The Brampton Battalion were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The team was based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and started playing in 1998. As a result of consistently having among the lowest attendance in the OHL (last place in the OHL for its final four seasons), the team was relocated to North Bay, Ontario for the 2013–14 OHL season.
History The Brampton Battalion was granted an expansion franchise on December 3, 1996. Major Junior A hockey returned to Brampton for the first time since 1963, when the Brampton 7Ups played in the Metro Junior A League before returning to the Junior B level. Brampton was part of the return of major junior hockey to the Greater Toronto Area in the late 1990s that included the Mississauga IceDogs and the revived Toronto St. Michael's Majors.
In 2005, team owner Scott Abbott was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame for his work in building the franchise.
The Battalion name was chosen from community suggestions, and was also adopted by the competitive minor hockey program. The team was covered by local television Rogers Community Cable 10 and the local newspaper, The Brampton Guardian. The Battalion's secondary school educational programs were co-ordinated through Turner Fenton Secondary School.
Early days in the West The Battalion began play for the 1998–99 OHL season in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. The Battalion played their first game on September 24, 1998, losing to the host Peterborough Petes by a 5–1 score. Jason Maleyko scored the first goal in club history. The Battalion played their first game at the Powerade Centre on October 9, 1998, losing to the Kitchener Rangers by a score of 5–1. The first win in club history would come on October 18 when the Battalion beat the visiting Sudbury Wolves 5–4. The Battalion finished the season with only 8 wins, 57 losses, and 3 ties for last in the Western Conference and 19th in the league ahead of only the Mississauga Ice Dogs.
The 1999–2000 season was better for the Battalion as they finished with a 25–29–14 record for a 3rd-place finish in the Midwest Division and 7th in the Western Conference which gave them their first trip to the post season. The Battalion won their first ever playoff game vs. the Erie Otters with a 5–2 score. However, the 2nd place Otters took the series in 6 games.
The 2000–01 season was the first season in club history that the team would score a record above the .500 mark with a final tally of 33–22–13 for a 3rd-place finish in the Midwest Division and 5th in the Western Conference. The Battalion would take on the 4th place Guelph Storm in the first round of the playoffs and won the series by sweeping the Storm in 4 games for the first playoff series win in club history. In round 2 for the second straight year the Troops took on the 1st place Erie Otters. After the Troops took game 1 the Otters would win four in a row and win the series in five games.
The Battalion fell back to below the .500 mark in the 2001–02 season posting a 26–35–7 record for last in the division and conference as the team missed the playoffs for the 2nd time in 4 years.
Move to the Eastern Conference During the 2002 off season the North Bay Centennials were bought and moved to Saginaw, Michigan to become the Spirit and thus leaving the East and West unbalanced so the Battalion were moved to the Eastern Conference and given North Bay's former spot in the Central Division. Once again the Battalion surged above the .500 mark finishing with a 34–24–10 record good enough to win their first Division Championship in franchise history beating the Toronto St. Michaels Majors by only 2 points. During the 2003 playoffs the Battalion started what would eventually become a rivalry with the Barrie Colts defeating the Colts in the first round in six games. The second round would see the top two in the division as the Battalion faced Toronto. Brampton started off the series well beating Toronto in game 1 by a 7–0 score. However Toronto eventually proved too much for Brampton as the Majors would win four straight and take the series in only 5 games.
The Battalion did not fare well during the 2003–04 regular season, as their record fell to 25–32–11. However, the record was good enough for 7th in the east and a first round matchup with a heavily favored Ottawa 67's team who had won the East Division. With their backs against the wall, the Battalion shocked many as they took the 67's to seven games, winning game 7 and the series in Ottawa and advancing to the 2nd round. For the second straight year, in round 2, the Battalion would have to face the Eastern Conference Champions, the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. This time the Majors jumped out to a 3–0 series lead. Brampton was able to win 1 game, to force a 5th, but that was as far as they would get as the Majors won the series.
During the 2004–05 season the Battalion stood tall as they became part of a huge race involving several teams to not only win the Central Division title, but the Eastern Conference Championship as well. Despite posting a 33–24–11 record, Brampton would lose the race to the Mississauga Ice Dogs and finish 3rd in the central, and 4th in the conference, setting up a first round match up with the Sudbury Wolves. The series with the Wolves was an intense one. The Wolves took the first two games, including one in overtime. However, Brampton clawed their way back, but by game 6 in Sudbury, the Battalion were on the brink of elimination. The game went to double overtime with the Wolves scoring a power play goal to end Brampton's season.
