North Bay Battalion

North Bay Battalion
City North Bay, Ontario
League Ontario Hockey League
Conference Eastern
Division Central
Founded December 3, 1996 (1996-12-03)
Home arena North Bay Memorial Gardens
Colours Khaki Green, Yellow, Black and White
                   
General manager Stan Butler
Head coach Stan Butler
Affiliate(s) Powassan Voodoos (2014–present) (NOJHL)
Franchise history
1998–2013 Brampton Battalion
2013–present North Bay Battalion

The North Bay Battalion is a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was founded as the Brampton Battalion on December 3, 1996, and began play in 1998. Due to consistently poor attendance, the team relocated to North Bay prior to the 2013–14 OHL season.

History

Early Years, 1998-2013

The Brampton Battalion's inaugural season began in 1998-99, and the team struggled, winning only 8 of 68 games. However, it would be one of only two seasons (the other being 2001-02) in which the Battalion would miss the playoffs. The fifteen season tenure in Brampton saw the Battalion finish with a .484 win percentage in 1020 regular season games and win four Central Division Championships and one Eastern Conference Championship.

Relocation

During the summer of 2012 rumours of the Battalion franchise relocating began to swirl as their lease agreement with the Powerade Centre was nearing an end. Attendance that was never healthy on a regular basis to begin with, was declining in Brampton. Combined with an unfavourable lease in Brampton, owner Scott Abbott looked for other options as the 2012-13 season got under way. On Monday, November 5, 2012 following a meeting with city council in North Bay, Ontario an agreement in principle to move the Battalion to North Bay for the 2013-14 season was agreed upon. Just nine days later fans in North Bay had already bought over 2,000 season tickets as per the conditions of the agreement. The Battalion would play out of the North Bay Memorial Gardens which underwent major renovations, in order to meet league standards. Franchise owner Scott Abbott stated that the team would continue to use the Battalion moniker in North Bay, paying homage to the city's strong military history.

Championships

The North Bay Battalion have won one division title and one conference championship in its first season in North Bay.

Emms Trophy
Central Division Champions

Bobby Orr Trophy Eastern Conference Champions

Uniforms and logos

The Battalion's uniform is primarily an army-like shade of olive green. The shoulders feature black bars, with white outlining, this is then further outlined in black. Evenly between the shoulder and elbow lie three military-style chevrons, connoting rank (here, sergeant) completing armed forces theme.

The logo itself, featuring their mascot, Sarge, gritting his teeth is also army olive green, a mix of yellow and beige, white, fleshish pinky-orange, black, and red. The name Battalion, emblazoned on their uniform is pure red, and is created in a way that it looks three-dimensional.

Uniform Colours: Khaki Green, Yellow, Black and White
Logo Design: "A militant with an army hat with the word 'Battalion' under the militant."

Arena

The North Bay Battalion play out of the North Bay Memorial Gardens. Built in 1955, it is best known as the home of the North Bay Centennials, which called the Gardens home from 1982 until 2002, after which they moved to Saginaw, Michigan and became the Saginaw Spirit. Most recently, it has served as the home of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's North Bay Trappers, which called the Memorial Gardens home immediately after the Cents left in 2002 and played in tell 2014, as well as the Nipissing University Lakers hockey team playing in Canadian Interuniversity Sport as a member of the Ontario University Athletics conference.

With the Battalion's arrival and subsequent 15-year lease, the Gardens went under a $12 million renovation; the seating capacity has increased to 4,246, the ice surface has been reconfigured to new OHL standards, 10 private boxes has been added and a new 2-level team dressing room was built.

Capacity = 4,246
Ice Size = 200' x 85'


Roster

Goaltenders
Number Player Glove Acquired NHL Draft Place of birth
30 Canada Brent Moran L Trade with Flint Dallas Stars 2014 Orleans, Ontario
35 Canada Mat Woroniuk L North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Toronto, Ontario
Defensemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired NHL Draft Place of birth
2 Canada Eric Allair L North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 North Bay, Ontario
3 Sweden Adam Thilander R CHL Import Draft North Bay Battalion 2016 Eligible in 2017 Skovde, Sweden
4 United States Cam Dineen L North Bay Battalion 2014 Arizona Coyotes 2016 Toms River, New Jersey
6 Canada Zach Shankar L North Bay Battalion 2013 Undrafted Prescott, Ontario
8 Canada Riley Bruce R North Bay Battalion 2013 Calgary Flames 2015 Carp, Ontario
22 Canada Brady Lyle R North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 North Bay, Ontario
25 Canada Mark Shoemaker R North Bay Battalion 2013 San Jose Sharks 2016 Mississauga, Ontario
Forwards
Number Player Shoots Acquired NHL Draft Place of birth
9 Canada Rhys Forhan R North Bay Battalion 2016 Eligible in 2018 Bradford, Ontario
10 Canada Brett Hargrave R Trade with Owen Sound Attack Undrafted North Bay, Ontario
11 Canada Daniel Walker R North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Val Caron, Ontario
12 Canada Brett McKenzie L North Bay Battalion 2013 Vancouver Canucks 2016 Vars, Ontario
14 Canada Zachary Poirier R North Bay Battalion 2014 Undrafted Mountain, Ontario
15 Canada David Sherman L North Bay Battalion 2014 Undrafted Mississauga, Ontario
16 Canada Kyle Potts L North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Oakville, Ontario
17 Canada Justin Brazeau R North Bay Battalion 2014 Undrafted New Liskeard, Ontario
20 Canada Jacob Ball L North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Peterborough, Ontario
21 Germany Max Kislinger R CHL Import Draft North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
23 Russia Daniil Vertiy L Trade with Windsor Spitfires Eligible in 2017 Moscow, Russia
24 Canada Brad Chenier L North Bay Battalion 2015 Eligible in 2017 Hanmer, Ontario
27 Canada Adam McMaster L North Bay Battalion 2016 Eligible in 2018 Beamsville, Ontario
28 Canada Steve Harland R North Bay Battalion 2014 Undrafted East York, Ontario
29 Canada Maurizio Colella L Trade with Hamilton Bulldogs Undrafted Tottenham, Ontario

NHL Alumni

Broadcasting

Country 600CKAT is the radio broadcaster for the team. Matthew Sookram is the Play by Play man and Bob Coles does Color Commentary duties, while they provide scores and updates from around the league.Tristan Fitzpatrick hosts the road game shows alongside the excellent and knowledgeable Tommy Wong aka Tommy 705 and Liam Berti [1]

Canadore College's Television and Video Production program second year students operate and generate content for the video board located above centre ice.

TVCogeco broadcasts all home games, and all away games that are televised. Previous Nipissing Lakers commentators Ranjan Rupal and Greg Theberge call all home games.

Season-by-season results

Regular season

Legend: OTL = Overtime loss, SL = Shootout loss

Season Games Won Lost OTL SL Points Pct % Goals
For
Goals
Against
Standing
2013–14 683824 4 2 820.6032201891st Central
2014–15 683720 6 5 850.6252371952nd Central
2015–16 683523 6 4 800.5882402272nd Central

Playoffs

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.