34 days. That’s how long it has been since the North Bay Battalion were able to send the fans home happy from Memorial Gardens. On Monday, October 14th, the Battalion won 7-5 over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Four weeks and six days later, the Battalion collected two points in front of the home faithful with a well earned, well deserved, 5-4 win over the Barrie Colts.
“No better feeling,” says Battalion Captain Brad Chenier, moments after stepping off the ice at the conclusion of the game.
Speaking to Moe McMillan, the rink side reporter on the Country-600 broadcast, Chenier added, “I thought we played well today, we battled hard through all 0 minutes and even though they got a late tying goal, but we kept battling and got the winner.”
North Bay is now 4-17-0-0 and got the winner after a wild sequence in front of the Barrie net. Battalion forward Harrison Caines got the last touched as the puck squeezed through the pads of Colts goaltender Jet Greaves as he was down on his stomach and sliding away from the middle of the net, into the path of Caines.
And in the first game at Memorial Gardens where coach’s challenges and video review could happen, the goal was reviewed…AND challenged.
The officials went to the replay to make sure the puck actually went over the line, the original signal on the ice was that it was a good goal. Nothing proved otherwise and so the signal was again given that Caines was getting rewarded for his fourth goal of the season at 18:29.
But then the Colts coaching staff wanted to see if they could get the call overturned on goaltender interference. Once again the play was looked at from upstairs (more specifically the old gondola at the Gardens) and after a few minutes, it was determined there was no interference on the play and the Troops held a 5-4 lead with 1:30 left to play.
This all preceded three goals by the Barrie Colts between the end of the second and the 15-minute mark of the third, which pulled them even with the Troops.
North Bay had a 4-1 lead at the 12:09 mark of the second period thanks to Josh Currie getting his first-ever OHL goal.
But at 16:57, the Captain of the Colts Jason Willms (7) cut the lead in half.
In the third period, the Colts got an early one at 2:12 when Riley Piercey (6) found the back of the net after Barrie won a draw in the attacking zone.
At 15:01 Tyler Tucker (5) completed the comeback, going over the blue line and rifling a shot passed Battalion netminder Joe Vrbetic to tie the game 4-4.
“I’m happy we won the game. I thought what was good in other games where teams scored and started to come back and our guys would start to panic, I thought today we settled down and battled and that’s a positive thing,” says Battalion Head Coach Stan Butler.
“It’s a step in the right direction. When you have a young team and their confidence is not at a high level, every little thing that happens can effect them in a negative way and you just have to reinforce to them what they are capable of and able to do.”
It was the youth that scored the difference-making goals. First-year Forward Currie’s first of his career at 12:09 of the second period, and Second Year Forward Caine’s fourth at 18:29 of the third were the ones that the Troops desperately needed to get in securing their first win 11 tries.
Butler says of the Currie goal, “it was nice to see Josh get a goal, but the plays Liam Arnsby made on the fourth goal and the fifth goal are plays the fans here in North Bay are going to see even more of as he gets older.”
Another First Year Forward in Kyle Jackson (4) scored early in the game off a pass from Matthew Struthers at 3:49. That was sandwiched in between a Luke Moncada goal (10)right out of the gates at 1:10 and Chenier (9) getting a power play marker at 19:05 of the first.
Victor Hadfield’s (2) shorthanded goal at 12:26 was the only blemish in a dominant first period by the Battalion that left after the first 20 minutes up 3-1.
“Good starts are important,” says Butler. “Any time you do that, it builds positive momentum. Confidence is an interesting thing in sport, in comes from inside. The biggest challenge with players is, you can say what you want with them but until they believe in themselves, it’s kind of hard to get to where you need to go.”
Goaltender Joe Vrbetic has been in net for all four of North Bay’s wins this season. He says, “the guys fought well. We’ve been battling every game and we’ve finally got one down and it’s a great feeling. We played a full 60, we didn’t get down on ourselves. That’s a positive and we just have to keep that going.”
If anyone has ever doubted whether North Bay is a hockey town or not, don’t look at the attendance numbers. Look at the passion delivered from “The 7th Man” in two games this season. The Troops lost a game on October 11 5-4 to Oshawa. They were serenaded off the ice with a “Go Troops Go” chant on Pink in the Rink night. The Battalion left the ice again on Sunday with that sentiment once again ringing in their ears after just their fourth win of the season, but a win the fans recognized as a big one, a hard-earned one and a win that certainly gave the fans their money's worth.
