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OHL North Bay Battalion

Fresh-Faced Battalion Set to Clash with Colts

November 14, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion, which showed a somewhat new look among its leading performers in a victory Friday night, hosts the Barrie Colts in Ontario Hockey League action at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Battalion, beset by injuries that saw top goal scorer Zach Bratina quit hockey and that have shelved the likes of Kyle Wood, Brady Lyle and Brett Hargrave, meets a Barrie team that led the Central Division with a won-lost-extended record of 11-6-0 for 22 points before a home date Saturday night with the Saginaw Spirit.

North Bay, 8-8-2 for 18 points and fourth place in the division, downed the host Sudbury Wolves 5-2 as Steve Harland scored his first two OHL goals, newly acquired Daniil Vertiy contributed one goal and one assist and goaltender Jake Kment, in a sixth straight start in place of Jake Smith, provided 19 saves.

The Troops, set to face Barrie for the first time this season, avenged a 3-1 loss at Sudbury on Oct. 16, although coach Stan Butler opined that his charges played better that night than they did in winning the rematch.

"I thought we dominated them more when we lost than we did tonight. We played better back then."

But neither Harland nor Vertiy, each of whom has solid credentials, was on the roster at that point.

Harland was called up from the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League last week for the rest of the season, seeing his first OHL action in road games against the Peterborough Petes and Kingston Frontenacs. Vertiy joined the Troops in a trade Wednesday from the Windsor Spitfires, arriving in North Bay and practising with his new teammates for the first time on Thursday.

The Toronto-born Harland, a sixth-round pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection, led the NOJHL in scoring last year with 42 goals and 53 assists for 95 points in 52 games on the way to rookie-of-the-year and most valuable player honours. He had 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 15 games with Powassan this season.

Vertiy, a Russian native holding Canadian citizenship and not considered an import, was a second-round choice, 26th overall, by Windsor in 2014 from the North York Rangers minor midgets.

He hustled in his Battalion debut and, after opening the scoring on a late first-period power play, almost connected in the first minute of the middle period, pitching a backhander over the net on a goalmouth chance. He showed poise in delaying the pass on a shorthanded two-on-one rush that saw Mike Amadio give the Troops a 4-1 lead in the third period.

Vertiy also received a checking-from-behind penalty in the second frame on David Levin, who appeared to embellish the contact and ostensibly laboured to the bench before starting the power play.

Kment, meanwhile, moved his record to 3-2-1 with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. He was 6-0-0 in eight appearances last season after signing Jan. 5 following the trade of goaltender Evan Cormier to Saginaw in the deal in which North Bay acquired left winger Nick Moutrey.

Kment, a sixth-round pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection, denied Michael Pezzetta in alone early in the first period and Ben Garagan on a breakaway midway in the second.

The Battalion's Cam Dineen had two assists and fellow rookie rearguard Jake Ramalho one, for his first OHL point.

Captain Amadio, who also assisted on Vertiy's tally, has 51 goals and 97 assists for 148 points in 213 career games, assuming sole possession of 15th place in franchise history with two more points than Chris Rowan.

Amadio, who boasts a league-leading three shorthanded goals among the Troops' OHL-high eight, has six all-time, tied for fifth in franchise history with Aaron Snow, Ryan Oulahen and Jay McClement.

With Sudbury goaltender Zack Bowman gone for an extra attacker, Brett McKenzie connected into the empty net, giving him a goal in each of the last three games.

The Battalion, which will conduct its Remembrance Day Salute before the game Sunday, is to wear camouflage-themed sweaters and socks.

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