The North Bay Battalion have agreed to part ways with enforcer Mike Baird.
The physical left winger went to the locker room after his second penalty of the game late in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win over the Barrie Colts.
Baird’s second penalty, an interference call, led to the eventual game tying goal by the Colts.
Baird, who leads the team with 88 penalty minutes, has gone home and won’t be with the team for their playoff run - at least for now.
“Mike Baird has decided to take a break from hockey, so Mike won’t be in the lineup,he has gone home to take a break,” stated Butler during his weekly address to the media on Wednesday.
“I would say it was something mutually agreed upon. I think for Michael right night it’s the best thing, it’s unfortunate because we are really short players. It’s good for both parties and hopefully when it’s all said and done it will work out good for both sides.”
The Troops have had all sorts of challenges keeping their forwards in the lineup. Zach Bratina and Calvin Gomes hung up their skates due to their respective injury issues earlier in the year, while forward David Sherman has gone home to nurse a season ending lower body injury. That, along with Daniil Vertiy, who has missed the last dozen games with a leg injury. Butler cannot give a timeline on Vertiy's return.
The good news on the back end is that Calgary Flames prospect Riley Bruce will be back in the mix on the Battalion blue line. He and Kyle Wood are the only two regular defenders who have been with the team during the past two long Battalion playoff runs.
Butler says he will lean on his experienced players, namely all-time playoff wins leader Jake Smith, as they open up the Eastern Conference quarter-finals against the Peterborough Petes on Friday night at Memorial Gardens.
“We have a goalie, two defenceman and about four or five forwards that have played so hopefully their experience will be good for us,” said Butler.
However, Butler knows his younger players like Cam Dineen, Max Kislinger, Brady Lyle and Justin Brazeau will need to step up their game as well.
“We need the inexperienced guys to play well, I’m not worried about Mike Amadio or Mathew Santos, I don’t worry about those type of guys,” said Butler.
“The guys that I am concerned about are our young guys here who learn very quickly within shifts, that the playoffs are a whole different thing.”
Butler says they have added Junior B star Jamie Huber as a potential player come Friday.
The 1997 birth year Goderich, Ontario product, who plays left wing, netted 80 points in the GOJHL season.
“We are going to see how he practices Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but I want to be fair to him too if I feel he can help our team and help our team beyond this year then we would look to sign him but we don’t know if that’s the case,” admitted Butler noting that he doesn’t want to ruin the player’s NCAA eligibility.
Forward Bradley Chenier is also a potential option up front.
Chenier netted two goals last night as the Rayside-Balfour Canadians staved off elimination by dumping the Elliot Lake Wildcats 10-4 in Chelmsford last night.
Chenier’s Canadians are down 3 games to 1 in the best-of-seven NOJHL Western Division semi-final against the Elliot Lake Wildcats. Game five of that series takes place tonight in Elliot Lake.
As for the competition, Butler knows they could have their hands full with the Petes who have shown they have a lot of experience and depth up front.
The Petes issue has been goaltending disappointment as NHL draft prospect Dylan Wells, who won a Gold Medal with Stan Butler at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic last summer, has struggled.
Wells, considered to be the top goaltending prospect out of the OHL this year, has a humbling 4.59 goals against average this season.
Expect Matthew Mancina to get the nod in goal for the Petes. The Tecumseh, Ontario product led the team with 24 wins in 44 games.
“If Adam Timleck doesn’t get hurt they would have seven 20-goal scorers, they’ve got a very old experienced team, so there’s a lot of things about their team that makes them a very favourable team for playoffs and if we don’t play the way we need to play then we are going to make life extremely difficult for ourselves.”
