In what must have been the biggest story on Thursday, the North Bay Battalion played host to the Brampton Steelheads at Memorial Gardens. However, it was the Trout who were victorious, with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Troops.
“Not the ultimate result, but I think getting a point is massive here tonight, and the way we played,” assessed head coach Ryan Oulahen. “I really liked our game tonight. I think you try to replicate that as much as you possibly can and you will have success.
“That team is dangerous over there, they have five World Junior players, they are as good as anybody I have seen, so to be able to limit a lot of their stuff, our guys worked tonight, we’re pretty happy, as happy as you can be without the ultimate win.”
The last time these two teams met, also in North Bay, the Battalion skated away with a 4-2 victory on February 13. Since then, the Troops have gone 4-2, all on the road, and strengthened their claim on the eighth and final playoff spot, while Brampton went 4-1.
Brampton broke the ice late in the first. It was Gabrie Chiarot (14) with the goal as his shot beat returning netminder Charlie Larocque from the point. Earlier in the period, on a play that will likely make Oulahen cringe, North Bay gave up a shorthanded two-on-non, but Larocque looked up to the task with an impressive stop.
“Our goalie coach, Nate McDonald, as much as that as an intense moment, he was saying as a former goalie you love that,” Oulahen said on the shorthanded save. “Early in the game, it got him settled and into it. He was excellent.”
The score after the first was 1-0 Steelheads.
After some more great saves by Larocque, the Troops finally solved the former Canadian World Junior netminder for Brampton, Jack Ivankovic. With rookie Ryder Carey serving a generous hooking call, fellow rookie Kent Greer stole the puck from the Steelheads at the Battalion blue line, promptly passed it Lirim Amidovski (15), and the NHL draft eligible sniper beat Ivankovic over the glove to tie the game. The goal came 13:13 into the second.
The score after the second was knotted at 1-1.
After no scoring in the third, the game was off to overtime where a bad giveaway by the Troops led to a Porter Martone (30) goal over Laroque to give the victory to the Steelheads 2-1.
Larocque finished with 33 saves in the effort, and looked every bit the part the goalie the Battalion thought they had earlier in the season.
“We all kind of had a feeling he was going to do that here tonight,” Oulahen explained. “He’s had a really good development path this last little bit, he’s played a lot of hockey and had some good starts and he was ready for this one.
“Just considering everything with our trip and all the things going on, it turned out to be a really good call to put him in fresh and mentally sharp, and he was ready for it, and now we get Mike (McIvor) fresh for tomorrow.”
Speaking of tomorrow, the Battalion will be back in action in less than 24 hours in the nation's capital against the Ottawa 67’s. Ottawa is chasing North Bay for the final playoff spot, but with the point gained by the Battalion, sit five points behind.
“Every point is so huge, it really is,” says Oulahen. “Now you get an extra one, and the teams below us are thinking that’s a three-game swing almost. It puts us in a real good situation to have a good one tomorrow and we’ll see what happens in that.
“I think the guys know what’s at stake this time of year. We have 24 hours which is nice, we’re at home, sleep in our own bed and sleep in a bit. We know what the trip to Ottawa is like, so we can recover on Saturday.”
Puck drop from TD Place in Ottawa is 7 p.m.