The season has come to an end for the North Bay Battalion after a 5-4 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs. The Troops entered the third period up 3-2, before blowing the lead and ultimately losing the game. The lone bright spot for the Troops was forward Justin Brazeau, who had a goal and two assists in the loss.
Had the Troops won, they would’ve hosted the Niagara IceDogs tomorrow night in a tiebreaker game, after Niagara lost 6-1 to the Mississauga Steelheads, but it wasn’t to be. In talking about the offensive outburst by Kingston at the start of the 3rd period, Head Coach Stan Butler says that’s been the story of their whole year where they have critical lapses at bad times and it hurts. Butler says they did score to make it 5-4 and they pushed hard at the end, but the reality is their pushes all year just haven’t been where they needed to be.
The Battalion finish the year with a record of 24-38-6 for 54 points. They will miss the playoffs for only the third time in franchise history, both times coming when the team was still located in Brampton. The Troops will now have a top five selection in the Ontario Hockey League draft, and a top ten selection in the Canadian Hockey League import draft.
