It is not the way the Battalion were hoping to end their season.
They had a chance at playing the spoiler role to the Niagara IceDogs, who were in North Bay on Sunday afternoon, looking to clinch the Central Division championship.
The Battalion had the opportunity to ruin that party for the IceDogs and potentially help another rival (the Sudbury Wolves) claim the top prize in the division, and the second seed in the conference.
But it was not meant to be as the IceDogs used five-first period goals en route to an 8-3 victory over the same team they will see on Thursday, when the 2018-19 Ontario Hockey League Playoffs commence.
Coming into the game, the Battalion had played Niagara very closely throughout the season. Through the five previous matchups, the IceDogs held the edge with a 3-1-1 record, but had only beaten North Bay by more than two goals just twice, a 6-1 win in the first meeting on September 29th and a 5-2 win on December 8th.
And it was North Bay getting the first opportunity of the game. Just 18 seconds in, Jack Studnicka drove towards the net and took down Battalion net minder Chrisitan Purboo, who was starting his second straight game. The first time Purboo was starting in back to back contests since October 25th (a 4-1 win vs Barrie) and October 27th (a 5-2 win in Erie). The result of the play was a goaltender interference call against Studnicka.
North Bay could not use the power play to their benefit and shortly after the game returned to five-on-five play, Ben Jones scored his 41st goal of the season at 4:08.
It would be the first of five in the opening twenty minutes. Goals were followed by Ivan Lodnia (17) at 9:07, Phillip Tomasino (34) at 10:31 and a pair by Bradey Johnson (10, 11) at 17:01 and 19:10 respectively.
Down 3-0 North Bay cut into the lead when Brad Chenier (30) tipped in a shot from the point by Braden Henderson at 14:59. Chenier has been penciled into the top line for the better part of the last two weeks with Justin Brazeau and Matthew Struthers. It gives the Battalion a formidable top line that has a combined 92 goals and 259 points.
But being down 5-1 after 20 minutes was going to be hard to overcome, no matter what line was out there. North Bay had not given up more than four goals against in the first period of any game this season. To their credit, they came out in the second with a spirited effort and some hard work that led to a Brazeau goal at (7:03). It’s the 61st goal of his season and the final regular season goal of his remarkable career in which he netted 128 over four OHL seasons, only six of which came in year one in 2015-16.
A 13th round draft pick (254th overall) out of New Liskeard, Ontario is the most prolific goal scorer the franchise has had since moving North; and was just two goals shy of tying Wojtek Wolski’s career mark of 130, accomplished when the franchise was still in Brampton.
Battalion Assistant Coach Adam Dennis says the play to begin the second period is the type of game they need to have against a top team like Niagara. He says “that’s where we need to be against this team. We need to be a hard nosed team and we can’t give up any chances to them. They are obviously very skilled and we have to make sure that we limit what they get.”
The Battalion did not limit the damage the rest of the way though. Jason Robertson (48) once again made it a four goal advantage for the visiting side when he beat Purboo at 14:52 for his 116th point of the year. He would add an assist later in the game, giving him 117 overall this season, officially anointing the Northville, Michigan native as the seasons top scorer.
Robertson has seen a lot of the Battalion over the last few years. The Dallas Stars 2nd round pick in 2017 played the first three and a half seasons with Kingston, including being a part of the Frontenacs squad that knocked the Battalion out of the playoffs last season in a triple overtime game in Kingston in Game Five of that series. Robertson scored the fourth goal of that game for Kingston to tie it at 4-4 in the third, paving the way for a Gabriel Vilardi game winner at 14:05 of the third overtime.
Robertson was traded to the IceDogs in November along with Jacob Paquette for Ian Martin, Billy Constantinou and 11 draft picks – four of them second rounders.
But it seems as if Robertson and Paquette will be worth every penny, if the IceDogs can continue their pace of play, and raise not only a Central Division Championship banner to the rafters, but maybe a couple more.
However, they will first have to get past the Battalion. As stated earlier, the Troops have made things tough on the IceDogs over the course of six games this season. And with Christian Purboo starting four of the games, sporting a 1-3-0 record, it’s likely the Troops will send regular starter Christian Propp to man the property between the irons throughout the series. Just having a different look, could be something that seems very miniscule, but could throw a team off balance. Whatever advantage the Troops can get, they will likely take and need as the IceDogs boast a potent offensive attack with three 40+ goal scorers, three players with more than 100 points and 12 guys who were in double digits in goals scored.
On Sunday, the IceDogs rounded out their scoring with a pair of goals in the third. Akil Thomas (38) at 1:08 and Elijah Roberts (6) at 1:43 made the score 8-2 before Matthew Struthers scored (31) at 13:52.
The Battalion and the IceDogs will be meeting in the playoffs for the first time since the first year the Troops came north. That season, the IceDogs were the number 7 seed and took the Central Division Champions, number 2 seeded Battalion, right to the brink in a thrilling seven game series.
The IceDogs led that series 3-1 before North Bay rallied off back to back to back wins, capping it off with a Game Seven victory at Memorial Gardens, en route to an appearance in the OHL finals against Guelph.
