The North Bay Battalion will open its best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Niagara IceDogs on the road at 7 p.m. Thursday, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Sunday.
The Troops lost 8-3 to those IceDogs in the regular season finale at Memorial Gardens on Sunday night.
See related: IceDogs blast Battalion in regular season finale
The Battalion finished fourth in the Central Division and seventh in the conference, while Niagara was first in the division and second in the conference.
The rivals will meet in the playoffs for the fourth time.
The Battalion, in its first season in North Bay, defeated Niagara in seven games in a 2014 conference quarterfinal. In that series, the Troops battled back from a 3-1 series deficit as that was the start of the memorable playoff run to the OHL finals that year.
In that game, Nick Paul netted the game winner midway through the third period and gave the loud crowd a salute after scoring the memorable goal.
See related: Battalion win game 7 (Video & Photos)
Niagara won two series against Brampton in the minimum four games, a conference quarterfinal in 2011 and a conference semifinal in 2012.
Following is the series schedule:
Thursday, March 21, at Niagara 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 23, at Niagara 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 26, at North Bay 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 28, at North Bay 7 p.m.
*Friday, March 29, at Niagara 7 p.m.
*Sunday, March 31, at North Bay 2 p.m.
