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 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

• 2013–14

Bobby Orr Trophy Eastern Conference Champions

• 2013–14

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.

• North Bay Memorial Gardens - The OHL Arena & Travel Guide

Capacity = 4,246

Ice Size = 200' x 85'

Roster

Goaltenders
Number		Player	Glove	Acquired	NHL Draft	Place of birth
1		Jake Smith	L	Brampton Battalion 2011	Undrafted	Oakville, Ontario
30		Jake Kment	L	Brampton Battalion 2012	Undrafted	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Defensemen
Number		Player	Shoots	Acquired	NHL Draft	Place of birth
3		Kyle Wood	R	Brampton Battalion 2012	COL 2014	Waterloo, Ontario
4		Cam Dineen	L	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	Toms River, New Jersey
5		Jacob Ramalho	L	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	Ottawa, Ontario
6		Zach Shankar	L	North Bay Battalion 2013	Undrafted	Prescott, Ontario
7		Miles Liberati	L	Trade LON 2013	VAN 2013	Cheswick, Pennsylvania
8		Riley Bruce	R	North Bay Battalion 2013	CAL 2015	Carp, Ontario
22		Brady Lyle	R	North Bay Battalion 2015	Eligible in 2017	North Bay, Ontario
25		Mark Shoemaker	R	North Bay Battalion 2013	free agent	Mississauga, Ontario
Forwards
Number		Player	Shoots	Acquired	NHL Draft	Place of birth
10		Brett Hargrave	R	Trade OS 2015	Undrafted	North Bay, Ontario
11		Mike Baird	L	North Bay Battalion 2013	Undrafted	Cayuga, Ontario
12		Brett McKenzie	L	North Bay Battalion 2013	Undrafted	Vars, Ontario
14		Zachary Poirier	R	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	Mountain, Ontario
15		David Sherman	L	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	Mississauga, Ontario
16		Kyle Potts	L	North Bay Battalion 2015	Eligible in 2017	Oakville, Ontario
17		Justin Brazeau	R	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	New Liskeard, Ontario
18		Mike Amadio	R	Brampton Battalion 2012	LA 2014	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
20		Jacob Ball	L	North Bay Battalion 2015	Eligible in 2017	Peterborough, Ontario
21		Max Kislinger	R	CHL Import Draft 2015	Eligible in 2017	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
26		Mathew Santos	R	Signed as a Free Agent	Undrafted	Etobicoke, Ontario
27		Kyle Moore	R	North Bay Battalion 2014	Eligible in 2016	Indian Trail, North Carolina

NHL Alumni

• Barclay Goodrow
• Nick Paul

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

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	68	38	24	4	2	82	0.603	220	189	1st Central
2014–15	68	37	20	6	5	85	0.625	237	195	2nd Central
2015–16	68	35	23	6	4	80	0.588	240	227	2nd Central

Playoffs

• 2013–14 Beat Niagara IceDogs 4 games to 3 in conference quarter-finals.
  Beat Barrie Colts 4 games to 2 in conference semi-finals.
  Beat Oshawa Generals 4 games to 0 in conference finals.
  Lost to Guelph Storm 4 games to 1 in J. Ross Robertson Cup finals.
• 2014–15 Beat Kingston Frontenacs 4 games to 0 in conference quarter-finals.
  Beat Barrie Colts 4 games to 1 in conference semi-finals.
  Lost to Oshawa Generals 4 games to 2 in conference finals.
• 2015–16 Beat Peterborough Petes 4 games to 3 in conference quarter-finals.
  Lost to Barrie Colts 4 games to 0 in conference semi-finals.

See also

• List of ice hockey teams in Ontario

External links

• North Bay Battalion Official web site
• North Bay Battalion Facebook Official Facebook Page
• Ontario Hockey League Official web site
• Canadian Hockey League Official web site