OHL North Bay Battalion

Battalion Counterattack Overwhelms Barrie

December 19, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


BARRIE, Ont. - Mike Amadio scored one goal and added two assists as the North Bay Battalion rallied for a 5-2 victory Saturday night over the Barrie Colts in both teams' last game before the Ontario Hockey League's Christmas break.

North Bay, which earned a season-high fifth straight win, also got goals from Steve Harland, Justin Brazeau, Kyle Wood and Mathew Santos.

Goaltender Jake Smith faced 25 shots as the Battalion, which beat the visiting Colts 7-3 on Nov. 15, lifted its won-lost-extended record to 17-12-3 for 37 points, third in the Central Division, one point ahead of the idle Niagara IceDogs.

The Troops, who scored five unanswered goals after trailing 2-0 in the first period, were bolstered by the return from two-game suspensions of Brett McKenzie and Zach Shankar.

Justin Scott and Rasmus Andersson scored for Barrie, 19-12-1 for 39 points, second in the division. Starting goaltender David Ovsjannikov, playing his third game with the Colts, allowed all five goals on 30 shots before being relieved by Ruan Badenhorst, who faced two shots.

Harland got the comeback started at 11:41 of the first period. Ovsjannikov couldn't handle a McKenzie shot from the right-wing circle, and Harland raced in to convert the rebound for his fifth goal of the season.

Amadio tied it at 4:12 of the second period, seconds after the Colts' Roy Radke rang the puck off the crossbar. Cam Dineen carried the disc into Barrie territory and centred it to Amadio, who snapped a wrister inside the right post for his team-leading 20th goal.

Brazeau scored a bizarre goal, what proved to be the winner, at 5:36 when he chipped Kyle Potts's clearing attempt into the offensive zone from outside the blue line and the bouncing puck squeezed between the kneeling Ovsjannikov's pads and across the goal line. It was rookie Brazeau's second goal.

The Battalion forged an 11-7 edge in shots in the period, testing Ovsjannikov with attempts by Dineen, McKenzie and Santos. Smith turned away good chances for Kevin Labanc, Michael Webster and Justin Murray.

Wood struck on the power play at 1:32 of the third period, whipping a wrister from the top of the left circle past Ovsjannikov's glove. Amadio and Dineen earned the assists on defenceman Wood's third goal.

Penalty killers Amadio and Santos took off on a two-on-one rush against Webster, with Amadio feeding Santos in the high slot for his eighth goal at 9:13, ending Ovsjannikov's night. It was the Battalion's OHL-leading 15th shorthanded goal and Santos's fourth, tying Amadio and McKenzie for second in the league behind Mitchell Marner of the London Knights, who has five.

Smith faced six shots in the frame, coming up with solid stops on Scott and Labanc with Barrie on the power play in the 14th minute.

Scott opened the scoring at 9:46 of the first period when he took a pass from Labanc and beat Smith low to the stick side from the edge of the right circle.

Defenceman Andersson connected on the power play at 11:00, hammering a shot from the blue line over the right shoulder of a screened Smith. Labanc and Andrew Mangiapane drew their second assists of the game.

The Battalion returns to action with a visit to the Owen Sound Attack at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 29.

BATTALION BULLETS: Amadio tied Howie Martin for ninth place on the franchise's all-time scoring list. In 227 games, Amadio has 62 goals and 113 assists for 175 points. He moved past Raffi Torres into fifth place on the franchise assists list ... With his two assists, Dineen has 10 points, including one goal, in a seven-game points streak ... The teams play a home-and-home series at Barrie on Jan. 2 and at Memorial Gardens on Jan. 3 ... North Bay went 1-for-2 on the power play. Barrie was 1-for-6 ... The Battalion scratched Jake Ramalho and Mike Baird ... McKenzie, Shankar and Baird were suspended for actions in a 7-2 win last Sunday over visiting London. Baird completed a three-game ban ... Barrie was without goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and centre Julius Nattinen, with Canada and Finland respectively preparing for the World Junior Championship. Blackwood received an eight-game suspension that covers the first two tournament games for an overhead chop at Danny Desrochers of the host Sudbury Wolves in a 6-4 win Dec. 4 ... The Colts acquired Ovsjannikov in a trade Monday with the Saginaw Spirit for a seventh-round pick in the 2018 OHL Priority Selection ... Mangiapane returned from an eight-game suspension resulting from a 4-1 home-ice win Nov. 26 over Owen Sound.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 19, 2015


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