we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, we definitely don’t have any orange pylons on the ice but we are definitely under construction,” said Butler.
The Troops embark on a busy weekend starting tonight when they face the visiting Kitchener Rangers and then follow that up with a contest against former Centennial Derian Hatcher and the Sarnia Sting at home Friday night.
Butler expects forward Calvin Gomes to enter the lineup this weekend. The 18-year-old has suffered through two season ending injuries the past two seasons.
“He’s a guy that’s capable easily to be one of our top forwards,” said Butler about Gomes.
“He’s a big kid, who is a really good skater - he’s not far off Bratina skating wise. He’s the type of guy you need as he is really good on the forecheck, he will be good on the penalty kill.”
Gomes is a welcome addition to a struggling Battalion offence that has only mustered one goal in the first two games to start the year.
Wood return?
Butler is also optimistic that defenceman Kyle Wood will return to the lineup soon. The big defenceman, who had off-season surgery on his hand, was in Colorado earlier this week having his healing hand evaluated by the Colorado Avalanche team surgeon.
“If he can play, he’ll only be three or four days and he will be ready to go as his conditioning is outstanding,” said Butler about Wood.
Wood’s 16 goals from the back end last year will be a welcome addition to the Battalion play that’s 1 for 8 so far this season.
Opportunity awaits
Butler admitted he wants to see a better compete level about of the 2015-16 version of the Battalion. This early in the season there’s real opportunity for some of the youthful Battalion forwards to step up.
“If some of the guys want to get some big minutes right off the bat then this is the year and we are willing to do it,” admitted Butler about the opportunity.
“If we get some of these guys playing really well and they can jump over guys, we are an equal opportunity team and we just want to win.”
