Battalion, Barrie poised to go at it again
NORTH BAY, Ont. – Eight is enough.
Eight days after the last playoff game for each, the North Bay Battalion and Barrie Colts will open their second-round Ontario Hockey League playoff series.
“I don’t recall the last time where you got a week off between playoff series,” coach Stan Butler, whose Battalion opens a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal at Barrie at 7:30 p.m. Friday, said Thursday.
“It’s extremely weird. The good thing is that both teams have had that much time off, so it’ll be the same for both teams.
“Knowing our rivalry, I don’t think it’s going to take too long to get everybody into the series and get going and playing the way that they need to play.”
The third-seeded Battalion and second-seeded Colts tied at 85 points atop the Central Division, with Barrie taking the division title from the reigning champions by virtue of more wins. North Bay swept the Kingston Frontenacs in the first round, while the Colts won four straight games, one in overtime, against the Belleville Bulls.
Barrie boasts a top line of Joseph Blandisi, Kevin Labanc and Andrew Mangiapane, all of whom registered 104 or more points in the regular season. Blandisi, who scored a league-high 52 goals, led the team with four goals and five assists for nine points against Belleville.
Brendan Lemieux, who had 41 goals, 60 points and a team-leading 145 penalty minutes, hasn’t played since March 5 because of a hand injury. His status for the opener was unknown.
Butler, whose Troops ousted Barrie in six games in the same round last year, acknowledged that North Bay will have its hands full dealing with the up-tempo Colts, but he suggested the Battalion can counter.
“If you don’t turn the puck over, that doesn’t allow them to start to transition. We’re going to make turnovers, everybody does, but if we can just manage the puck well and not put the puck into situations where they can get odd-man rushes and take advantage of that, I think we’ll be fine.”
Apart from a high-octane offence, Barrie has Mackenzie Blackwood between the pipes. The top-rated North American goaltender for the National Hockey League Draft in June, he posted a 1.74 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in the first round.
Goaltender Jake Smith, a mainstay in the Battalion’s march to the OHL Championship Series last year, had a 1.00 GAA, a .966 save percentage and one shutout against Kingston, suggesting that both teams can expect competent crease work.
Butler said that the availability of defenceman Marcus McIvor, victim of a vicious head check by Lawson Crouse in the final minute of the Kingston series, remained up in the air.
“It’s a day-to-day basis, and you have to see how people feel. His practices this week have been encouraging, and that’s why it’s a day-to-day type of thing.”
Butler said that an automatic suspension to Miles Liberati for instigating a late-game fight with Crouse after the hit has been bought back and the defenceman is free to play.
The OHL handed Crouse an eight-game suspension Wednesday, a ban that likely cost him a spot on the Canadian entry at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s under-18 world championship starting next Thursday in Switzerland.
Captain McIvor, asked about the incident, begged off making a statement.
“I’m going to stay away from that one. I’m going to go with ‘No comment.’”
As for Barrie, he noted: “We know them very well. We know they’re a run-and-gun team, so we just have to stick to our game and make life difficult for them.”
In a scoring change, the OHL added a second assist for McIvor on Mike Amadio’s opening goal in Game 4 at Kingston and corrected the first assist to Zach Bratina from Nick Paul.
The Battalion posted a won-lost-extended record of 3-1-2 against Barrie this season, but four of the games were played by Nov. 15 and the fifth Jan. 15. The most recent, on Feb. 26, saw the visiting Troops win 4-2.
The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.
