The lockers have been cleaned out, the hockey bags have been packed and the North Bay Battalion locker rooms are empty in late March for the first time since the franchise moved here in 2013.
For the Battalion franchise it was the first non-playoff season since 2002 and certainly a season the Battalion and its fans will want to forget.
“It’s unfortunate, I know a lot of guys were feeling it after the game, you know it’s something you learn from and you move forward in life and hockey and it’s just something you have to be better at next time,” said a disappointed Steve Harland who will likely move on to play CIS hockey in the GTA next fall.
The Battalion was riddled all season long with injuries and a lack of consistency.
“We would play good for half a game and then fall apart and you can’t do that especially in a league like this,” noted Cam Dineen who missed more than half the season due to a knee injury but was likely set to return to the lineup had the team made the playoffs.
“Every team has really good players that will hurt you if you fall asleep for a couple minutes so that was kind of our problem this year. I think we would have been in the playoffs if we didn’t lose so many games in the third period.”
Overage goaltender Brent Moran reflects back on a disappointing season where his save percentage was below .890. He knows he could have been better this season too.
“I don’t think there were letdowns or inconsistency, if anything I could have stepped up my game and carried us a little more,” he said after cleaning out his Battalion locker for the last time.
Battalion head coach Stan Butler believes the team has to change the culture in the room to the way it was the first three seasons the franchise was in North Bay - likely an indication there will be change in the off-season.
“I think some of that will happen through evolution of people moving on but I think we have to make some other decisions that will make our room and our team understand the type of work it takes,” said Butler during a media conference Tuesday afternoon.
“I tried to warn them all year, if you cut corners in practice it will come back and haunt you in games and no matter how many times I’ve said that it didn’t seem to get through to them.”
Butler admitted some of the players were not on the same page as the coaching staff this season.
“I think part of the problem today is kids today are sneaky and they are not going to show you their cards and quite frankly if you want to be a professional hockey player it’s not whether you were on the page of the coach or not, a lot of times you do it because that’s what you are supposed to do,” said Butler.
“I mean we had guys who were potentially good leaders that quite frankly didn’t feel it was their place yet and that’s what I mean about creating a culture. You’ve got to create a situation where those players feel comfortable to take hold of what they have to take hold of for the team to be successful.”
Butler says he will not be as patient in the future with Battalion teams after seeing what happened to this squad this season.
“Next year we aren’t going to wait until things get back on track, we are going to make sure they never get off track.”