Curse vs. the Colts
The 2005–06 season would become the best season in club history; however, the season did not start off that way. After a somewhat mediocre start the club by mid February had climbed to a record of 30–21–1–2. With 14 games remaining on the schedule the Battalion would have to win every single game to even have a shot at the division championship, so that is exactly what they did. The Battalion would win the last 14 games of the regular season to establish a franchise record for straight wins (a record that eventually fell during the 2008–09 season) to finish the season with a record of 44–21–1–2 and winning the Central Division Championship by only 1 single point over the Barrie Colts. In the first round of the playoffs the Battalion knocked off the Belleville Bulls in six games before having to face the Barrie Colts in round 2. Before the series started everybody expected it to be a long and great series. In the first 2 games the teams traded 4–1 wins before the flood gates opened and the Colts took control of the series. In game 3 the Colts took a dominating 6–1 win before destroying Brampton in game 4 11–2. Game 5 was much closer but the Colts still took the game 3–2 and the series in only five games and thus beginning the Battalion's Curse of the Colts.
With several key players like future NHLer Wojtek Wolski, Luch Aquino, and Daren Machesney gone the team slumped in the 2006–07 season barely making the playoffs with a 27–36–1–4 record, only good enough for the last playoff spot (8th) in the East. During the 1st round they would have to go up against the #1 Barrie Colts who still had most of their players from the previous season's series. Brampton was able to keep most games close but Barrie kept coming out on top. In game 4 on home ice the Battalion on the brink of elimination had a 4–1 lead midway through the third period and appeared to be on their way to a win before the Colts scored 3 goals in less than 7 minutes to force overtime. In OT it took the Colts only 5 minutes to score and thus end the series in 4 straight games.
The 2007–08 season saw the team celebrate their 10th season of OHL hockey and the fans saw a great team on the ice as things went much better for the Battalion, with sophomore centre Cody Hodgson, rookie forward Matt Duchene, and veteran winger John Hughes, the team posted several wins finishing with a 42–22–1–3 record, just shy of the club record of 91 points set in 05–06. During the season the Battalion had their first 10-goal game in club history as on September 23 the host Battalion beat up on the Sudbury Wolves 10–2. For the 3rd time in 6 years the team took home the Central Division Championship. In the first round the Battalion once again were set to face the Barrie Colts, who this season had lost many of their key players and had only finished 7th in the east. With Brampton heavily favored to win the series the Colts shocked as Barrie won the first two games by 2–1 and 3–2 (OT) scores. The Battalion were able to come back and win game 3 by a score of 5–1; however, the Colts would continue to stand behind the absolutely amazing goaltending of Michael Hutchinson in game 4 winning 2–1 in overtime. With Brampton on the brink of elimination on home ice in game 5 Hutchinson stood tall again as the Colts won the game 2–0 and upset the Battalion in only five games. For the 3rd straight year Brampton had been eliminated by the Barrie Colts.
In 10 full seasons of OHL hockey the Battalion have a regular season record of 297–301–52–21–9 (W-L-T-OTL-SL) in 680 games.
2008–09: Run to the finals
After 3 straight years of being knocked out of the playoffs by the Colts the Battalion built up a roster to make a deep run in 2008/2009. Brampton got off to a slow 2–6 start but with the return of Cody Hodgson and the addition of Evgeny Grachev the Troops went on a run of 16 straight wins setting a new franchise record for straight wins. The streak was the longest that any team achieved during the 08/09 regular season. Brampton also set a record of 12 straight home wins from October to December (another franchise record). During December Battalion forwards Cody Hodgson and Evgeny Grachev represented their respective countries (Canada and Russia) at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa. Grachev helped team Russia to a Bronze medal while Hodgson set a tournament high 16 points to lead Canada to its 5th straight gold medal. After the tournament Brampton added more to their roster acquiring all star goaltender Thomas McCollum (who had also played for his home country of U.S.A. at the World Juniors), defenceman Josh Day, and forwards, Anthony Peluso, Matt Kang and Andrew Merrett. Brampton would enjoyed another long 12-game winning streak in January and February. At the end of the regular season Brampton would finish with a franchise best record of 47–19–1–1 to win the central division for the third time in four years.