OHL North Bay Battalion

Amadio's Pair Paces Battalion to Victory

Published on February 15, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


OTTAWA - Mike Amadio's red-hot offensive roll continued Monday.

Amadio scored two goals, including the winner, to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Ottawa 67's in a Family Day matinee. It followed Amadio's franchise-record five goals in a 6-5 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs on Saturday night in the opener of a two-game road trip.

Steve Harland scored the other goal and goaltender Jake Smith made 26 saves for the Battalion, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 27-18-8 for 62 points, second in the Central Division and third in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Ottawa, the idle Niagara IceDogs and the Mississauga Steelheads, who downed the visiting Sudbury Wolves 7-5.

Amadio has 37 goals, tying Nick Paul's single-season record by a Battalion player since the franchise moved to North Bay for the 2013-14 campaign. Paul set the mark in 58 games last year. Amadio's 77 points are the most in a season since relocation.

Assistant coaches Ryan Oulahen and John Dean ran the Troops' bench, with head coach Stan Butler serving the first game of what he was told will be at least a two-game suspension for interaction with referee Ben Wilson at Kingston.

Stepan Falkovsky and Artur Tyanulin scored for the 67's, who lost for the first time in five games and are 29-24-2 for 60 points, second in the East Division. Goaltender Liam Herbst faced 24 shots before 4,559 at TD Place.

The game was the fourth of a six-game Ottawa home stand that opened Tuesday night with a 4-3 overtime win over the Battalion. That meeting had been rescheduled from Nov. 8 at the request of the 67's.

North Bay grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead with a pair of power-play goals, starting with Harland's ninth goal of the season at 8:24, just 13 seconds after Jeremiah Addison went off for checking from behind on Cam Dineen. Harland's attempted pass to Zach Poirier hit defender Ryan Orban's skate and glanced into the net.

Amadio scored at 12:30, taking a pass from Mathew Santos, splitting the defence and snapping the puck over Herbst's glove.

Herbst turned away a good chance for Amadio in the eighth minute, with Santos just missing on the rebound, and the goaltender reacted quickly in the last minute on a close-in tip by Brett Hargrave. Ottawa's best chance came in the 17th minute when Falkovsky drilled the puck off the right post on the power play.

Ottawa scored a man-advantage goal at 9:34 of the second period when defenceman Falkovsky's wrister from the blue line eluded Smith, who was screened by Travis Barron.

Amadio made it 3-1 at 18:17, sending Maurizio Colella away on a left-wing rush and taking a return pass to beat Herbst from the slot. Amadio has an eight-game points streak during which he has nine goals and six assists for 15 points.

The 67's outshot the Battalion 10-8 in the period, but Smith was strong on chances for Falkovsky, Barron, Chase Campbell, Nathan Todd and Drake Rymsha. Herbst parried threats from Kyle Wood, Brett McKenzie, Jacob Ball and Riley Bruce.

Tyanulin pulled Ottawa within a goal at 13:32 of the third period, lofting a loose puck over Smith's glove, but the 67's failed to mount a serious challenge the rest of the way.

With Herbst gone for a sixth attacker, Santos sped away with Amadio toward the empty net and stopped on the left wing to feed Amadio for a third goal, but the attempted pass was broken up by a sprawling Evan de Haan's stick.

The Battalion plays host to Sudbury at 7 p.m. Thursday.

BATTALION BULLETS: Santos has an eight-game points streak in which he has four goals and seven assists for 11 points ... Colella has four assists over the last two games ... The Battalion went 2-for-3 on the power play. Ottawa was 1-for-4 ... North Bay was without Jake Ramalho, Mike Baird and Kyle Potts ... Baird, who played against the 67's on Tuesday night, served the third game of a 10-game suspension handed down Friday for a head-checking minor at Niagara on Feb. 6 ... At Kingston, Amadio broke the franchise record of four goals in a game accomplished seven times, by Jeff Bateman against the Kitchener Rangers at Brampton on Jan. 23, 2000, Jay McClement against the host Sarnia Sting on Jan. 4, 2001, Wojtek Wolski against the Erie Otters at Brampton on Jan. 22, 2006, Luke Lynes against the host London Knights on Feb. 9, 2007, Bobby Sanguinetti against the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors at Brampton on Nov. 11, 2007, Cody Hodgson against the Plymouth Whalers at Brampton on Nov. 6, 2008, and Evgeny Grachev against Ottawa at Brampton on Nov. 16, 2008 ... Defenceman de Haan turned 21 Monday. He scored in overtime March 29, 2013, to give Sudbury a series-clinching 1-0 win in Game 5 of a conference quarterfinal that was the last OHL game at Brampton.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2016


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