Gardens party puts Barrie on the brink
NORTH BAY, Ont. – Memorial Gardens fans waited 15 years to the month for playoff overtime payback, and the way they celebrated Thursday night suggested it was worth it.
Ryan Kujawinski scored at 3:49 of the second overtime period to lift the North Bay Battalion to a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Barrie Colts, giving the home side a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.
The Battalion, which moved to North Bay from Brampton in 2013, played two overtime games in the playoffs last year, both road dates against the Guelph Storm in the OHL Championship Series, making Game 4 of the current set the first OHL playoff overtime action at North Bay since April 1, 2000.
On that occasion, Mike Henderson scored 2:19 into overtime to give the Colts a 2-1 win over the Centennials in the fourth game of a first-round series that Barrie won in six. Battalion assistant coaches John Dean and Steve Chabbert played for North Bay in that game.
Kujawinski netted his fifth goal of the postseason off a two-on-one rush with Nick Moutrey against Jonathan Laser. Zach Poirier in the Battalion zone got the puck to Brenden Miller, and he fed it up the left wing to the dashing Moutrey, who put it across Laser to Kujawinski for the wired winner over Barrie goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood’s glove.
The sellout crowd of 4,137 went wild, and the second-seeded Colts sagged after rebounding from a 2-0 deficit through two periods. The third-seeded Battalion, which eliminated Barrie in six games at the same stage last year, can end the series at Barrie starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“I really didn’t know how good a shot it was until I watched it in the coaches’ room afterwards, and there was no doubt that was a heck of shot, but a great pass by Nick as well,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler.
Butler also praised the work on the goal by rookie Poirier, who saw limited late ice time.
“It was his first shift since about halfway through the third period, and he actually made a decent play to get the puck over to Miller.”
Miller played his 42nd career postseason game, fourth in Battalion history, one more than Cody Hodgson, Brad Albert, Scott Tanski and Sam Carrick.
Moutrey had one goal and two assists, while Kujawinski added an assist. Each was acquired in a trade just before the January deadline, Moutrey from the Saginaw Spirit and Kujawinski from the Kingston Frontenacs.
“I think quite frankly that if we don’t make those trades we aren’t where we are today,” said Butler. “We analysed our hockey team and looked at it and felt that we needed to make a couple of moves to be as competitive as we could on our side.”
Kujawinski’s goal ended the fourth-longest game in franchise history and the fifth to go to a second overtime period. It was the Troops’ second win in the circumstances, Cameron Wind having given Brampton a 4-3 victory over the host Sudbury Wolves on March 28, 2012, in the Battalion’s second-longest game. He scored at 14:47 of double overtime in the fourth and final game of a conference quarterfinal.
The longest game was a 3-2 road loss to the Belleville Bulls on April 23, 2009, which ended with Nick Palmieri’s power-play goal at 18:44 of the second overtime frame. Brampton won 7-4 at home the following night to capture the conference final in six games.
The Troops have a 2-1 won-lost record in postseason overtime since moving to the Gateway City. Jason Dickinson scored 57 seconds into extra time to give Guelph a 3-2 victory in their series opener last May 1, and Barclay Goodrow provided the Battalion with a 4-3 win at 2:30 of overtime the next night.
Said Butler of the Barrie set: “We’ve still got a long way to go to win the series, but it’s better to be up 3-1 than 2-2. I was proud of our guys. They persevered.”
The game at Barrie can be seen live on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.
