In 2014, Ben Garagan was watching closely as his hometown OHL team, the North Bay Battalion, went all the way to the OHL final series in the club’s first season in North Bay.
The following year, as an OHL draft prospect himself, Garagan watched as the Battalion went down in the Eastern Conference final against the eventual Memorial Cup champion Oshawa Generals, backstopped by North Bay’s Ken Appleby.
On Thursday night, Garagan, a centre with the Hamilton Bulldogs, will take the ice in the OHL championship series when his club starts on the road against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. A fifth-round draft pick of the Sudbury Wolves in 2015, Garagan is the first skater from North Bay to reach the OHL final since Ken Peroff helped the Brampton Battalion reach the final round in 2009.
“I watched the Battalion play (in the OHL final) and I watched the Oshawa series and for me, just to think I’ll be playing in those games, it’s pretty exciting,” Garagan said on Wednesday as the Bulldogs prepared for Game 1. “It’s what we work for all our lives, right?
“I think we’re all pretty excited. We’ve been building toward this all season and we’ve definitely taken advantage of our opportunities and now we’re here in the OHL final. It’s pretty wild.”
Since arriving in Hamilton in a trade deadline deal with Sudbury in January 2017, Garagan has had to adjust his game to find ways to contribute to a championship-calibre team. The Bulldogs may not have many true superstars (no Hamilton player was among the top 20 in OHL scoring), but the club features seven 20-goal scorers and nine players who had 48 points or more.
There are a lot of good forwards in the lineup and Garagan isn’t counted on to provide much offence as a fourth-line centre. He had one goal and eight points in 50 games during the regular season and has suited up for all 15 playoff games as the Bulldogs rolled through the first three rounds against Ottawa, Niagara and Kingston.
Garagan came up through North Bay’s system as a scoring star with the ‘AAA’ Trappers teams and further developed his offensive game with the North York Rangers, but he is now contributing in different ways.
“It’s been an adjustment for sure, but the guys make it easy for everyone to play their role,” he said. “That’s been kind of our motto, for everyone to do your own job and we’ll be successful. So we buy into that and we’ve been pretty successful so far.”
Garagan has lined up on the fourth line most recently with wingers Zach Jackson and 31-goal rookie Arthur Kaliev.
“We just bring some positivity to the room when it’s needed and when we’re facing some adversity,” he said. “We try to give the team some energy when we need it and when we’re out there, we do what we can and provide some energy for the guys.”
Speaking of energy, the excitement in the City of Hamilton has been building this spring and it is showing at First Ontario Centre.
The Bulldogs averaged 4,251 fans per game this season, sixth-highest in the OHL, but attendance in the playoffs has topped 6,000. It is the first time Hamilton has had a team in the OHL final since 1978, when the Hamilton Fincups reached the final.
This year’s Bulldogs are trying to win Hamilton’s first OHL championship since the 1976 Fincups, who were coached by longtime North Bay Centennials coach Bert Templeton. (Overage defenceman Stephen Templeton, Bert’s grandson, played 13 games with the Bulldogs this season before landing in the QMJHL to finish his junior career).
“You can tell there’s some excitement in the city,” Garagan said. “You see so many more Bulldogs jerseys and T-shirts around the city and some of the billboards that are going up. You can definitely tell there are people into it now.
“We’re feeling the energy that’s been building through the playoffs. The crowds have been awesome and they’re getting bigger and we feed off that so much when the fans are behind us.”
It will be no easy task against the Greyhounds. The top-ranked team in the CHL, the Greyhounds set a club record with 55 wins this season (55-7-6) and are the favourites against the Bulldogs, who had the best record (43-18-7) in the Eastern Conference.
The teams split their two meetings this season, with the Bulldogs winning 5-2 on Feb. 11 before getting shellacked 10-0 five days later.
“I think we’re all pretty excited and pretty confident going into Game 1,” Garagan said. “I think we match up well and we can play with them.”
