The North Bay Battalion 3-0 start is a thing of the past as the Troops will be looking to break out of a short three-game losing skid as they face the Ottawa 67’s during tonight’s annual Pink in the Rink night supporting the Canadian Cancer Society.
The Battalion (3-2-1) is coming off a disappointing 7-3 loss at the hands of the visiting Peterborough Petes on Sunday.
“We have to keep the puck out of the net,” said Butler during Wednesday’s media conference.
“I think any time you give up seven goals you are not giving yourself much of a chance to win. You know, offensively we played well but we have got to be better defensively and obviously, our goaltending has to be stronger as well.”
Butler noted they are still trying to assess the club and made one chance recently by sending home former 2015 third-round pick Jacob Ball. The Peterborough native has fought through injuries most of his first two seasons of major junior hockey.
“Ball has gone home,” stated Butler.
“We’ve released him from the team and we’re just waiting to see whether he clears through the league process, which takes 48 hours, and then at that time either he’ll get claimed or he’ll be reassigned somewhere.”
That move drops the Battalion down to a 25-man roster, a number he expects to whittle down in the near future.
“We’re just trying to get it right,” said Butler.
“I think we’re trying to make decisions based on fact instead of emotion, and we just want to make sure that we make the right decisions with players. As we get to that point where we think we can make a good decision one way or the other, we’ll make them.”
