Battalion vs Colts Game 6 - LIVE BLOG

BATTALION LIVE BLOG

Once again, your final score Battalion 3 Colts 2

Troops win the series 4 games to 2.

Ben Thomson with 2 goals including the game winner. More coverage coming up with a game story from freelance reporter Matt Gordon.

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Stan Butler during live post game interview:

"Real tough game, Colts really came out hard, but we weathered the storm and we had some timely scoring and that was the difference."

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Goodrow in post game interview:

"Our fans have been the best fans in the league, I can't wait to see the atmosphere in game 3 back home," said Goodrow.

 "I've had some good times in this rink and definitely a good way to go out. I couldn't be happier for the guys," said Goodrow.

"Smitty has been huge for us and he battles every day and it really shows now," added Goodrow about his goaltender.

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Scoreboard graphics courtesy Caleb Dawson

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Check back for BayToday.ca's post game coverage from reporter Matt Gordon who is at the Molson Centre. Thanks everyone for keeping track here with me on BayToday.ca!!!

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If Cents fans remember, the last real good series we saw in 2000 was when the Colts and Cents met in the opening round that year. The Colts won that series 4 games to 2.

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Battalion will open up on the road as the Oshawa Generals will play the Troops on Friday in Oshawa. Battalion win the series 4 games to 2.

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Battalion for first time in 5 seasons the Battalion are heading to the Eastern Conference finals. They win this one 3-2.

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Battalion win the faceoff clear it, Colts ice it and with 2 seconds left a faceoff in Colts zone.

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Stan Butler calls a timeout. faceoff at centre ice of course.

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Aaron Ekblad, with a shot from the point, goes through traffic, with his 2nd of the playoffs to give the Colts some life. 3-2. 12.9 seconds left.

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Lemieux with a great chance and Smith at the top of the crease, makes save 29 on the night.

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Paul with big faceoff win. Troops clear, 35 sec in regulation.

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Less than 1 minute to play. Ekblad only dman, with 5 forwards. Great clear by Goodrow as he iced the puck.

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Battalion have lost the previous 4 playoff meetings vs. the Colts, the last time they beat the Colts was in 2003 when assistant coach Ryan Oulahen was patrolling the Battalion blue line.

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Only 1:17 left and faceoff to Jake Smith's right.

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1:40 to play Colts with the puck, McIvor can't clear. finally out.

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Only 2:16 to play as we have a faceoff at centre ice. Blackwood will likley be heading to the bench soon.

net empty 2 min remaining.

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Less than 2:30 left as Colts have trouble setting up.

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We have 3:30 left in the 3rd period, and a Go Troops Go chant dominating the sound in the Molson Centre.

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Battalion have really played an exception, simple game in this 3rd period.

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We have less than 4 minutes left in regulation.

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Zach Hall on a nice individual effort down the right wing, he misses the net. I'm saying individual a lot in this period. Troops really frustrating the speedy, skilled Colts forwards.

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We have less than 5 minutes in regulation, 3-1 Troops in the 3rd.

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Matt McLeod and Praplan on a text book 2 on 1, but Praplan is robbed by Blackwood which would have iced this one. Less than 6 minutes on the clock.

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With 6:30 left, the Colts have only had 3 shots on goal in this desperation period for them.

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Less than 7 minutes remain. We have a whistle with 6:44 left on the clock.

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Goodrow nice chance in tight, he's stopped with 7:30 left.

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7:57 left in the 3rd period.

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Blackwood has allowed 3 goals on only 19 shots and you can hear Battalion fans jeering the young Colts netminder.

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Colts were down 3 in game 4. They will need another monumental comeback to extend this series.

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8:48 remaining.

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40 seconds still on the PP, Thomson now with 3 goals in last 2 games. 4 in the playoffs. Goal scored at 9:48

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1:05 left on the PP, good possession by Colts but no good chances yet. Thomson though with a shorthanded breakaway on a nice play by Kyle Wood, and it's 3-1 Battalion. He beats Blackwood 5-hole. Huge goal Troops.

