Maybe it is time to look ahead to the last 6-pack of 2018/2019, beginning with the game of the year Thursday vs. BAR. Battalion are 3 points to the good, Colts have goal diff. of -10 with 5 wins last 10, Troops are -48 with 3 wins last 10. Having a look at the seating chart, as they say in the ticketing business, plenty of good seats are still available. It looks like the usual 2200 or so will be in the house and I would think a fairly significant game might warrant some form of extra marketing push by the team.
The last 6 games strike me as being made up of 3 “potentially winnables” (BAR, PBO, HAM) and 3 “long shots, at best” (OSH, MIS, NIA). Of course, winnable games for the Battalion are equally so for the opponent. If the Troops can win 2 of 6, they will have 63 points (compared to 70 last season) and Barrie would require 8 points from their last 12 in order to pass. I am telling myself not to scoreboard watch over the last 2 weeks. Maybe someone can verify the following. I believe ties in places 1-7 are broken by a variety of statistical tie-breakers. But in a tie for 8th, a 1 game play-in takes place.
Has anyone been following the Attendance topic as created and maintained by “Otto”? He made a very savvy observation in a recent posting, calling Battalion attendance similar to that of the Centennials (and, sadly, it is). And we all know how that turned out.
Snow on the roof caused some problems is what I'm hearing.Tonight’s game is cancelled
“Structural damage”Snow on the roof caused some problems is what I'm hearing.
There is precedent for playing a home game elsewhere, Game 3 round 1 last year’s playoffs the Battalion played a “home” game vs. KGN in Sudbury. The league stipulates that in the event of lack of arena availability, games must be played in OHL suitable buildings, so Powassan and Sturgeon Falls are out. Presuming the building issues will not be sorted out in time, the balance of the home regular season might look like this:
Tue 12th BAR @ NB (in SBY) game of the 7th
Thu 14th HAM @ NB (in SBY)
Sun 17th NIA @ NB (in SBY)
Tue 19th PBO @ NB (in SBY) game of the 10th
On each of the above dates Wolves are either not scheduled or on the road. BAR is already scheduled 3/13 in OS so they would have a back to back mid-week, and a tough travel sched. HAM is already scheduled 14th @NB, 15th @SBY, so no problem there. NIA is already scheduled 16th @BAR, 17th @NB, no problem there. 19th could prove problematic since that date is already reserved, if necessary, for a 1 game play-in between 2 teams tied for the last playoff spot. I can see BAR not being too receptive to the 12th/13th scenario with their season on the line. It might turn into a logistical nightmare.
Playoffs would not be difficult since SBY will open at home and NB (if they make it) will open on the road, and will then be done fairly early in the process.
Hopefully the engineers will deem the building safe and things can proceed with the Barrie game possibly on the 19th. It would be interesting if they are 2 points apart with 1 to play, lower team wins to create a tie for 8th, then same teams play a tie-breaker Wed. 20th, then winner has first game on the road vs. #1 on 21st or 22nd. Yikes, my head hurts.
Good point, I forgot about the basketball team.
I always thought that’s exactly what it was considered. A rink that another OHL team currently plays in.Also does "OHL suitable" only refer to buidings that house OHL franchises, or are there other buildings with that designation? We had a pre-season game vs Rouyn Noranda in Timmins in September. Does that mean Timmins' arena is "OHL suitable". Genuinely curious lol.