The Battalions advanced to the Silver Stick Regional Semi-Final round in Vaughn today with a 7 to 2 win over the West Hill Golden Hawks.  The Battalions competed the round robin portion of the tournament with 3 wins and 0 losses to take first spot overall.

This was the Battalions most physical game yet in the tournament.  In the early going the momentum seemed to favour the Battalions who out-shot the Hawks 22 to 5 in the game.  Nicholas Prete got the Battalions on the score board in the opening period converting a pass from Jacob O'brien into the back of the net.   However, it was the Hawks who scored the next 2 goals taking a 2 - 1 lead into the 2nd period.  Christian Maraconda answered back early in the second period to tie the score 2-2 on a single handed effort that started from the centre ice face off circle and added his second goal of the afternoon just 11 seconds later to finish off some nice passing from Austin Filipe and Steven Mckiel. 

The 3-2 lead lasted all the way to the 3rd period where the Battalions poured on the shots, hits and the goals.  O'brien scored his first of the afternoon early in the 3rd period, breaking away from the Hawks defenders and firing the puck to the back of the net. 13 seconds later O'brien set up Boswell for a goal to widen the lead 5 to 2. 

Alexander Torresan added some additional insurance scoring a goal from the point and O'brien completed a 2 goal, 2 assist performance by notching his 2nd goal of the afternoon with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game.

The Battalions now face a very tough opponent in the New Tecumseth Tornados in the semi-finals Thursday morning.