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Battalion off to Conference Final

Dagger! Mathew Santos scores late in the third period to give the Battalion a 7-5 lead. PHOTO BY TOM MARTINEAU.

Dagger! Mathew Santos scores late in the third period to give the Battalion a 7-5 lead.  PHOTO BY TOM MARTINEAU.

For the second year in a row the North Bay Battalion have clinched a berth in the Eastern Conference Final on the ice at the Barrie Molson Center. This time around it was one game earlier as the Battalion topped the Barrie Colts 7-5 in game 5 to win the second round series four games to one.

The Troops took advantage of some undisciplined play from the Colts, going 3 for 8 with the man advantage. Each time the home squad seemed to be gaining some momentum, an unnecessary cross check or slash would swing the play back the other way.

“One of the things we had trouble with all year was discipline and tonight it kind of came back to bite use,” said Colts overage defenseman Jonathan Laser. Laser himself had 7 minutes in penalties including a second period fight with Zach Poirier after he caught Mike Baird with his head down coming across the middle.

Things looked good early for the home squad as winger Matt Kreis picked up an errant Battalion drop pass at his own blue line and buried a 2 on 1 attempt behind Jake Smith to open the scoring.

However, that was about as much offence that Barrie could muster in the first period where they were outshot 17-8. North Bay responded to the opening goal five minutes later when Matt Santos caught goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood off-guard with a wrister from 40 feet out.

Nick Paul then bookended a goal by Brenden Miller with his 5th and 6th of the playoffs to put the visitors ahead 4-1 going into the first intermission.

“I think we just worked hard and stuck to our game plan,” said Santos of his team’s great first period.

The Colts came out flying in the second keeping the Battalion pinned in their end for several minutes. They were rewarded for their efforts when Andrew Mangiapane scored his 6th of the post season a little over 2 minutes in.

Barrie continued to put the pressure on until Captain Joseph Blandisi took a terrible cross checking penalty which led North Bay’s second power play goal, this time from Mike Amadio.

The Battalion raise their sticks in Barrie to the visiting Battalion fans who made the trek to the Molson Centre for the elimination game.  PHOTO BY TOM MARTINEAU.

The Colts pulled within 2 again a few minutes later with a power play marker of their own. This time it was rear guard Mike Webster with the goal after Poirier was tagged with the instigator for his dust up with Laser.

Mangiapane took a cross checking minor of his own very late in the second stanza and the Troops wasted no time taking advantage. Nick Moutrey got his 4th of the playoffs 21 seconds into the third to extend the lead to 6-3.

Just when it looked like the Colts could be down and out, they stepped up their game again. Kevin Labanc got his first of the playoffs on a power play mid though the final frame to pull the home squad within two. He got his second a few minutes later to make the score 6-5 with 4 minutes left to play, which could have made for an interesting finish.

However on that goal Blandisi skated right through Smith well after the puck had gone in. That sent him to the sin bin for his third minor of the game and allowed the Battalion to run out most of the remaining time.

The final nail in the coffin came shortly after the penalty expired, Santos scored his second of the game on a turnaround slapper that beat a screened Blackwood. The third year winger from Etobicoke said he was thankful to see the goal go in, “it was a big relief and big goal, it really took the pressure off.”

After the traditional post series handshakes the Battalion gave a salute to the large contingent of fans that had made the trek south for the game.

Battalion head coach Stan Butler pointed to one particular item as the key to winning the series.

“I think it was really important for us not to give up a whole lot of turnovers,” said the bench boss. “We knew they were a really good offensive team, so if we gave them easy opportunities we could be in trouble,” he added.

The Battalion now move on to face the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference Final. It is a rematch of last year’s 3rd round series where the Battalion swept the favored Generals to advance to the League Championship.

“They are a big, strong team,” Butler remarked of the Generals, “we just need to play our game and hope it works out.”

The arena was abuzz throughout the night as new that the Edmonton Oilers had won the NHL’s draft lottery. When asked after the game for his thoughts on the Oilers getting the number one pick for the 4th time in 6 years, Butler just smirked and said “what a lucky franchise.”

ICE CHIPS-Smith made 33 saves in the win, Blackwood had 29 stops taking the loss. Helpers for the Troops went to Austin Kosack (2), Kyle Wood (2), Amadio (2), Miller (2), Zach Bratina and Moutrey. Attendance was 4011.