The North Bay Battalion certainly give their fans good entertainment value for the ticket price.
After dominating the first forty minutes and riding a three-goal lead into the final frame against the Mississauga Steelheads on Monday afternoon, the Troops narrowly escaped substantial third period pressure to win their third straight game 5-3.
Fourth-year forward Zach Bratina stole the show by scoring his first ever major-junior hat trick in a first-star performance, while defensemen Miles Liberati and Austin Kosack provided the secondary offensive punch.
Despite allowing two Mississauga goals in the span of a minute in the final frame, goaltender Jake Smith was the pivotal piece in sealing the win, stopping 33 Mississauga shots in a second star performance.
In their first of six games against each other this season, the Central Division rivals played with a furious pace that the Battalion looked to control with ease, at least for the majority of the match.
But, as has been the case in the early going this season, the Battalion had to sustain a late stage scare after the Steelhead offence woke up.
“I thought we played very good for the first 39 minutes; we were up 4-0 and we were playing the way we need to play to be successful,” Battalion head coach Stan Butler said after the game, “but we have a habit with our team right now, and that’s why we’re an average team right now, where we can’t play 60 minutes.
“We need to consistently work here and find ways to play 60 minutes; if we don’t do that, we’re going to take a lot of good efforts away from our team,” he added.
It didn’t take the gang green long to get started though.
Bratina needed just 48 seconds to pounce on a poor turnover and cut off a cross-ice pass by the Steelheads defence, controlling the puck quickly and capitalizing on a gift breakaway from the hashmarks.
“It was a good example tonight, right off the bat, that if you pressure their defence, they’re going to give it up,” said Bratina. “A good defenceman in [Steelhead’s] Sean Day, anyone can make that mistake, so you’ve got to keep pressuring.”
And pressure they did.
The Troops continued to play with impressive speed, forcing the Steelheads into countless near-costly turnovers; when the visitors did manage to break out of their zone, it was only with one of two forwards going up against a wall of Battalion defence.
The Troops’ quick transitions and imposing neutral zone play eventually paid off after North Bay native Brett Hargrave drove wide over the Steelhead blue line and dished trailing defenceman Kosack a drop pass that he slipped under the cross bar for the two-goal lead.
The second stanza saw the Battalion defence continue to get involved on the secondary attack too.
With the momentum heavily in their favour, Liberati was able to walk in uncontested from the Steelhead blue line and wire a perfectly placed shot over the shoulder of Steelhead starter Jack Flinn.
Five minutes later, and in equally as impressive fashion as his first goal of the game, Bratina buried a beautiful breakaway goal for the four-goal lead, chasing Flinn from the net with Cameron Zanussi entering the game in his relief.
But the inexperienced Battalion boys started to show signs of inconsistency again.
With a comfortable four-goal lead and a face-off in their defensive zone late in the second period, the Battalion called a timeout to rest his players and draw up a set face-off play.
But whatever they told the Troops didn’t get through, as Steelhead forward Alexander Nylander was left all alone in front of Smith after the ensuing draw, needing just a slick shot to get the boys in blue on the board.
That late-second period surge carried over into the third period as well, as the Steelheads steadily picked up momentum.
The Battalion finally faltered 16 minutes into the final frame, when Daniel Muzito-Bagenda and Everett Clark scored just over a minute apart to cut the North Bay lead to one.
When the the Steelheads applied the offensive pressure, they did so relentlessly, registering 20 shots to the Battalion’s three in the third period. As the end of regulation neared, the quality of the Steelheads’ chances got better and the nerves of the North Bay fans were noticeably on the rise.
But using his explosive first step one last time, Bratina corralled a lose puck inside his own blue line with less than 15 seconds left and drove fast for centre ice, burying a long-range empty netter for his first career three-goal performance.
While the Battalion did escape with the win, the third period dip resulted in the Steelheads outshooting the Battalion 36-23.
“I think they’re a really good team; you can see that even in the third period, where they outshot us - they dominated us in the third period,” Butler said of the divisional foe. “We know they are a highly skilled team - they have a lot of top-five picks on their team and a top European player there - so we know they’re going to be a tough team to beat moving forward.”
Bratina was used in every scenario on Monday afternoon, using his speed and elusive puck handling skills to generate chances consistently. His three goals in the Thanksgiving Day Classic give him the team lead in both goals and points through six games.
The veteran has now scored six goals in the last three games, igniting a Battalion squad that struggled with goal scoring to launch the season.
“Coming into my fourth year, I have a lot more confidence and the game seems to be getting a little slower and I’m just trying to take advantage of it,” said the team scoring leader.
Elsewhere up front though, captain Mike Amadio continues to struggle offensively, having only registered two assists through six games so far this season, while Brett McKenzie added an assist on Monday for his team-leading fourth helper.
“I think we were hard on their defence and we forced the turnovers,” Butler summarized. “That’s the way we want to play: we want to be a real pressure team, we want to be hard on the forecheck and I think when we do those things, and you can see signs of that happening, we’re a pretty good team.”
With the win, the Battalion take sole possession of third place in the division with six points, one behind the Steelheads and two behind the Barrie Colts.
They will look to extend their three-game winning streak with a busy week ahead, starting with a visit from the reigning CHL Champion Oshawa Generals on Thursday night, followed by a road trip to Sudbury on Fridaynight before returning home to host the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday afternoon.
Game time Thursday is 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