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Andreas Athanasiou goes 1 on 2 and he's hauled down by Blujus and they will go for a power play. 4 on 3 power play for 1st 10 seconds.

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Lewis with a god shot outmanned in the Colts zone. 8 minutes gone in the 3rd.

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Goodrow a great poke check to stop Ekblad from walking into the slot for a shot.

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Mangiapane and Liberati at it again in the neutral zone along the boards. Both will go to the box. Roughing minors for each.

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We are 6 minutes in. still 2-1 Battaloin.

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Athanasiou another coast to coast effort, easy stop on the rush by Smith. 5:30 in.

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Mangiapane with a stop and covered by Smith, 4 minutes into 3rd.

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Athanasiou tries to go 1 on 4 like he has been trying to do all night.

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2 minutes gone now. Battalion getting pucks in deep. Just what they want to do.

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1:24 gone into the period.

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2 of 3 goals tonight have been scored early in each period. Let's see what happens here.

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3rd period underway

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The Colts lead with 14 scoring chances compared to 8 for the Battalion.

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Shots are 25-15 in favour of the Colts after 2 periods. Shots were much more even with Colts with a 11-10 edge in the middle frame.

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The Battalion will look for another solid 3rd period against the Colts to finish this series.

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For a summary, Garrett Hooey scored early for the Colts in the opening minute. However, Nick Paul scored on the power play on the Troops first shot.

In the second, Ben Thomson netted his 3rd of the playoffs which is where we stand, 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.

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2-1 after 40 minutes in favour of the Troops. In a Rogers TV intermission interview, Colts Mitch Theoret says he doesn't want his season to end like this. He says they hope to tie and force OT.

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Praplan, great chance from the slot but Blackwood makes the save.

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Last minute of play in the 2nd.

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Praplan, good rush down the right side, tries a wraparound but net is off.

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That didn't last long. Tyson Fawcett called for hooking 13 seconds into the power play. We are 4 on 4. 2:35 left.

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Brett McKenzie gets a late 2nd period penalty.

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Wood and Mangiapane get into a scuffle behind the play, no call. Less than 5 minutes left.

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Zach Hall with a great chance in the slot, toe drag and a quick shot from the slot goes high. 6 minutes left now in the 2nd.

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Wraparound try by Athanasiou is stopped by Smith.

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Scramble in front of the Barrie goal, Blackwood making an easy save.

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8:28 left in the period.

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Lemieux an end to end rush but his pass finds no one.

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Athanasiou with a couple chances on the 4 on 4, some nifty moves but no shot as McIvor keeps him at bay.

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Fawcett with a good chance but missed the net. Then shortly after another nice glove save by Smith. Liberati and Fawcett get coincidentals. Liberati slashing and Fawcett for cross checking.

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21-9 shots on goal in favour of the Colts.

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No goal. I know he's retired but Smith really reminds me a of a young Miikka Kiprusoff. Very athletic young netminder.

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Again, close call, Mangiapane with a great chance at the side of the net. The light goes on that it's a goal but official says no goal.

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Labanc gets a nice shot away that is tipped and Smith gets a catcher on it. Nice stop again. Smith on his game.

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We are just over 6 minutes into the 2nd period now.

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Athanasiou does a remarkable injured soccer player display, trying the draw a penalty. The officials didn't buy it.

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Oh my, Jake Dotchin misses a wide open net on a Colts rush, he hits the side of the net. Battalion dodge a bullet.

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Jarvis, Santos, and Lewis on for final 30 seconds of the PP for Troops.

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Blackwood makes a nice save as a Blujus shot comes off the boards and Praplan takes a good bounce and nearly makes it 3-1. Still 1 minute left in the Battalion PP

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Jared Steege getting some PP time. Watch out for him next year as this guy has some offensive upside.

