By Aaron Bell
The Brampton Battalion were determined to prove that they belonged in the Rogers OHL Championship Series against the Windsor Spitfires.
After dropping the series opener 10-1 last Wednesday and then losing 5-3 on home ice on Friday, the Battalion responded with a gutsy 4-2 win over the Spitfires in Windsor on Monday to cut the Spitfires’ series lead to 2-1.
“I give our guys a lot of credit,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler. “They are a great hockey team. The last time we were in here obviously the results were embarrassing. We just said to our guys ‘our backs are against the wall but we can do two things - we can get farther into the wall or we can push back.’ I’ve got to give our guys credit to come into this rink and win a hockey game like we did.”
Anthony Peluso and Cody Hodgson scored in the first period and the Matt Duchene and Jason Dale tallied in the second to build up a 4-0 lead.
Battalion goaltender Thomas McCollum turned in his best performance of the series, turning aside 32 shots, including all 12 shots he faced in the first period to preserve the Brampton lead.
“I think the important thing is that you bounce back well,” McCollum said. “Tonight I just came in here and wanted to play solid and give the guys a chance to win. Fortunately things turned in our favour.”
Taylor Hall finally put the Spitfires on the board late in the second period and cut the lead in half with his 15th of the playoffs midway through the third period. The Spitfires pulled goaltender Andrew Engelage in the closing minutes for an extra attacker but weren’t able to close the lead.
Engelage allowed four goals on 29 shots in the loss, Windsor’s first at home in the playoffs since the second round against the Plymouth Whalers.
“We talked to the players about not being over confident and thinking that they were going to lay down,” said Spitfires’ coach Bob Boughner. “We just didn’t look sharp in the first period. That’s unlike our team - we always preach a defence-first mentality. McCollum came up big early. They were the better team tonight.”
Game 4 is Wednesday in Brampton.
