When you put a two year hold on your hockey operations to deal with the challenges of a global pandemic, there’s bound to be some miscues along the way once you get back on the ice.
For the North Bay Battalion, however, it was all systems go as soon as they got the green light to resume play.
“Last year was an awesome season,” said third-year Battalion GM Adam Dennis. “It was nice especially coming after the pandemic when we had no hockey. With so many new players there was a little uncertainty of what to expect but we definitely had a lot of pleasant surprises. Overall, it was a very successful season.”
It was equally successful for the five Battalion players who got chosen in the 2022 NHL entry draft. Ty Nelson, Tnias Mathurin, Kyle Jackson, Dominic DiVincentiis, and Liam Arnsby were all picked by NHL teams, a feather in the cap for the Battalion coaching staff who guided their development. Dennis says their inclusion in the 2022-23 line-up means good things for both the Battalion and fans of the team going forward.
“First of all, a lot of those new faces from last year are now returning players,” said Dennis. “When you’re in year two there’s a lot of things you don’t have to check off. A second-year guy can hit the ground running a little faster. We feel like we have a good veteran group. We had a great year at the NHL draft last year with five guys getting drafted and we feel there’s a couple more this year. There’s a lot of reasons to get excited about this year.”
A total of 16 of the OHL’s 20 member clubs had a player drafted in 2022 led by the Battalion, the franchise’s most since moving to North Bay. Dennis says Battalion scouts were very focused in attracting a very specific type of player to the team.
“I think our scouting staff really homed in on what we as a franchise covet and that was competitiveness and coachability. We kind of prioritized those two things and our coaching staff found a lot of those type of players. That’s given us a lot of options and a lot of players to draw from. Really from age 16 to age 20 there are a lot of exciting players here that I think can make an impact.”
As general manager, Dennis says his job is to focus on the on-ice product. His goal is to build a team that will attract fans and give them an exceptional game-day experience.
“We want a fast, exciting team. We want to score goals, we want to make saves, we want big hits. My job is to make sure we’re doing that. The other thing we want to accomplish is just being good members of the community. We’ve made a big push over the past few years and now after the pandemic we want to be community leaders and good role models for the next generation of hockey players.”
To get your tickets to see the Battalion in action, visit the team website.