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Rough weekend for Troops

Butler calls out players as Spirit stop Battalion 6-3.

The North Bay Battalion dropped a 6-3 decision to the Saginaw Spirit Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gardens. Kris Bennett paced the Spirit with a hat trick, the last into an empty net. The game was tied 3-3 entering the third period and the Spirit found another gear where the Troops could not.

Head Coach Stan Butler was not pleased following the team's second loss in two days, especially after his team fired on all cylinders in a resounding home win over the Sudbury Wolves Thursday.

"We were 3-3, and on the fourth goal, we just get badly outworked. They looked a little bit more hungry on it. Our 19-year old NHL-drafted centre gets beat clean and the puck's in the back of our net," said Butler.

"In the third period, it's a twenty-minute game, we've struggled all year with the (in)ability to play a full sixty minutes," observed the coach.

When asked why this team has been unable to play a full game, Butler replied, "I don't know. That's a good question to ask the players. Sometimes I feel with our team that the three guys who care the most are the three behind the bench."

In the course of four days, the North Bay Battalion have gone from wearing North Bay Centennials jerseys (in that 6-3 victory over Sudbury on Thursday) to playing the team that used to be the Centennials on Sunday, the Saginaw Spirit.

It is the game in between, however, that was the most troubling to Troops backers. Up 3-0 in the third on the road against a strong Peterborough Petes team Saturday, North Bay collapsed, allowing five unanswered goals (including four straight to end the game by Steven Lorentz) in a tough 5-3 loss. 

Regarding the collapse versus the Petes, Butler said, "I thought we played well for two periods, we blew the game in the third period."

Assistant Coach John Dean said in an interview prior to Sunday's Coach4Food game that the Battalion had played a solid 45 minutes in Peterborough, only to see the lead slip away. Dean credited goaltender Julian Sime as one of the main reasons the Battalion had attained such a margin. 

Dean also acknowledged the contribution of Bo Peltier, called up from Scott Wray's Powassan Voodoos for Saturday's game.

No Peltier Sunday, but Dayton Murray and Eric Nagy, who remained behind to play in the Voodoos victory Saturday night, were deployed as a tandem versus the Spirit.

Sunday's loss leaves the Battalion at 18-24-3-0 through 45 games. North Bay is four points behind the Sudbury Wolves and five back of the Mississauga Steelheads in the Central Division. The Steelheads have two games in hand on both Sudbury and North Bay, with one of those to be played Sunday night in Oshawa.

North Bay retains the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth by percentage points over the Niagara IceDogs after they were dismantled Sunday by the London Knights. North Bay has played one fewer game than Niagara.

The Troops looked to get off to a fast start as an early penalty was called against Spirit winger Hayden Hodgson early on. It was Saginaw who took advantage first, as Kris Bennett used a strong forecheck to win the puck, break in alone and beat North Bay starter Brent Moran high to the glove side. The shorthanded goal, Bennett's 13th, was assisted by Keaton Middleton and came at 1:43.

The Troops answered at 2:12, just after the penalty expired. Max Kislinger, battling hard in front of the net, beat former Battalion goaltender Evan Cormier from in close. Kislinger, playing on the top line with Brett McKenzie and Steve Harland has been hot of late, with all three of his goals this season coming in the last three games. The goal was assisted by Harland and Jesse Saban, tying the game 1-1.

The Spirit made it two goals on two shots as an errant North Bay pass left the Spirit zone and hit Saginaw's Cole Coskey in stride as he exited the penalty box. Coskey raced in on Moran, went to the backhand and scored, giving the Spirit a 2-1 lead.

The offensive fireworks continued, as Zach Poirier was left alone in front, and his second whack at a puck that had bounced off the boards following a Dayton Murray shot beat Cormier, tying the game 2-2. Daniil Verity drew the second assist on the play, making it four goals in the first 10:40 of the game.

Less than two minutes later, McKenzie regained the team goal-scoring lead, notching his 21st on the powerplayfor a 3-2 Troops lead. Adam Thilander made a nifty spin move to keep the puck in at the blueline and dished to Harland, who then whipped the puck cross-ice where McKenzie one-timed it past Cormier. The goal came just eight seconds into the man advantage.

Considering that Saginaw was idle Saturday, in town and waiting for Sunday's game while North Bay did not arrive home from Peterborough until the wee hours, the Troops were probably pleased with the pace and outcome of the first period.

The Troops led 3-2 on the scoreboard and 14-7 in shots-on-goal after one period.

The Battalion carried the play in the early part of the second period, and the Spirit, a step behind, took penalties as a result. Verity drew a hooking call on a burst to the net on Filip Hronek and Brad Chenier got tripped up by Bennett, although neither powerplay came through with a goal.

As the second wound down, the offensive creativity exhibited in the first period was a distant memory. The Battalion had heavy road legs, as they had played one-and-a-half games in the previous 20 hours, with some travelling thrown in for good measure.

With just over five minutes to play in the second, Zach Shankar took a roughing minor, and 38 seconds later, McKenzie got whistled for tripping in the Spirit zone. Five seconds after that, Saban was called for delay-of-game, putting the Troops in an even bigger quagmire.

Moran made several saves to maintain the lead, but Hodgson scored his 27th of the season (and seventh in his last five games) to tie the game 3-3, assisted by Middleton

Until Harland registered a shot against Cormier as time expired, Saginaw had counted nine straight shots against North Bay. Shots after two periods continued to favour the Battalion 21-19.

Early in the third period, Chenier drew another penalty with his aggressive play, this time an interference call on Damien Giroux that the Spirit killed off, making the home team 1-for-6 on the powerplay.

Saginaw took the lead 8:29 into the third, as Max Grondin beat Moran for his third of the year. Jesse Barwell and C.J. Garcia assisted on the go-ahead marker.

Bennett scored his second of the game, assisted by Hronek, to extend the Saginaw lead to 5-3.

Hronek took a hooking penalty on a Battalion break with just over five minutes to play, the Troops buzzed around the net, but could not score.

Bennett added his third of the game into the empty net, making the final score 6-3.

The Troops are next in action when they face the Rangers in Kitchener Friday night at 7:30 p.m. North Bay returns home to host the Peterborough Petes at 4 p.m., as part of CogecoTV's Hockey Day in the OHL.


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Stu Campaigne

About the Author: Stu Campaigne

Stu Campaigne is a full-time news reporter for BayToday.ca, focusing on local politics and sharing our community's compelling human interest stories.
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