GARRIOCH: Belleville Senators getting valuable playoff experience from series win

Published Apr 29, 2024 • 4 minute read

The Belleville Senators defeated the Toronto Marlies in the AHL Calder Cup first round series on Sunday, April 28, 2024. Photo by Tim Austen /Tim Austen/Freestyle Photography

BELLEVILLE — To build a good home you need to start with a strong foundation.

The Ottawa Senators don’t have a wealth of prospects like they did in the past with their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville, but there’s enough players on that roster that will be able to gain valuable experience after the club advanced to the second round Sunday night.

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And, the club’s first playoff series win since moving here seven years ago couldn’t have come against a better opponent than the arch-rival Toronto Marlies to wrap up the Battle of Ontario in dramatic fashion after Garett Pilon’s overtime winner secured a 4-3 win at CAA Arena.

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The likes of prospects Zack Ostapchuk, Stephen Halliday, Tyler Kleven, Max Guenette and Mads Sogaard have a chance to play in Ottawa one day so having the opportunity to play meaningful games in May can only help.

Head coach David Bell, who was an assistant on Troy Mann’s staff for three years, took over the top job last February and knows what it means for the players to have the opportunity to move onto Round 2 against the Cleveland Monsters Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

“When you move the pressure or the moment only becomes bigger,” Bell said. “That’s what guys are looking for us to do. We’re looking, as an organization, to evaluate these guys in bigger moments because nothing gets bigger than the NHL playoffs.

“That’s ultimately where we want to breed these guys to be contributors in the NHL playoffs for the Ottawa Senators. I’ve been here five years and now we can send guys up to Ottawa who have playoff experience. We haven’t been able to do that in the past.

“As good as guys like (Drake) Batherson were when they were down here, unfortunately we didn’t make the playoffs those years. Now, those guys go up there, and they’ve felt the playoffs, winning in the playoffs in pro and that can be a huge part of their development.”

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The series against the Marlies was not without adversity.

After scoring a 3-1 win in Game 1 at home last Wednesday, the Senators were poised to close the Marlies out in Toronto Friday night, but couldn’t close the deal. Sogaard looked shaky on the winning goal by former Ottawa centre Dylan Gambrell and that set up the deciding game.

The Senators pulled out to a 3-1 lead on the strength of goals by Rourke Chartier and Josh Currie in the span of a minute in the second. Slowly, but surely, the Marlies battled back and Matteo Pietraniro tied it 3-3 with 6:41 remaining in the third period.

That set up Pilon’s winner. He won a Calder Cup with the AHL’s Hershey Bears last season and knows what it takes to win at this level. That’s why associate general manager Ryan Bowness brought him in because he knew this club needed some experience like that.

“This is a huge living and learning experience for them, which I think is great,” Pilon said. “It’s a great experience and they all stepped up as well. Halliday did a great job on that (setting up the winning) goal. (Ostapchuk) had a good game as well.

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“They’re learning how to play solid hockey and you really learn how one little mistake can cause your downfall.”

The message in the dressing room after 60 minutes was to remain calm and keep doing what has made you successful all season.

“We just wanted to stick to our game plan, stick to our identity and just control our emotions,” said rugged forward Boko Imama, who opened the scoring early in the first. I thought in Game 2 we probably gave them a little bit too much attention. This time, we just focused on our team.”

When you don’t have a whole lot of playoff experience it can be difficult to keep your emotions in check in games where everything is at stake.

This is a huge step for Sogaard. He has a chance to push for a spot in Ottawa next year and needs these kinds of games to learn what it takes.

“This is huge. These are games I haven’t really played a lot of in my professional career,” Sogaard said. “It’s exciting. I liked parts of my game throughout this series, but I also know that I can be a lot better.

“That’s the exciting thing, we get to come back to work (Tuesday) and we can focus on Cleveland.”

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It’s been well-documented that Ottawa has missed the playoffs for seven straight years and that’s a trend that Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, desperately wants to change.

Having success at the AHL level doesn’t guarantee the Senators will make the playoffs in the NHL next spring, but it can help some of the players who will make their home in Ottawa next season understand what it takes.

“It’s huge. I’m super-happy for the boys. That’s a grind and it’s kind of been our MO all year that we don’t quit and nothing has been easy.”

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If you have questions Postmedia hockey columnists Bruce Garrioch and Tim Baines are more than willing to answer them.

We’ll do mailbag columns from time-to-time during the off-season just to keep the good people of Ottawa and Senators fans around the world updated on what’s happening.

Email us at: [email protected]

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