For the first time in over a month, the North Bay Battalion have won back to back games, with Saturdays 4-1 win over the Barrie Colts the second victory this weekend.
It’s something the Troops haven’t done since November 9th and 10th when they defeated the Niagara IceDogs in a home and home series with consecutive 4-3 victories. The wins over Kitchener (8-5 on Friday) and Barrie were both entertaining and impressive in their own right.
The Kitchener game featured 13 goals combined, with North Bay overcoming a pair of two-goal deficits en route to a four-goal outburst in the third to seal the victory, snapping a seven game losing streak.
Saturday’s defeat of the division rival Colts had a bit of everything, and all three periods were completely different from the previous 20 minutes.
But by the time the buzzer sounded at the end of regulation time, it was the visiting Battalion (13-18-1-1) celebrating, putting themselves in position for a three game weekend sweep for the first time since October.
Like most of the games over the past month, the finish was much better for North Bay than the start, but it was a start that didn’t kill them, says Assistant Coach Adam Dennis, “I like the way that we closed out the game,” he said following their second win in three tries against Barrie this season.
“We started out slow [The Barrie Colts] kind of took it to us, but full marks to our goalie, he was great tonight, he gave us a chance to find our legs and really get back in it.”
The goalie in mention was Christian Propp, getting his second straight start this weekend. It was statistically his best game of the season, making 42 saves on the night, earning first star of the game honours and making countless high pressure stops against some of Barrie’s most dangerous players.
The only blemish against the Battalion net minder was when Tyler Tucker (8) was left open at the point and he sailed one in over the glove side of Propp at 18:21 of the first period. The power play goal was just the first of many short handed chances on either side of the ice.
Dennis talked about the performance of his goaltender, “You never expect a guy to steal a game every night.”
“That’s what he did for us through the first two periods tonight, but you do expect some stability back there. He’s a veteran guy and we know how good he is. So hopefully he can find his rhythm here and get going.”
The North Bay offence got going right out of the gates in the second period.
After Jason Wilms got called for roughing 33 seconds into the second frame, the leagues top power play unit went to work, moving the puck around the Barrie zone, before finding Justin Brazeau in the right side circle, who let the puck fly past Barrie Goaltender Kai Edmonds, tying the game at one goal apiece.
It was the 29th goal of the season for Brazeau, but he wasn’t done there. Just over four minutes later, Nick King, picking up his third point this weekend, sprung Brazeau free through the neutral zone with a perfect pass. Brazeau then used his speed to just slip by the defender, and just when it looked like the New Liskeard native was going to run out of room coming from the left wing side, he dragged the puck across the top of the crease, went to his forehand, and with one hand on his stick, he lifted the puck over the stick side of Edmonds to give North Bay their first lead of the night and the 30th goal of the season for Brazeau.
North Bay kept their foot on the gas pedal the rest of the period, pressuring Barrie consistently on the fore check. The hard work paid off at the 17:02 mark of the second when Edmonds came way out of his net to play the puck, had his pocket picked by Brazeau, who sent it to a wide open Matthew Struthers. Staring at an empty cage, Struthers got his 16th goal of the season, perhaps the easiest five-on-five goal of his career, giving the Troops a healthy 3-1 lead heading into the final 20.
Despite two thirds of the top line being the only guys to net a goal, all four lines were contributing throughout the period, keeping the Colts off-balance in the second half. It was something that didn’t go unnoticed says Dennis “I looked to the [Luke] Moncada line, as a line that really had a great game for us.”
The line included Harrison Caines and Patrick Brown on the wings, and Brown and Moncada (3) got on the goal sheet with an assist and goal respectively, an empty net finisher at 19:41 of the third.
“They were out there a lot against [Barrie’s] top line,” Dennis continues, “and I thought they did a real good job with their opportunities. We made the adjustment and got the matchups we wanted and they really started to change the pace of the game.”
Most division rivalry games can be feisty and this contest at the Barrie Molson Centre was no exception.
The teams combined for 29 Penalty Minutes, the majority of which came in a single sequence near the end of the second period. As Brandon Coe was about to take a shot from the slot, he was blindsided by Riley Piercey, hitting the ice hard, and Coe was cut above his eyebrow as a result.
Coe’s line mate Brad Chenier took exception to the dirty play and dropped his gloves in a good tilt with Piercey. Both players landed some healthy shots, before Chenier took down Piercey and the two were sent off. Piercey did not return to the game. However, after receiving some attention from the trainer, Coe was back on the ice in the third period.
The Barrie Colts (15-16-1-0) will be looking for revenge in just a few hours as they followed the Battalion up north for a rematch on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gardens in the final game for both teams before the Christmas break.
