North Bay Battalion back to Eastern final, long off-season for Barrie: OHL post-game questions

The North Bay Battalion reached the third round once in 15 seasons in the former base but have done so back-to-back since making camp in the near north.

The Battalion's 7-5 Game 5 clincher, paced by two Nick Paul goals and three-point efforts from Mike Amadio and Brenden Miller, completes a final four of Oshawa, Erie and Sault Ste. Marie. The Western final begins Thursday, with the Eastern series starting the following night.

On with the post-game (and post-series) questions:

North Bay 7 Barrie 5 (Battalion win 4-1) — How much should be inferred from the Battalion's season series with Oshawa (0-3-0-1)? Sweet nothing. The teams met only once after the Jan. 10 trade deadline, with the Gens taking a 5-3 decision at home on Jan 23 when both teams were playing for the second consecutive night.

(Among the MIAs that night were Battalion forwards Zach Bratina and Nick Moutrey, and the Gens' power wing Hunter Smith and skilled defenceman Mitchell Vande Sompel.).

To extrapolate that question out, while each series take on  its own life, North Bay's adjustment will be facing a Generals side with more balanced offence than Barrie. The Marcus McIvor and Kyle Wood-led first and second pairs will be put to the test. Plus/minus is hardly proof of anything, but it really did an injustice to the series McIvor had against Barrie, as the overage ended up minus-5 while Wood was plus-6, presumably while drawing less time against Barrie's potent scorers.

What do the fancystats have to say about this matchup? Well, for starters, the four teams with an Est. Fenwick Close  of 56 per cent or higher are also the last four in the J. Ross Robertson Cup chase. Citing that Oshawa  (58.943%) and North Bay (56.632%) were 1-2 is to draw the immediate 'yeah, but they play in the East' riposte.

Point being, one team is going to defend a lot more on some nights than it's used to. This is the point where the form calls to point out that like every series ever, it will probably break on which 19-year-old goalie, North Bay's limber 5-foot-11 Jake Smith or Oshawa's 6-4 Ken Appleby, is sharper.

The Battalion have had a nice balance, with Amadio and Paul having 13 points each in nine playoff figures. Four others have at least eight; three more have at least five.

Who would have imagined Colts' 100-point scorer Kevin Labanc going 8⅔ games before scoring in the playoffs? Even with a 19-year-old, there is often no predicting when someone might hit a wall. Labanc, a San Jose Sharks sixth-rounder who didn't reach Ontario's legal drinking age until Dec. 12, played a lot this season. He finally broke out Saturday with two goals during a third-period comeback, but it's entirely plausible to survey the Staten Island, N.Y. native's output and give some consideration to possible fatigue.

The Sharks organization reaped a reward this season from free-agent signing Barclay Goodrow, who benefited from playing his overage season. Labanc would be in his age-18 year if he was three weeks younger. Teams typically expect a late-birthday 20-year-old to turn pro if ready, but this is case where an overage year is intriguing.

What's next for Barrie, which has won nine playoff rounds in the last six seasons without getting the big prize? Not to sound like a between-periods interview, but any time a team loses out to the same Central Division contemporary in the same round two years in a row, there's a bitter taste. The big picture for coach Dale Hawerchuk, et al., is that Barrie is one of a handful of teams that has won a round for at least four consecutive seasons.

It probably sounds like small cheese. Barrie will not have a huge amount of churn to contend with after having 10 overages and 19-year-olds. A shaky final game brought on by a stream of 40-shot nights notwithstanding, Mackenzie Blackwood is a franchise goalie. Fellow 1996-borns Brendan Lemieux, Andrew Mangiapane and Rasmus Andersson are budding cornerstones, while first-year wing Roy Radke came to life late in the round. Barrie, one anticipates, will free up an import slot since it's highly doubtful backup goalie Daniel Gibl would be back as a two-spotter.

The Colts are bidding adieu to New Jersey Devils signing Joseph Blandisi and fellow 20-year-olds Garrett Hooey and Jonathan Laser.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.