The North Bay Battalion is back to a normal routine as they battle for a playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 23-31-5 for 51 points, fifth in the Central Division and eighth in the conference, one point ahead of the Ottawa 67’s, fourth in the East Division and ninth in the conference. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.
The Battalion, which suffered an 8-3 loss Sunday to the visiting Saginaw Spirit, completed a stretch of seven games, including five on the road, in 11 days. The Troops have nine games left to play, six of them at home, in the next three weeks.
North Bay plays host to the Niagara IceDogs at 7 p.m. Thursday, visits the Brampton Steelheads on Friday night and has a Sunday date with Ottawa at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
“It makes a big difference when you start at home and you have those two days (of practice),” Oulahen stated during Wednesday's media conference.
“You know you have Monday off, (and) you can really handle your week a little bit better. Then you go Thursday-Friday. We get our normal Saturday recovery. I love these weeks, and it’s going to be the same for three in a row.”
After a late February surge, the Battalion has taken a step back, going 0-3-1 in their past four contests.
“We had a good talk yesterday as a group, and the scheduling, the tiredness, all that, is way behind us, and no more excuses here," he said.
"We really get to kind of dictate our own fate. These next three weeks everything’s in our hands.
“We talked about not scoreboard-watching anymore, and I think that’s key. It’s in our own hands. If we do our business and take care of what we need to take care of, having that one-point lead right now, the next nine games, we feel like we can handle ourselves really well, so that’s going to be the plan.”
Oulahen noted that the Niagara game looms large in keeping the Battalion competitive.
“Tomorrow’s huge. It’s absolutely massive,” he said bluntly on Wednesday.
"We have got to play a very disciplined game against Niagara, we have to be better away from the puck and making things not so much dangerous against us and if we do that, you put yourself in a situation to have success."
Niagara, which ended a 12-game losing streak in which it went 0-9-3 with a 6-4 home-ice victory Saturday night over the London Knights, dropped a close 3-2 decision to Sudbury in the Nickel City on Wednesday night.
“They’ve kind of had our number in that opportunistic way where, you make a mistake, it’s in the back of your net, so we’ve got to play a really disciplined game tomorrow,” said Oulahen. “We’ve got to be better away from the puck and making things maybe not so dangerous against us.”
The Battalion has missed blueliners Aaron Enright and Brayden Turley, both recovering from injury, in recent games, but Oulahen said Enright may play against Niagara.
Ethan Procyszyn paces Battalion scorers with a team-leading 31 goals and 26 assists for 57 points in 59 games. Shamar Moses and Jacob LeBlanc are tied at 45 points, Moses on 12 goals and 33 assists in 52 games since a trade from the Barrie Colts and LeBlanc on eight goals and a team-best 37 assists in 59 games. Jacob Therrien has 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points in 48 games.
Entering the Sudbury game, Ryan Roobroeck led Niagara points producers with team-high totals of 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points in 56 games. Kevin He had 31 goals and 37 assists for 68 points in 54 games, while Andrei Loshko had 33 goals and 32 assists for 65 points in 59 games.