OHL North Bay Battalion

North Bay Celebrates New Year's Eve Win

December 31, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Zach Poirier scored the lone goal and goaltender Evan Cormier made 12 saves for the shutout as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Ottawa 67' s 1-0 in Ontario Hockey League action Wednesday.

A Memorial Gardens crowd of 3,909 took in the Battalion's traditional New Year's Eve game as North Bay improved its won-lost-extended record to 17-9-6 for 40 points, second in the Central Division.

Goaltender Leo Lazarev faced 13 shots for Ottawa, 17-15-2 for 36 points, third in the East Division.

" You get games like this after Christmas," said Battalion coach Stan Butler, whose charges returned to action from the OHL' s holiday break. "We' ve been on the ice only twice, and for the first practice we had five kids missing due to travel."

Ottawa's 12 shots were the fewest North Bay has allowed this season, while the Troops' 13 shots were the fewest they ' ve recorded. Rookie Cormier faced 30 shots in his first OHL shutout, a 3-0 decision Nov. 29 over the host Owen Sound Attack.

"It feels great to get another shutout," said Cormier, who made his eighth appearance of the season. "When it's only 12 shots you have to stay mentally prepared and mentally in the game. It's definitely harder than getting peppered."

Said Butler: "Evan was good. He made the saves when he had to make them. It's not how many saves you make; it's whether you make the big save when you need it, and there were two or three times where he made great saves."

The game marked the Battalion debut of defenceman Austin Kosack, an eighth-round pick by Brampton in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection. Kosack, a 19-year-old who left Ferris State of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, played last season with the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey league.

"He did pretty well for his first game," said Butler, who paired Kosack with Riley Bruce. "This is a different style of hockey from the NCAA. He got to practise only a couple of times, so he ' s still getting to know the guys. We know he ' s a very skilled player. He played on a championship team in the USHL last season. He gives us another puck-mover, and with guys like that you play in your own end a lot less."

Rookie Poirier scored his fifth goal of the season on an unassisted effort at 4:43 of the second period, stealing the puck at the blue line and racing in alone to beat Lazarev to the glove side with a wrister.

Ottawa outshot the Troops 6-4 in the period, testing Cormier on early attempts in close by Erik Bradford and Travis Barron. Cormier found a Jeremiah Addison shot from the blue line through traffic in the ninth minute.

Each team recorded just three shots in the third period. Cormier denied Bradford and Travis Konecny on the rebound in the 11th minute. Ottawa had the only power play, failing to generate a solid scoring chance during the man advantage or when Lazarev left for a sixth skater with 1:10 to play.

North Bay outshot Ottawa 6-3 in the first period, in which each team enjoyed two power plays. Lazarev produced strong saves against Mike Baird, Mike Amadio and Brett McKenzie. Penalty killer Kosack, on a breakaway off a two-on-one rush, fired the puck off Lazarev's right arm in the 12th minute.

The 67's, whose three shots came during the power play after Jared Steege went off for slashing at 16:38, forced Cormier to come up with solid stops against Bradford and Taylor Davis.

The Battalion visits the Oshawa Generals at 2:05 p.m. Thursday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost-tied record of 14-2-1 in its Dec. 31 home games, including a 2-1 loss via shootout last year to the Sudbury Wolves in the first such game at North Bay. Ottawa provided the New Year ' s Eve opposition for the first time ... The Troops wore green-based sweaters and socks before the Jan. 1 changeover date from white to accommodate the 67 's, who opened a three-game road trip that includes dates with Sudbury and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds ... The Troops' Alex Henriksson played his 100th OHL game ... The Battalion posted a won-lost-extended record of 3-4-1 in December ... North Bay went 0-for-2 on the power play. Ottawa was 0-for-3 ... Kosack's coach with Indiana was Jeff Brown, now directing the Ottawa bench ... The Battalion was without Zach Shankar, Zach Bratina, Nick Paul and Calvin Gomes ... Paul, with Canada at the World Junior Championship, has started Points for Paul, a campaign to raise money for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit at the North Bay Regional Health Centre. For each goal or assist Paul registers, fans are asked to make a donation to the NBRHC Foundation, which can be reached at (705) 495-8125 ... Among the missing for Ottawa was defenceman Alex Lintuniemi, with Finland at the world junior tourney at Montreal and Toronto.

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