OHL North Bay Battalion

Milano Paces Plymouth to 6-3 Victory

Published on January 9, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


PLYMOUTH, Mich. - Sonny Milano scored two goals and added two assists to power the Plymouth Whalers to a 6-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Friday night.

Yannick Rathgeb, Gianluca Curcuruto and Connor Chatham each had one goal and one assist and Josh Wesley the other goal for Plymouth, which has a won-lost-extended record of 13-22-3 for 29 points, fifth in the West Division.

Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves as the Whalers were outshot 32-15 before a crowd of 2,032.

Nick Paul, Ryan Kujawinski and Mike Amadio scored for the Battalion, 19-10-7 for 45 points, second in the Central Division.

Starting goaltender Jake Smith allowed five goals on 14 shots before giving way to Jake Kment, who allowed the final Plymouth goal on the only shot he faced in his Battalion debut.

Paul returned to the lineup after missing eight games while helping Canada to gold in the World Junior Championship. The game was the Troops' first with all of Paul, Kujawinski and Nick Moutrey in the lineup, the latter two acquired in trades.

Paul centred Moutrey on left wing and right winger Alex Henriksson, who underwent two root canals after taking a stick to the mouth Tuesday night in a 6-3 win over the host Ottawa 67's. But Moutrey left in the third period after being shoved into the boards by Sean Callaghan and was to be evaluated Saturday.

Chatham scored what proved to be the winning goal at 1:46 of the third period, giving Plymouth a 4-2 lead off a two-on-one rush with Milano.

Callaghan put Moutrey into the end boards in the Plymouth zone at 2:43 and promptly tangled with Paul. Callaghan received an interference major, a fighting major and a game misconduct, while Paul drew an instigating minor, fighting major and misconduct.

Wesley scored shorthanded at 9:13, sending Smith to the bench, before Milano, who played for the United States at the world junior tourney, connected on a two-man breakaway with Mathew Campagna at 10:01.

Amadio scored his 18th goal of the season at 18:09.

Plymouth trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes, but Rathgeb tipped a right-point blast by Curcuruto to pull the Whalers even at 6:14 of the second period.

Brett McKenzie and Mike Baird went off for holding and roughing respectively at 17:56, putting the Troops two men short before Chatham was whistled for hauling down penalty killer Moutrey on a solo break-in at 19:00.

The Whalers were skating four on three when Curcuruto hammered home the puck at 19:33 after Milano and Rathgeb worked for it on the end boards.

Paul opened the scoring at 5:37 of the first period with his team-leading 20th goal. The Whalers tried to clear the puck from the corner, but Paul intercepted it in the left-wing circle and snapped it past Nedeljkovic.

Milano replied at 14:19, converting the rebound of an errant shot off the end boards.

The Battalion struck on the power play at 15:24 when Kujawinski skated to the top of the circles and wired the puck low to Nedeljkovic's glove side. Assisted by Ray Huether and McKenzie, it was Kujawinski's 15th goal of the season and second with the Troops.

The Battalion visits the Saginaw Spirit at 7:11 p.m. Saturday as coach Stan Butler's charges complete a two-game trip to Michigan. The game can be heard live in North Bay on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: Before the noon Friday trade deadline, Plymouth sent left winger Matt Mistele to the Oshawa Generals for centre Ryan Moore and five OHL Priority Selection picks extending to 2020. Oshawa had acquired Moore minutes earlier from the Windsor Spitfires. On Thursday, the Whalers dealt left winger Liam Dunda to the Owen Sound Attack for two picks ... Marcus McIvor played his 292nd game, eclipsing Cameron Wind and Matt MacLeod for sole possession of second place on the Battalion's career list. Barclay Goodrow is first with 313 games ... North Bay went 1-for-5 on the power play. Plymouth was 1-for-2 ... Other opening lines saw Amadio centring Kujawinski on left wing and right winger Mathew Santos, McKenzie centring left winger Baird and Huether on right wing and Zach Poirier pivoting left winger Owen Green and right winger Hampus Olsson ... The Troops were without Zach Shankar, Zach Bratina and Mark Shoemaker ... Right winger Calvin Gomes, recovering from shoulder surgery, no longer is on the active roster ... Left winger David Sherman has been assigned to the junior A Powassan Voodoos. "For David's development, he'll continue to practise with us and augment his playing time with Powassan," said Butler. A second-round pick in 2014, Sherman has three goals and three assists for six points in 29 games.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 9, 2015


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