OHL North Bay Battalion

Poirier Strikes in OT for 'Win We Needed'

Published on October 29, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion may have been undermanned Thursday night, but there was nothing short about its effort.

Zach Poirier's power-play goal at 2:27 of overtime lifted the Battalion to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa 67's, ending the Troops' Ontario Hockey League losing skid at three games.

Miles Liberati had one goal and one assist and Mike Amadio also scored for North Bay, which was without goaltender Jake Smith and left winger Zach Bratina, both scratched with what coach Stan Butler called upper-body injuries. Goaltender Jake Kment, seeing his first action of the season, made 23 saves in remaining unbeaten in his OHL career.

The win before 3,142 at Memorial Gardens moved the Battalion's won-lost-extended record to 6-6-1 for 13 points, third in the Central Division.

Ben Fanjoy and Travis Konecny scored for Ottawa, 8-5-1 for 17 points, second in the East Division. Goaltender Liam Herbst made 22 saves.

After the 67's were whistled for too many men on the ice 1:22 into overtime, the Battalion capitalized when Poirier steered a Liberati rebound over Herbst's right pad from the lip of the crease. Mathew Santos had the second assist on Poirier's third goal of the season.

"Our kids worked hard," said Butler. "Right from the beginning of the game we played the way we needed to play to have success. Jacob (Kment) came in and got the job done, and that's what backup goalies have to do. We got lucky in overtime on a bad line change by them and we took advantage of it. That's the game of hockey. This is a win we needed."

Liberati broke a 1-1 tie at 12:30 of the third period, whipping a Brett MacKenzie feed past Herbst's glove from the high slot. Defenceman Liberati's fourth goal also was assisted by Santos.

Konecny replied at 15:51. Kment got most of Jacob Middleton's left-point blast, but the puck squirted between the goaltender's pads to the right post, where Konecny tapped it home.

The Troops, who dominated the first half of the opening period, were rewarded at 11:37 when Amadio beat Herbst with a wrister from the right-wing circle. Brad Chenier, with his first OHL point, and Brett Hargrave assisted on Amadio's seventh goal, which extended a points streak to seven games. He has seven goals and four assists for 11 points in the span.

North Bay outshot the visitors 9-8 but held a decisive edge in scoring chances. Santos had Herbst down in the first minute but hit the side of the net, and penalty killer MacKenzie hit the left post in the fourth minute after forcing a deep turnover. Chenier missed the net from the slot in the ninth minute, and Liberati hit the right post in the 10th before Herbst kicked out another attempt in the 16th.

Kment stoned Trent Mallette on a breakaway in the 17th minute and, soon after that, Mark Shoemaker hustled back to thwart Sam Studnicka's shorthanded breakaway with the stick. Kment also came up with in-close stops on Artur Tyanulin and Drake Rymsha.

Fanjoy tied it 1-1 at 13:43 of the second period, driving to the net to bury a feed from Adam Craievich.

Kment produced solid stops on Craievich, Konecny and Jeremiah Addison. Herbst denied Amadio off the left wing, challenged Liberati's drive from deep in the left circle and slid to parry Amadio from the right wing.

The Battalion visits the Kitchener Rangers at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: Kment, who was signed Jan. 5, went 6-0-0 in eight games last season. He was a sixth-round choice in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection from the Sault Ste. Marie North Stars midgets ... The Battalion went 1-for-3 on the power play. Ottawa was 0-for-3 ... Opening line combinations featured Amadio centring left winger Chenier and right winger Hargrave, McKenzie pivoting left winger Mike Baird and right winger Santos and Poirier centring left winger Jacob Ball and right winger Kyle Moore. Kyle Potts centred left winger Max Kislinger and right winger Justin Brazeau ... Apart from Smith and Bratina, Battalion scratches were Kyle Wood, Zach Shankar, David Sherman and Brady Lyle ... Mat Woroniuk, called up from the Pickering Panthers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, backed up Kment, while Chenier was recalled from the Rayside-Balfour Canadians of the Northern Ontario Junior League ... Shankar started serving a two-game suspension for a slewfoot in a 4-2 road loss Sunday to the Mississauga Steelheads ... With Smith out, fellow overager Austin Kosack drew into the lineup on the blue line ... Sherman, with a suspected sports hernia, had an MRI exam, with results expected next week ... Konecny has a 10-game points streak during which he has four goals and 17 assists for 21 points.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from October 29, 2015


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