OHL North Bay Battalion

Cormier Turns Tables on Trading Troops

January 22, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Goaltender Evan Cormier took up where he left off at Memorial Gardens.

Cormier, whom the North Bay Battalion traded to the Saginaw Spirit on Jan. 4, made 46 saves for the shutout as Saginaw blanked the home side 3-0 in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night.

Cormier's previous appearance in the Gateway City saw him backstop the Battalion to a 1-0 decision over the Ottawa 67's on Dec. 31.

Dylan Sadowy scored two goals and Connor Brown added an empty-netter for Saginaw, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 20-22-2 for 42 points, third in the West Division. The shutout was rookie Cormier's third of the season and first with the Spirit, the former North Bay Centennials franchise.

Goaltender Jake Smith faced 17 shots for the Battalion before a crowd of 3,197. The Troops are 21-11-9 for 51 points, second in the Central Division.

"I was really disappointed with our effort," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "You have to give Cormier a lot of credit. He played a great game. We need to find a way to solve a hot goalie like that and we didn't do that tonight.

Said Butler: "You can't expect four or five guys to drive the bus every night and, when those guys who have been carrying our team all year don't produce goal-wise, you see what happens."

Penalty killer Sadowy opened the scoring at 4:29 of the second period. Brenden Miller mishandled the puck just inside the Saginaw blue line, and Sadowy, who took off on a breakaway with Mike Amadio in pursuit, beat Smith with a backhander between the legs.

Sadowy struck again at 19:54, five seconds after the Battalion's Mike Baird went off for hooking. Sadowy took a feed from Jacob Ringuette and beat Smith from the right-wing circle for a team-leading 30th goal on the season.

North Bay held a 12-4 edge in shots, testing Cormier, who faced his former teammates for the first time, on several occasions. But the goaltender, still sporting a Battalion mask and leg pads, made strong saves on Ryan Kujawinski, Miles Liberati, Mathew Santos, Alex Henriksson and Nick Paul.

The Troops fired 16 third-period shots at Cormier, who made three saves on Kujawinski and two key stops on Paul, also denying good chances for Hampus Olsson, Zach Poirier, Brett McKenzie and Miller. Santos and Ray Huether buzzed around the crease in the final minute in a bid to break the shutout.

Smith went to the bench for a sixth skater after the Battalion called a timeout with 2:19 left to play, but the Troops failed to generate a scoring chance before Brown hit the empty net, assisted by Blake Clarke, another former member of the Battalion, at 18:42.

North Bay outshot Saginaw 18-7 in the fast-paced first period. Cormier was called on to make solid saves on Olsson and Miller and two stops on Kujawinski. Cormier turned away Paul from the slot and Amadio's attempt at the rebound at the left post in the 15th minute.

Smith faced tough chances from Clarke, Tye Felhaber, Devon Paliani and Vladislav Kodola.

The Battalion visits the Oshawa Generals at 7:35 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: Cormier was dealt with as many as six OHL Priority Selection picks for right winger Nick Moutrey. Cormier has played in five games with Saginaw, with a record of 2-2-0, a goals-against average of 3.24 and a save percentage of .917 ... The Battalion was shut out for the first time since a 1-0 overtime loss to the host Sudbury Wolves on Dec. 15, 2013 ... The Troops, who won 3-2 at Saginaw on Jan. 10, had swept the two-game series in each of the last two seasons ... North Bay went 0-for-3 on the power play. Saginaw was 1-for-2 ... Opening line combinations included Paul centring Kujawinski on left wing and Amadio on right wing, McKenzie centring Olsson on left wing and right winger Henriksson and Huether pivoting left winger Baird and right winger Santos. Poirier centred left winger Owen Green and Mark Shoemaker, a defenceman, on right wing ... The Battalion was without Moutrey, Zach Bratina and Zach Shankar, who completed a 10-game suspension received for a match penalty for a head check against Aidan Wallace of visiting Oshawa on Dec. 19 ... Spirit centre Mitchell Stephens played Thursday night in the Canadian Hockey League-National Hockey League Top Prospects Game at St. Catharines ... In a North Bay first, Logan Horseman was seen proposing to Zephia Wall on the video board during the second period. She said yes.

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