North Bay Battalion Head Coach Stan Butler says this year was probably the most frustrating and disappointing he’s had in his career. The Troops finished with a record of 24-38-6 and only amassed 54 point while finishing fourth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference. The Battalion missed the playoffs for the third time in franchise history, and for the first time since relocating to North Bay from Brampton. Butler says they lost games to teams below them in the standings, they lost games they needed to win, and the lack of focus and effort in practice caught up with them as the season moved along.
He says it was a really tough season and a little bit humbling. Butler added when you’ve always made the playoffs, you assume you always will. He knows the fans in North Bay are extremely disappointed, and says the team is too. Butler says they put a lot of hours into this job and work really hard. He says it’s been a long time since he hasn’t been in the playoffs, so saying this is tough to deal with is an understatement. Butler recognizes that some off-ice issues need to be corrected. He says they need to change the culture of the team to get it back to where it was the first three years in North Bay.
Butler will now shift his attention to the OHL Priority Selection on April 8th where North Bay will pick third, then the first OHL Under-18 Priority Selection for players who played midget this season where they also possess the third choice, and then finally Canadian Hockey League Import Draft where the Troops will pick seventh. Butler finished by saying he’s going to work hard this summer to make sure they do the best they can in each of the three drafts to restore the culture on their team that’s more reflective of the Battalion culture they’ve had since he’s been here.
