Story by Scott Walpole
Adam Varga’s first goal of the season at 18:36 of the second period proved the winner on Pink in the Rink Night at Memorial Gardens as the Mississauga Steelheads took a 4-3 decision over the North Bay Battalion on Thursday night.
Clad in pink uniforms for the sixth time in North Bay, the Troops put forth a solid effort on home ice in front of 2,148 fans but were foiled by the efforts of a Steelheads team that won its second consecutive game to take four of a possible six points from a three-game road trip.
“I thought that tonight we played a pretty good game.” said assistant coach Adam Dennis. “Anytime you get doubled up on penalties, that puts you behind the eight ball, but we battled hard.”
“I think for the first time in a long time, we didn’t get the goaltending we needed tonight, but that is going to happen from time to time. Overall, I think we deserved a better result.”
The special teams’ edge was tilted to the Battalion, which killed off all six Steelheads powerplays including an early double minor and 5-on-3 in the first period. The Battalion went one for three with the man advantage, with second-year forward Brandon Coe scoring his first goal of the season in the second frame with a hard wrist shot off the left post.
“It’s promising to see Brandon get going.” said Dennis. “The skill that he has, it was only a matter of time for a guy with his skill. To see him going hard to the net was just as promising for us”
The Battalion carried the play for a fair portion of the game, though it was the visiting Steelheads who capitalized on a greater number of chances with some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it goals off of North Bay turnovers. The Troops continued to be led by their top line, receiving two-point games captain Justin Brazeau and alternate Matthew Struthers, who returned after missing last weekend’s three-game road trip with an upper-body injury. Import forward Egor Postnov also scored two points in the loss by notching a pair of assists while narrowly missing a handful of opportunities for his first OHL goal.
The evening, sponsored by CAA, marked the sixth time since the Battalion relocation to North Bay that the club has donned pink jerseys in support of the local Canadian Cancer Society branch, which raised funds through the sale of pink hats, ribbons and the Chuck-a-Puck during the second intermission. Both teams were happy to see the Mississauga blue did not resemble the Battalion pink, as was the case last year when the visiting Ottawa 67’s, in their dark barber-pole striped uniforms, clashed with the Troops’ rose-coloured ensemble. Tonight’s loss moves the Battalion record on Pink in the Rink Night to 1-3-2 since 2013.
The Battalion remains at home this weekend for a rematch of last season’s playoff series with the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday afternoon. Game time is 2 p.m.
