Brazeau hits another milestone but Battalion fall to Petes

The North Bay Battalion welcomed the Peterborough Petes to Memorial Gardens Sunday with a lot on the line for both teams. The Troops look to stay ahead of the Barrie Colts for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East, while the Petes could clinch a spot to the playoffs with either a win or Colts loss. At the end of the day, the Petes would clinch with a 6-5 victory over North Bay, another third-period comeback that would fall just short. 

Not helping matters was that the Battalion finished 0/6 on the powerplay and Peterborough was 2/4 on theirs.

“I thought our special teams were not great today.” Assistant Coach Adam Dennis said in his post-game scrum.

“We gave up a couple on the penalty kill and we could not cash in on the powerplay. We pushed hard at the end but our start to the third was disappointing. In a game with the magnitude that it had today, we needed a little bit more jump and we didn’t and we chased after that.”

North Bay scored first on the afternoon as Theo Calvas broke through with his second goal of the season on a point shot that made its way past Petes goaltender Tye Austin. Picking up an assist was Justin Brazeau who hit the 100 point milestone on the season, also becoming the first player in the North Bay iteration of the Battalion to reach the mark.

With just 10 seconds left in the first, however, Liam Kirk potted his first of three in the game on the powerplay to tie the game at 1.

The two teams traded goals in the second with Brazeau netting his 55th and Mitch Russell doing his best Brazeau impression with a highlight reel goal off the rush. Kirk and Jason Robertson were the goal scorers for the Petes.

The first 10 minutes of the third saw three goals between the two teams as Adam Timleck scored along with Kirk finishing the hat trick for Peterborough before Calvas added his second of the game. Cole Fraser would add an empty net goal and Matt Struthers picked up a goal with 23 seconds left for the Petes to wrap up the 6-5 victory.

“You definitely get a good adrenaline rush when you score,” Calvas said, who had the first multi-goal game of his OHL career and finished with three points on the game.

“I think every hockey player loves the feeling,” continued the overager.  

“I think what you’re seeing is some 20-year-old guys that don’t want their season to end,” Dennis added about the play of Calvas and Brazeau. 

“There is a lot of desperation right now and I thought that there was a lot of that in his (Calvas') game. He was full marks today.”

Back to Brazeau however, who has certainly got his share of coverage from local media this season, and continues to put up milestones.

“It’s a special feeling,” the big captain said about hitting the century mark.

“Any time you get 100 points, it’s something to be proud of. I would have liked if it had come in a bit better of a game but it is still nice to get that.”

“We need him and he is a special part of our team,” Dennis said at risk of sounding like a broken record with the season Brazeau has been having.

“He is a special part of Battalion history and he is just a special kid all around. We are going to need him for these next four games here and hopefully, he can continue his pace.”

The silver lining on the day for North Bay is that Barrie fell 4-3 to Niagara, meaning the Colts did not pick up any ground on the Troops setting up a huge game Tuesday between the two teams. 

“That game is huge. It can make or break your season right there.” Brazeau commented about the looming match.

“They are three back and if they win, they’re one back, we win we’re up five with three games left. We need to be ready to play.”

“I think the talk will be done on the ice. It will be a big game for both teams” a matter of fact Dennis added.

As mentioned, the game against Barrie Tuesday is the next time that North Bay is in action, which is the makeup date from the postponed game Thursday.