The Ottawa 67’s were poised to win a tight 1-0 win at home last Saturday, that is, until the two Brett’s, Hargrave and McKenzie scored late to spoil a home victory for the 67’s in a 2-1 Battalion road win.
The Troops hope that late surge translates into success on home ice tonight as they look to improve on their less than stellar 1-4 record on home ice this season.
“I think even in the days of the Centennials, when Bert (Templeton) was here and Brian Kilrea was there, that they had good rivalries,” stated Head Coach Stan Butler about the traditionally tight games between the two clubs.
“Ottawa and North Bay are always good hockey games, and the biggest thing for us is it would be nice to win a game on home ice and play as well as we do on the road at home for a change.”
Butler is hopeful his team will bring more energy and a higher compete level onto home ice tonight against the 67’s.
He says the focus now is to get the team to start playing well.
“We need to get them to play to the level they need to in order to be successful,” noted Butler.
“We still have a ways to go to get our compete level to a level where I would be comfortable with and then also I think we have to get our execution down, especially our power play has got to be better and we have to generate some offence five-on-five as well.”
Butler will be hoping for a better start too on home ice. In their last home game last Thursday the Hamilton Bulldogs pounced on the Troops and scored five times in the opening period in a 7-4 Bulldogs win.
The Battalion sit in third spot now in the OHL’s Central Division with a 4-5 record. They are one point behind the second place Colts and seven back of the first place Sudbury Wolves.
Busy week
Thursday’s contest is part of a very busy weekend for the Troops.
On Friday the Battalion will travel to the Sleeman Centre to face the Guelph Storm and then Saturday they will go to Hamilton to face the 7-2 Bulldogs. Both games are 7 p.m. puck drops and can be seen on CogecoTV channel 700 and on the radio on Country 600 CKAT.
Sherman demoted
The Battalion also announced that 2014 2nd round pick David Sherman has been waived by the OHL and re-assigned to the Toronto Junior Canadiens of the Ontario Junior ‘A’ Hockey League.
In 67 OHL games over three seasons with the Troops, Sherman has recorded six goals along with eight assists totalling 14 points.
