The North Bay Battalion will continue to fight through the injury bug tonight as they travel to Sudbury to take on the Wolves.
The Troops last two games were a story of highs and lows.
The Battalion, which posted its second-highest goals total of the Ontario Hockey League season in an 8-2 verdict Saturday night over the Niagara IceDogs, suffered a 4-0 shutout loss Sunday night to the Oshawa Generals.
“We felt like we played a really good road first period, and then maybe we ran out of gas,” coach Ryan Oulahen said Tuesday.
While the Battalion hold a won-lost-extended record of 32-12-2 for 66 points atop the Central Division, Sudbury is 18-20-6 for 42 points, fourth in the division.
However Oulahen knows they can't take their Northern Ontario rivals for granted; especially since a Wolves coaching change which brought in Sudbury native and former NHLer Derek McKenzie behind the bench.
“They’re dealing with a little bit of an injury bug and suspensions as well, but I believe that they are a very good hockey team ever since the coaching change,” noted Oulahen, whose club entertains the Mississauga Steelheads at 7 p.m. Thursday and the Kingston Frontenacs at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Sudbury is 12-12-4 since MacKenzie succeeded the fired Craig Duncanson and assistant general manager Ken MacKenzie, the incumbent’s father, who went 3-1-1 in an interim capacity.
But the Wolves, missing Quentin Musty with a hand injury and Kocha Delic to what’s said to be a separated shoulder, got word that leading scorer David Goyette has been suspended four games after incurring a head-checking major, fighting major and game misconduct in the third period of a 4-3 loss Saturday night to the host Owen Sound Attack.
The Battalion, which has seen Liam Arnsby and Justin Ertel join Tnias Mathurin, almost a season-long scratch, on the sidelines, will be without Pasquale Zito, who suffered a lower-body injury at Oshawa. Chase MacQueen-Spence from the junior B St. Marys Lincolns is to suit up.
Fans of the Battalion, No. 8 in the CHL Top-10 rankings released Tuesday, can see the game at Sudbury live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
