The North Bay Battalion is set to march south of the border for a set of three road games, with a pair in Michigan before coming back across the border to face the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon.
The Battalion gets a rematch with the Saginaw Spirit at 7 p.m. Friday and faces the Flint Firebirds on Saturday night, completing a Michigan double.
The Troops come into this weekend with a won-lost-extended record of 28-18-8 for 64 points and second in the Central and fourth in the Eastern Conference.
The Troops, who edged the visiting 67’s 3-2 last Friday night, lost 5-3 to Saginaw at Memorial Gardens on Sunday before a 6-3 setback Monday at Ottawa.
“It’s a chunk of our schedule we knew was going to be a bit of a difficult time, for sure,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday. “We’re halfway through.
“When I look at the weekend that just happened, I’m not all that disappointed in terms of how we played. I thought our game is still in really good shape here, especially the Saginaw game. We’ve obviously got to stay out of the penalty box, but five-on-five I like our game. In Ottawa, we gave ourselves a chance. We were right there going into the third period and just kind of ran out of steam there, just with it being a back-to-back situation for us.”
The Battalion will be without Jacob Therrien as he received a five-game suspension after drawing a major for checking from behind and a game misconduct Sunday as the Spirit netted three first-period power play goals on Therrien's five-minute major as they eventually took a 4-0 first period lead.
Therrien, who has four games yet to serve, is eligible to return on March 3 against the visiting Niagara IceDogs.
The Therrien suspension will test the Battalion depth up front. However, Oulahen believes his group is ready for the challenge.
“That’s why we’ve got the depth that we have,” said Oulahen.
“Other guys can step up and move into those situations and rise to the challenge. I was really happy those secondary guys in Ottawa had a really good game, with Pazii and (Brice) Cooke. If those guys can continue to do that, then we can kind of chip in by committee that way, and it gives other guys a good opportunity.”
Anthony Romani paces the Battalion points parade with a team-leading 44 goals and 42 assists for 86 points in 54 games. He’s second in the OHL scoring race to David Goyette of the Sudbury Wolves, who has 33 goals and 57 assists for 90 points in 54 games.
