Battalion drop home opener to Petes (VIDEO)

Battalion forward Vincent Praplan takes a shot on goal in the first period. Photo by Mark Pare.

North Bay’s 11-year wait for OHL hockey was finally over Friday night, but the Peterborough Petes (5-3-0-1) spoiled the Battalion (5-5-0-0) home opener with a 2-1 win in front of an announced 4,236 fans.

Chase Hatcher and Michael Clarke scored for the Petes, while Nick Paul replied for the Troops.

“We didn’t deserve to win, they deserved to win,” said Battalion head coach Stan Butler, “They just played harder than us tonight. Sometimes games don’t finish the way you want and I just thought we looked really tired at the start of the game and we lost a lot of one-on-one battles the whole night and as a result of that, we weren’t really successful.”

Butler says he feels they let the fans down but that the crowd itself was outstanding.

“I think it was great and I think it might have caught the player’s off-guard too,” he said, “I think sometimes, even though in life, when sometimes you think you know what you’re going to get, I think it was even more than what we expected so I’m hoping it caught them off-guard and they got over that now and come Monday, they’re going to realize that they’ve got a strong, powerful crowd and we got to give them more to cheer about.”

The game didn’t start until just after 7:30pm because of the pregame ceremony which included a video chronicling the relocation and renovations, as well as player introductions and a ceremonial puck drop.

Owner Scott Abbott dropped the puck with members of the CFB 22Wing, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund board member Jason Corbett, Mayor Al McDonald, OHL Commissioner David Branch and former Cent and current Rogers Sportsnet personality Nick Kypreos.

Troop goaltender Jake Smith says the wait was a bit tough but was something they’ve been looking forward to all week.

“The build up to it,” he says, “Moving into the room, moving into the rink, seeing the progress in the rink every single time we come back here to practice and it’s been great and definitely the fans and the entire city of North Bay did not disappoint tonight.”

When play did get underway, the teams took time to adjust to the new rink.

“With all due respect, I thought the ice was pretty bad tonight,” Butler said, “I think it’s probably going to take them a while to get the ice where it needs to get to and I think the puck was bouncing all over the ice for both teams so I think what happens when that happens in a game is players try to simplify the game and sometimes instead of making the play they normally play, they’re making the safer play where we’re not going to run into trouble.”

It wasn’t until early in the second that a team found the back of the net. The historical first OHL goal in the new building was scored at 2:42 by the Petes, when Chase (son of former Cent Derian Hatcher) went roof on Smith’s short side from the left wing.

Hatcher says he spoke to his father before the game and was a little nervous coming in. He says scoring always feels good and it’s kind of cool to have the first goal in the revamped arena.

Paul evened things out at 10:16, when he tipped in a Marcus McIvor point shot. Captain Barclay Goodrow snatched the other assist after working the end boards and finding the open man at the point.

“The adrenaline went nuts,” goaltender Smith said of the tying goal, “You can see everybody going crazy in the stands and that’s when we started picking it up, right after that goal was scored, adrenaline was flowing and definitely something we want to hear a lot more of this year in North Bay.”

At 7:45 of the third though, Clarke notched his game-winner on the power play for Peterborough, as he found room to shoot from the point.

The Petes had several chances at the empty net but couldn’t convert as Smith was pulled for a sixth attacker. The Troops couldn’t bring the game to extra time though, as time ran out with a flurry of last second opportunities.

North Bay’s injuries on the back end allowed them to dress five natural defensemen. Kyle Wood is still recovering from knee surgery and was on the bench for moral support.

Meantime, Butler gave some good news on Tampa prospect Dylan Blujus, who took part in the roster introduction but didn’t play either.

“Dylan came back yesterday, he skated this morning,” Butler said, “He’s cleared to play but he hasn’t practiced and Dylan and I have talked and he’s going to practice with the team on Sunday and if he’s good on Sunday, then he’ll be in the line up on Monday, which will be a big difference on our team.”

Top 2014 NHL prospect Blake Clarke also sat this game and according to Butler, he will get an MRI done in Toronto tomorrow.

“He tweaked his shoulder in the Prospects Game in Pittsburgh and it’s probably a little worse than we thought,” Butler said, “It hasn’t responded the way we wanted so he’s going to Toronto tomorrow to get an MRI and then once we get that, then Dr. Rotundo will assess that and then we’ll know where we go with Blake Clarke.”

The Battalion hit the road for a game against the Owen Sound Attack tomorrow night. The next home game will be Monday afternoon against the Niagara IceDogs. Game time is set for 2:00pm at Memorial Gardens.


Game Notes

-The Battalion sent Shawn Tessier down to the Jr. “A” Trappers and was in their line up against Kirkland Lake tonight.

-The Troops wore Centennial logos on their shoulders for this game.