North Bay Battalion

North Bay Battalion
City North Bay, Ontario
League Ontario Hockey League
Conference Eastern
Division Central
Founded December 3, 1996
Home arena North Bay Memorial Gardens
Colours Olive, 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 unfavorable lease in Brampton, owner Scott Abbott had no choice but to look 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 will start seeing renovations on and off the ice begin in early 2013. Franchise owner Scott Abbott indicated that the team will still be named Battalion in North Bay, mentioning 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: Olive Green, Yellow, Black and White
Logo Design: "A militant with an army hat with 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


Forwards

  1. Player Position Shoots Height Weight DOB Home town

9 Owen Green LW R 6.04 195 Mar 23, 1997 Williamsville, NY

10 Ray Huether C R 6.02 200 Mar 16, 1994 Londesborough, ON

11 Mike Baird LW L 6.02 178 Mar 25, 1997 Cayuga, ON

12 Brett McKenzie C L 6.01 199 Mar 12, 1997 Vars, ON

14 Zach Poirier C R 5.11 186 May 12, 1998 Mountain, ON

15 David Sherman LW R 6.03 187 May 17, 1998 Mississauga, ON

16 Alex Henriksson RW R 6.02 186 Feb 7, 1995 Skovde, Sweden

17 Jared Steege C L 5.11 191 Jan 7, 1996 Cobden, ON

18 Mike Amadio C R 6.01 192 May 13, 1996 Sault Ste. Marie, ON

19 Zach Bratina LW L 6.01 185 Jan 6, 1996 Lindsay, ON

21 Nick Paul C L 6.03 199 Mar 20, 1995 Mississauga, ON

26 Mathew Santos RW R 6.00 191 Mar 16, 1995 Etobicoke, ON

28 Calvin Gomes RW R 6.02 186 Mar 13, 1996 Mississauga, ON


Defencemen

  1. Player Position Shoots Height Weight DOB Home town

3 Kyle Wood D R 6.05 229 May 4, 1996 Waterloo, ON

4 Marcus McIvor D R 6.01 231 May 20, 1994 Whitby, ON

6 Zack Shankar D R 6.01 200 Jan 28, 1997 Prescott, ON

7 Miles Liberati D L 6.00 195 Jun 21, 1995 Cheswick, PA

8 Riley Bruce D R 6.06 193 Jul 16, 1997 Carp, ON

22 Brenden Miller D L 6.01 198 Mar 29, 1994 Orangeville, ON

25 Mark Shoemaker D R 6.02 199 Sep 28, 1997 Mississauga, ON


Goalies

  1. Player Position Catches Height Weight DOB Home town

1 Jake Smith G L 5.11 183 May 1, 1995 Oakville, ON

35 Evan Cormier G L 6.02 198 Nov 6, 1997 Bowmanville, ON

Broadcasting

Country 600CKAT is the radio broadcaster for the team. Matthew Sookram and Bob Coles share the Play by Play and Color Commentary duties, while they provide scores and updates from around the league.[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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://battalionhockey.com/article/ckat-to-provide-radio-coverage

External links