The North Bay Battalion season is simply on the line tonight.
The Troops are coming off a heartbreaking double overtime loss on home ice Sunday night as Maple Leafs top prospect Ben Danford sent the Battalion fans home in exhaustion and disappointment as his Brantford Bulldog pulled out a 3-2 win and took a 3-0 stranglehold on the Eastern Conference semi-final series.
“I’m really looking forward to Tuesday now,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen with some optimism post-game Sunday.
“Our backs are against the wall here for the first time in the playoffs. So we’ll really get to see what we’ve got on Tuesday.”
Battalion goaltender Mike McIvor was stellar, making 55 saves in the Sunday double OT loss. McIvor sports a stingy .943 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average across his three playoff appearances.
The Troops fans are hoping the Battalion can respond the same way they did in their opening round overtime loss at home. After that setback in game three against Peterborough, the North Bay squad won the next three straight to take the series in six games.
See related: Battalion fall in double overtime heartbreaker to Bulldogs
Looking at the positives, the Troops were able to contain the league’s most lethal offence to only three goals in nearly five full periods of play.
“We had a lot of guys making sacrifices,” noted Oulahen.
“Obviously, it starts in net with Mikey {McIvor}, who was outstanding, and then we got to sacrifice our bodies to front and block many shots, and then we have some strategies to try to get to that next puck, that rebound. They put a lot of pucks from their point towards the net. And we did a better job today than in other games in this series of just finding that loose one and getting it cleared away.”
But getting outshot 58-26 is not a recipe for success, as the Troops need to capitalize on their chances and spend more time in the Bulldogs zone.
The Troops offence has been spearheaded by a trio which has four goals each in Parker Vaughan, rookie Cam Warren and Captain Ethan Procyszyn.
Forwards Ryder Cali and Nick Wellenreiter, who had a third period goal called back in game three, only have one goal each so far in nine playoff games.
“It Starts With One”
Oulahen guided a Battalion team from the brink of elimination to a seventh game two seasons ago against the Oshawa Generals.
A reverse sweep will be a daunting task against a Bulldogs team which is sporting a perfect 7-0 playoff record.
“Well, it just, it starts with one,” said Oulahen.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get a win.
“It’ll be a good chance to look at the game film,” he continued post-game Sunday.
“I’m probably gonna focus more on the offensive side of things, trying to keep the puck in their end longer, hang on to things, work them a little bit lower.
“I thought we made strides, so we went to overtime here today in that area, but that’s gonna be probably the focus on video. And then, hey, just let’s go and have some fun. I was kind of telling the guys, even going into overtime. You can’t go out and purchase this experience, right?
“We’ve earned and deserve this experience. So we might as well have some fun with it.”
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
