Battalion, Colts face off

The North Bay Battalion faces a home-and-home series with the Barrie Colts this weekend as the Ontario Hockey League embarks on its inaugural Rivalry Week.

The Battalion visits the Sadlon Arena at 7:30 p.m. Saturday before receiving Barrie at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens on Sunday.

The schedule features 10 pairs of teams playing each other twice, once in each rink, although two head-to-head matchups aren’t back-to-back.

“Obviously, it’s special to me every time we get to play Barrie, and getting back to Barrie is obviously a weird feeling every time being back in that rink,” Shamar Moses, one of two Troops acquired from the Colts via trade last season, said Wednesday.

“It’s a special rivalry for me, and every game means a lot to me to win those games.”

Moses, who has two goals and one assist for three points in seven games, joined the Battalion on Oct. 10 last year, while fellow right winger Parker Vaughan made the move Jan. 5.

North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 4-5-0 for eight points, tied with the Brampton Steelheads and Barrie, 3-4-2, for second place in the Central Division. Brampton, at 4-3-0, has two games in hand.

“It just shows you that nothing gets easy in this league,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “It’s a tough weekend. It’s back-to-back, home and home.

“You’re fighting against a divisional opponent that’s a very good hockey team. They actually have a lot of returning guys from the team that won the division last year and, on paper, a very, very strong hockey team.”

The Battalion lost both ends of a home-and-home set last weekend with the Owen Sound Attack, beaten 5-3 Saturday night on the road and 6-4 Monday in the traditional Thanksgiving Day matinee. Late-game pushes saw the Troops threaten to erase deficits before Owen Sound added an empty-net goal in each game.

“I think now with nine games we’re starting to get a tell on some strengths and some weaknesses of our group, and we’re certainly not panicked,” noted Oulahen.

“I think our record probably should be better than it is, quite frankly, and that’s just we have to flip around some of those tightly contested games. We’ve got to be smarter, there’s no doubt about it, but at least our overall game is starting to show that we’re a quite capable hockey team. So lots to work on, but certainly no time to panic.”

Oulahen reiterated that, while the Troops, who posted a 5-2 road win last Friday night over the Guelph Storm, have taken too many penalties, the objective to play a physical game remains.

“We want to play hard between the whistles, but we have to stay out of the penalty box in certain situations and play five-on-five hockey. We’re a very strong five-on-five hockey team, and those things will turn those types of games into wins versus losses.

“When you’re killing penalties, especially the way we want to kill, we want to be super aggressive, you’re taxing a lot of guys in those areas. And then five-on-five you can’t be quite as competitive or fresh in all those areas. In games we’ve done extremely well, it’s been our one-on-one battle level that’s been a huge strength of ours.

“That was a massive strength on Friday night in Guelph against a very hard-working team, so that was a good sign. The next night, it’s tough going against an opponent that’s sitting there and waiting for you, and then it was fairly even on Monday five-on-five, but the special teams was the big thing.”

Brad Gardiner and Cole Beaudoin lead Barrie in scoring. Gardiner has five goals and six assists for 11 points in nine games, while fellow centre Beaudoin has scored three goals and earned six assists for nine points in just four games. Defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson has five goals and three assists for eight points in as many games.

Centre Cam Warren paces the Battalion with one goal and six assists for seven points in nine games, and left winger Ryder Cali has a team-leading five goals and one assist for six points. Vaughan, the right winger on their line, has three assists in nine games.

The Battalion Fan Club is organizing a fan bus to Barrie, with $85 securing a return trip and game ticket. The contact is battalionfanclub@gmail.com.

The game Sunday features YMCA Fill the Bus Day, a fundraiser to send children to summer camp.

The game at Barrie can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.