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Troops take first series lead with big win over Colts

Battalion offence flexes its muscles in front of a sold out Memorial Gardens.

The North Bay Battalion rode the fan support to a huge 7-3 victory in Game 5 over the Barrie Colts Saturday evening.

The Troops now lead the best of seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Monday from Barrie.

“Big win, but it’s only the third one here and there’s a lot of work still to be done,” explained head coach Ryan Oulahen. “I love our group right now. There’s no real big celebration, we didn’t have to talk about it and we’ll put it behind us and get ready for Game 6.”

The attendance announced was 4,203, which the team announced as a sellout, the first since the early days of the Battalion in North Bay.

“We’ve been talking about it for 10 years,” Oulahen said about the attendance. “I have been spreading the word everywhere I have gone, and all the staff I have worked with in between.

“It’s back.”

The Colts jumped to the early lead as Tai York (4) controversially pushed the puck past Dom DiVincentiis. The goal was reviewed twice, once for a kicking motion, and then again for goaltender interference according to Oulahen.

“They deemed there was no kicking motion, and then I challenged goaltender interference on the play because there was a goaltender interference penalty on the play, so I thought that was a good call but it didn’t go our way.

“They said it was close and the puck was probably a hair behind him when the contact was made.”

However, the Troops rebounded in a big way as Matvey Petrov (2) one timed the puck past Anson Thornton on the powerplay. Heading into the first intermission, the game was knotted at 1-1.

Less than a minute into the second period, and with Dalyn Wakely serving a roughing penalty, a Battalion clearing attempt hit a North Bay player and the puck landed on the stick of Beau Jelsma, who fed it to Jacob Frasca (6), 2-1 Barrie.

That was where the fun ended for the Colts, however, as over a span of 1:26, the Troops found the back of the net three times, starting with Luc Brzustowski (1) netting his first career OHL playoff goal. Shortly after, Pasquale Zito (3) added on, with Avery Winslow (1) also getting in on the fun. Battalion led 4-2 after the second period.

In the third, Brandt Clarke (7) tried to spark Barrie as he brought the Colts to within one goal with his second of the series. Yet, the Troops continued the onslaught as Wakely (4) and Kyle McDonald (11) added on in the span of 1:01 to make the final 7-3.

The Battalion will look to end the series Monday when they head to Barrie for Game 6.

“Right now it’s clearly about rest, nutrition, recover and that’s it,” stated Oulahen. “They’re a really good, really good hockey team over there. It’s going to be tough to put them away.

“It’ll be in their rink so we’ll need to find a way to get energized and go there and try to play the best 60 minutes we can.”

That game will be featured live on the Frontline Gameday Broadcast. Pregame starts Monday night at 7:20 p.m.