With the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors hosting a rare matinee game, thousands of school children were in attendance running up and down the hallways screaming and shouting, cheering on the hometown Majors.
There hasn’t been that much electricity in the building since a few years ago when the former Mississauga IceDogs advanced to the Ontario Hockey League Eastern finals against the then Toronto St. Michael’s Majors.
The noise wasn’t enough to help the Majors break out of their current slump this afternoon, however, as they lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Brampton Battalion, Mississauga’s sixth loss in a row.
But the atmosphere of having around more than 2,500 elementary school students in the rink among the 3,200 paid attendance created enough excitement that the Majors may want to consider more midweek promotional games. Another one is already planned for Feb. 16, the date of the new provincial holiday introduced last year.
“It’s just a school outing for the kids,” said Jeanine Doret, who attended the game with 22 of her Grade 5 and 6 students from St. Herbert School in the Heartland district.
“This means a lot to them because the kids work so hard in school,” added Doret. “And it helps build school spirit. It’s a great experience.”
It was a little different for the players, who were at the rink before 10 a.m. to prepare for the noon face-off.
“The whole routine changes,” explained Brampton coach Stan Butler. “What time you get up, what you eat and what not. But this is a good thing especially for a spectator-challenged region like ours.
“I have trouble understanding why more people aren’t taking advantage of seeing some pretty good hockey players,” he continued. “It’s good hockey and it’s not expensive.”
There was no doubt the youngsters were there to cheer on the Majors.
And when Mississauga jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, the noise rose a few decibels. But the Majors weren’t able to convert it into a win against the hottest team and the hottest player in the OHL, even though the Majors scored late in the third period to tie the game 3-3. When nothing was settled in overtime, the teams went to the shootout and that’s where the Battalion had the edge to win its 12th game in a row.
Centre Cody Hodgson, named the OHL player of the week for last week, scored the deciding goal in the shootout after scoring once and earning two assists in regulation time.
“We’re having a lot of fun right now,” said Hodgson, who has gone 10 games in a row with at least one point, the longest current active streak in the OHL. He has 11 goals and 10 assists in that span.
“Confidence is such a big thing in sports and when you have that, things go your way.”
Mike Pelech tried his best to get the Majors out of their slump, scoring once and setting up goals by Kyle Neuber and Jared Gomes. But Gomes and Casey Cizikas weren’t able to beat Battalion rookie goaltender Brandon Foote in the shootout.
Brampton had 44 shots at Mississauga netminder Chris Carrozzi.
The Majors head out for a two-game road trip to northern Ontario this weekend. They play in Sudbury Friday night and then in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday night. They return home Nov. 21 to take on John Tavares and the Oshawa Generals.