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Praplan with some slick moves in the slot, but he can't get a shot away. However, the line continues to pressure down low and Maaskant will go to the box for interferance. Power play Battalion.

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The goaltending continues to struggle for the Colts as Blackwood allows a goal on the first shot in both periods so far. That's 2 goals on 6 shots on Blackwood.

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Wow, Ben Thomson takes a nice set up on a nice backhand pass from the corner and a one timer by the power forward beats Thomson 25 seconds in 2-1 Battalion

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2nd period has started.

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Nick Paul led the Battalion forwards with just over 7 minutes of ice time in the opening period.

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Of note, Matt adds that Stan Butler called the officials over twice to ask about some of the calls.

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It's a sellout at the Molson Centre and Matt Gordon estimates that 15 percent of the fans are cheering for the Green and Gold.

Matt says they are very, very loud too.

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Shots on goal finish 14-5 in favour of the Colts after 1 period of play.

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Nick Paul gets interviewed between periods by Rogers TV's Craig Ripley.

"We took a few penalites and settled down a bit," Nick Paul said during his first intermission interview.

"I am kind of a streaky scorer," he added about scoring in back to back games in this series. He of course scored the series winning goal against Niagara in Game 7.

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We are at the intermission

My son Caleb helping out with this fancy scoreboard which he has been using since the Niagara series.

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Tyson Fawcett a great chance off a draw but Colts cant beat Smith laying on his stomach.

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The pesky Brendan Lemieux with a nice rush and a nifty back pass, but it's broken up by the Troops defenders.

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Last minute of the opening frame

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Battalion sent to box, as Hooey gets hit by Miller and he's called for Elbowing. however, Hooey pushes a Battalion player en route to the bench and gets a minor himself to nullify the power play.

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Shots 11-3, Athanasiou with a nice rush and good stop down low; 3 minutes left in 1st.

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Battalion scored on their first shot on Blackwood. He still has no saves 15 minutes into the period. Remember the Battalion also hit a post already.

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Short PP for the Colts, Colts move puck around nicely on the perimeter, only muster a shot from a bad angle.

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The winner of this series will start the Eastern Conference Final on Friday in Oshawa.

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Wow, Barclay Goodrow, with a very weak tripping call during the power play. 4 on 4 for 1:05

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Maaskant called for hooking and they go on their 2nd power play.

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On a very similar rush, Nick Paul comes down the right side and beats Blackwood low blocker for the power play marker and it's 1-1. 7:47 to go in the 1st.

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With shots 7-1, Battalion get first power play with Webster in the box. Early in PP, Goodrow hit the post streaking down the right wing and shooting.

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We are at the midway point of the first period.

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Battalion coaching staff will be stressing to get pucks to the net, especially with the recent struggles of Gibl and tonight's starter MacKenzie Blackwood.

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Let's see if the Battalion can gain some momentum from pretty much killing off a 4 minute early PP

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Battalion kill off their 2nd penalty of the first 6:30

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Smith makes a nice save on a cross crease down low one timer. Almost 7 minutes in to the first.

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Paul breaks up a nice rush knocking down a Aaron Ekblad pass. Smith follows up with a nice glove save. Only 30 seconds left in Goodrow's second minor of the first period.

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Goodrow out of the box, but Troops called for too many men on the ice, only 2 seconds after he left the box. Another Colts PP. Check that interferance is the call.

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Great diving save by Smith late on the Barrie PP

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Barclay Goodrow off for high sticking, Colts on the PP. They were 4 fo 12 in Barrie on game 4 on the PP after starting 0 for 16 in the 1st 3 games.

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Garrett Hooey getting a quick pass in the slot beating Smith at 1:23 of first period. 1-0 Colts. Hooey, it's his 2nd.

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The game is underway, Jamie Lewis, with Jarvis and Santos for initial faceoff.

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MacKenzie Blackwood in goal for the Colts. He was pulled in game 4 after allowing 4 goals on 7 shots.

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Alex Henriksson and Zach Bratina scratched tonight for the Troops.