OHL North Bay Battalion

Balanced Battalion Overpowers Wolves

January 4, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Six different players scored goals, including two shorthanded and one on the power play, to pace the North Bay Battalion to a 6-2 Ontario Hockey League victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves.

Kyle Wood, Mike Amadio, Jared Steege and Zach Poirier each contributed one goal and one assist and Marcus McIvor and Austin Kosack also scored for the Battalion, which got 15 saves from goaltender Jake Smith before a crowd of 3,469 .

North Bay, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 18-9-7 for 43 points, second in the Central Division, is five points behind the Barrie Colts with three games in hand.

Pavel Jenys and Brady Pataki scored for Sudbury, which played its second game under interim head coach David Matsos. Goaltender Samuel Tanguay faced 52 shots for the Wolves, 7-27-2 for 16 points, fifth in the division, after a sixth straight loss.

The Wolves, shut out in their previous two games, opened the scoring at 5:24 of the first period when Jenys popped a Nathan Pancel feed over Smith. The goal broke a scoring drought of 143:55 since Brody Silk tallied at 1:29 of the third period of a 4-2 loss Wednesday to the visiting Mississauga Steelheads.

Penalty killer Wood tied it at 12:39, sweeping an Amadio feed off Tanguay's left shoulder. The goal was defenceman Wood's 10th of the season.

Amadio then struck with the man advantage at 17:46. Ray Huether missed the net wide right, but Amadio put the rebound off the end boards inside the right post. Steege also earned an assist on Amadio's 16th goal.

McIvor scored what proved to be the winner shorthanded at 1:44 of the second period. Poirier dashed down the left wing and made a strong move to the net, losing control of the puck at the crease, before blueliner McIvor tapped home his third goal.

It marked the first time the Battalion had struck twice while shorthanded since Dec. 11, 2013, when Jamie Lewis and Barclay Goodrow scored in a 4-3 win over the host Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

"When things aren't going good for teams, you have to be a little bit aggressive on them and force them to make plays," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "Both goals were just good reads. Amadio held the puck and Wood found an open spot, and on the second one Poirier took the puck strong to the net and Marcus was right there."

Pataki replied at 3:22 after David Zeppieri outdueled Amadio behind the Battalion net. Zeppieri fed the puck in front to Pataki, who shoveled it home.

Defenceman Kosack's first career OHL goal made it 4-2 at 18:57. Kosack corralled the rebound of a Brett McKenzie shot and beat a fallen Tanguay through a mass of bodies.

There was a long conference between referee Korey Bannerman and the video goal judge at 19:50 after Alex Henriksson tried to stuff a Hampus Olsson rebound under Tanguay. The no-goal ruling on the ice was upheld.

Steege, who was foiled on two breakaways, connected at 1:24 of the third period when he slipped the puck between Tanguay's pads and, with the teams skating four a side, Poirier buried a Wood rebound at 6:17. Brenden Miller had the second assist.

The Battalion visits the Ottawa 67's at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a game rescheduled from Nov. 9. The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Wolves lost 6-0 Saturday night to the visiting Oshawa Generals in Matsos's debut following the firing earlier in the day of head coach Paul Fixter, whose last game saw the 67's romp 7-0 Friday night at Sudbury. Matsos served as associate coach under Fixter. Bryan Verreault continues in his assistant's role ... The Troops' 52 shots marked a season high ... Smith has 47 career wins, tied with Daren Machesney for fifth place on the franchise list ... Miller's assist was his 106th point, moving him past Jason Maleyko into third place on the franchise list for scoring by defencemen. Miller has 28 goals and 78 assists in 217 games ... The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-2 ... Opening line combinations included Amadio centring Steege on left wing and Poirier on right wing, McKenzie centring Olsson on left wing and right winger Henriksson and Huether pivoting left winger Mike Baird and right winger Mathew Santos. David Sherman centred left winger Owen Green and Mark Shoemaker, a defenceman, on right wing ... The Battalion was without Zach Shankar, Zach Bratina, Nick Paul and Calvin Gomes ... Shankar has received a 10-game suspension for a match penalty for a head check on Oshawa's Aidan Wallace in a 5-2 home-ice loss Dec. 19. Shankar, who has since sat out three games, is eligible to return Jan. 23 at Oshawa.

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