The Brampton Battalion kicked off the 2011-2012 season with a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to the Barrie Colts on Friday night. After going 2-3 in preseason competition, the Battalion were looking for a big start, but were missing some key components from the lineup. Zach Bell and Barclay Goodrow sat out the contest due to nagging injuries. The Colts on the other hand, entered the game coming off of a 7-4 victory over Kingston the night before and were looking to add to their hot start.
After notching five points against the Fronts on Thursday, Tanner Pearson of the Colts continued his dominating play by scoring all three goals in a 3-1 victory over the Battalion. Barrie Captain Colin Behenna has been lined up with Pearson thus far and the combo has been dangerous for the Colts through the first two games. They have filled a hole in the early going that has been left by Mark Schiefele who has yet to be sent back to Barrie from the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. Youngster Aaron Ekblad also had a solid second game for the Colts. He registered his first penalty in the OHL, but stopped Michael Santini from converting a chance in front of the net in the process.
For the Troops, Ian Watters scored the lone goal in a game that the Battalion dominated physically, especially in the first period. Matej Machovsky was sensational in the loss stopping two separate Colts breakaways, either of which could have blown the game wide open.
Machovsky and the Battalion however, wasted little time getting into the “win” column on the road in Sudbury on Saturday night. In their second game in as many nights, Brampton got the best of the Wolves outscoring them 5-0. Machovsky closed the door on the Wolves offense recording his first shut-out of the season, while Watters added two goals to give him three thus far. Philip Lane also had a big night registering a goal and two assists.
On Friday morning, the Battalion announced that Sam Carrick would be the Captain for the coming season. On Saturday, he showed why Stan Butler and company chose him to lead this year’s team. Coming off of the tough loss on home ice to Barrie in the opener, Carrick put in what would end up being the winning goal on the road in Sudbury. He added an assist in the victory bringing his team to .500-hockey through the first weekend of the season.
Next up for the Battalion is Kingston on Thursday. The Fronts will head into Brampton at 0-3 and desperately looking for their first win of the season. If the Troops play like they did on Saturday night against the Wolves, they should pick up their first home win of the year and be 2-1 heading into Sarnia on Friday. Battalion fans can only hope that they don’t get stung when they get there.
Comments :
Post a Comment