DENIS DUBOIS PHOTO
Motivation can come from many sources for hockey players, whether rebounding against a team you haven’t beaten yet or stepping up to fill missing roles in the lineup.
For members of the North Bay Battalion (25-17-4-2), it was all of the above.
But ultimately, Sunday night’s 3-1 win over the Peterborough Petes (21-23-0-4) was for Kay Butler.
The mother of head coach and Director of Operations Stan Butler passed away game day morning.
“His mom is such a loyal Battalion fan,” said assistant coach Ryan Oulahen, who took control of the bench on the night with John Goodwin.
“A lot of people don’t realize that in Brampton, she would drive right across Kennedy Road, come to every Sunday afternoon (game).”
“We were playing this one for her,” said Nick Paul, “We felt it was going to be a good game. We came out on top, won it for her.”
Oulahen says with all those obstacles, including the absences of top line guys like Barclay Goodrow and Mike Amadio, it was almost like “a team building exercise” and that it’s just going to bring guys closer together in the room.
“When they come back in the late stages and get a winning goal like that, I can’t say enough, it was huge,” he said.
Vincent Praplan scored the winner with 54.3 seconds to go in regulation, taking control of a turnover just inside the offensive zone. He looked and got off a shot from the high slot, beating goalie Andrew D’Agostini.
It was his first goal since missing seven games representing Switzerland at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
“I think I didn’t really play the way I wanted to since I came back,” Praplan said, “I had a tough time with scoring and points and I felt like I needed one game to maybe score and obviously it was tonight so it felt pretty good to score.”
With Amadio out, Jamie Lewis was bumped up from the fourth line to the first line to play with Ben Thomson and Matt MacLeod.
“We wanted to put Louie up there with those two guys because we knew Peterborough had a really high-end top line and they did a great job all night,” said Oulahen, “They were matching them toe-to-toe and did a really, really good job keeping them off the board, which was huge for us winning the hockey game.”
Jake Smith turned aside 26 shots to get the win. This after being pulled in their last meeting in Peterborough on Jan. 11 when he gave up four goals on 12 shots in a 6-2 loss. He also took the loss on the Troops’ home opener against the Petes 2-1 on Oct. 11.
That’s been the least of his worries since then, now springing together four straight victories for his team and surrendering one goal a game in that span.
“I thought he was phenomenal after the first shot went in on him, unfortunately,” Oulahen said of his netminder, “Other than that, if you don’t let a goal in after that, you’re obviously doing something right.”
“He played big, made some real big saves near the end there to keep us in it and a big part of our victory.”
Colorado Avalanche prospect Michael Clarke got credit for that power play goal at 4:31 of the first period. Nick Paul tied the game at 6:06 of the second, his 20th goal of the year.
Matt MacLeod pocketed the empty net insurance marker at 19:37.
The Troops will look to keep their winning streak going when they host the two-time defending OHL Champion London Knights on Thursday night. Game time is 7:00p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
Game Notes
-The attendance was 2,968.
-D’Agostini made 28 saves on the night for the Petes.
