Stan Butler joked that Ryan Oulahen’s priority in his visit to North Bay is to make sure his house - rented by Battalion assistants Adam Dennis and John Dean - is still in great shape.
But aside from checking his property the real priority will be facing his mentor, Stan Butler as the Flint Firebirds and Battalion clash at the Gardens Thursday night.
Oulahen, who played for Butler with the Battalion, and spent time in Brampton and North Bay as Butler’s #1 assistant, left for the vacant head coaching position in Flint this past summer.
Butler knew he had what it takes to be a head coach in the OHL.
“He was ready for a long time to be a head coach, but there are only so many of those jobs,” noted Butler.
“I think people have seen in Flint this year that he’s done a very, very good job there.”
Ironically Oulahen’s Firebirds have the exact same record as the Battalion with 30 points in 28 games this year - with both teams sporting 14 wins.
The two teams made a goalie swap this summer, as the Battalion sent Garrett Forrest and a fourth round pick to Flint in exchange for over-ager Brent Moran.
Forrest had a stellar season last year with the Powassan Voodoos before the summer trade as he was named to the NOJHL First All-Star Team.
The two goalies won’t have a chance to go head-to-head as Butler admitted both Moran and Matt Woroniuk won’t be available in goal until after the Christmas break.
Julien Sime will get the start in goal for the Battalion and Logan Sawka of the Espanola Express of the NOJHL will be on the bench as backup.
“We were lucky enough to go to Espanola, to Randy Blake (Express Director of Hockey Operations), and they were able to provide us with a goalie that we’ll be using for the next little while. His name is Logan Sawka, and he’ll be arriving in town Thursday and he’ll back up for the three games this weekend, and then after that we’ll look at other options to go forward.”
The Battalion affiliate team in Powassan didn’t have a goaltender available. NOJHL All-Star and North Bay native Nate McDonald is a Peterborough Petes prospect, and new goaltender Andrew Suriano declined the option to keep his NCAA eligibility intact.
