OHL North Bay Battalion

Barrie Trumps Troops in Their Opener

Published on September 27, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Kevin Labanc scored his second goal of the game 1:10 into overtime to give the Barrie Colts a 5-4 victory over the North Bay Battalion in the Troops' Ontario Hockey League season opener Friday night.

Battalion goaltender Jake Smith stopped an initial shot with the left pad, but Labanc fired the rebound between Smith's legs from the slot.

Joseph Blandisi, who scored three goals, assisted on the winner, and goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for Barrie, which lost 5-2 to the visiting Oshawa Generals on Thursday night.

Mike Amadio and Kyle Wood each scored two goals for the Battalion, while Nick Paul and Brenden Miller earned two assists apiece. Smith faced 32 shots before a virtual sellout crowd of 4,086 at Memorial Gardens.

The Troops have lost 10 straight home openers since a 5-2 win over the Guelph Storm at Brampton on Sept. 24, 2004.

"I was pretty disappointed in our team tonight," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "We were extremely sloppy and turned the puck over. Jake gave up five goals, and I don't think he had a chance on any of them. We got away from doing a lot of the little things like checking up the ice and tracking the puck from behind, and as a result we played the type of game that allowed them to take advantage of their strengths. When we score four goals we should win; we shouldn't go to overtime."

Defenceman Wood scored on a two-man advantage at 14:56 of the third period to give North Bay a 4-3 lead. He took a Miller feed and hammered the puck from the inner edge of the left-wing circle past Blackwood, who appeared to be screened.

Barrie tied it on the power play at 17:20 when Blandisi was credited with an unassisted goal after his attempt at a Brendan Lemieux pass was directed into the net by defender Riley Bruce.

The Colts opened the scoring at 10:28 of the first period when Labanc, stationed at the edge of the left circle, fired a pass from Garrett Hooey inside the right post.

Blandisi scored at 16:50, knocking the puck past a fallen Smith after it deflected off the skate of Andrew Mangiapane in the slot.

Amadio got the Troops within a goal at 18:12, retrieving the puck behind the net and working a counterclockwise wraparound to jam the disc inside the post.

Penalty killer Alex Henriksson drove to the Barrie net early in the period but chipped the puck left of the cage, and Colts defender Jonathan Laser sprawled to break up a two-on-one rush by Marcus McIvor and Mark Shoemaker in the 14th minute. Seconds later, Blackwood stopped Miles Liberati's shot from the right circle and denied Mathew Santos's rebound attempt.

Amadio tied it 2-2 on the power play at 1:06 of the second period as he scooped a loose puck home at the left post off a Miller drive.

Wood struck unassisted with the man advantage at 14:01. He seized a loose puck just inside the blue line, skated into the high slot and snapped a shot that beat Blackwood low to the glove side.

Blandisi tied the game 30 seconds later. Smith denied Mangiapane from the deep slot, but he then sent a cross-ice pass to Blandisi, who snapped it past a sliding Smith from the left circle.

The Battalion returns to action at 7 p.m. next Friday when its hosts the Peterborough Petes.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 5-10-2 in home openers, including 0-1-1 at North Bay after 15 years in Brampton ... The Battalion went 3-for-8 on the power play. Barrie was 1-for-4 ... Opening line combinations included Paul centring left winger Owen Green and Amadio on right wing, Brett McKenzie centring left winger Zach Bratina and right winger Henriksson and Zach Poirier pivoting Jared Steege on left wing and right winger Santos. Zach Shankar centred left winger David Sherman and Shoemaker on right wing ... Defence pairings were Liberati with McIvor, Miller with Wood and Bruce with Kyle Locke ... Green, Poirier, Shankar, Sherman and Shoemaker made their OHL debuts ... Shankar and Josh Carrick, with an instigating minor, drew second-period fighting majors after Carrick confronted Shankar, who had attempted an open-ice check on Justin Scott ... The Battalion scratched Mike Baird, Jamie Lewis, Hampus Olsson and Calvin Gomes ... Shankar and Shoemaker, who turns 17 Sunday, are defencemen who played up front because of injuries and two suspensions, to Baird and Lewis ... Barrie had three players in the lineup who were missing at home, in Lemieux, back from the camp of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres, and Givani Smith and Roy Radke, who have completed slew-footing suspensions.

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