OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Blank Wolves to End Losing Skid

January 25, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Alex Henriksson scored two goals and added one assist to pace the North Bay Battalion to a 6-0 victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves, ending the Troops' three-game Ontario Hockey League losing skid.

Goaltender Jake Smith made 15 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Hampus Olsson contributed one goal and two assists, while Kyle Wood and Nick Paul each added one goal and one assist and Zach Poirier also scored.

The win before a crowd of 3,676 lifted North Bay's won-lost-extended record to 22-12-9 for 53 points, second in the Central Division.

Goaltender Troy Timpano faced 38 shots for Sudbury, which lost a 14th consecutive game to fall to 7-35-2 for 16 points, last in the division.

The Wolves' losing streak is reported to be the longest since the franchise began play in the Ontario Hockey Association in 1973. Sudbury's last win was a 3-1 decision Dec. 13 over the visiting Kingston Frontenacs.

"We needed to win," said Battalion coach Stan Butler. "We had lost three in a row. It was an important game. Our guys came out and did the little things. They got a good jump at the start of the game, and that's what we needed to do. We did turn the puck over a lot, and that's something we need to be better at. We need to manage the puck and be a lot smarter, and there were times we didn't do that."

Poirier scored the first of three first-period goals at 6:03, taking a Mathew Santos pass and breaking in alone on Timpano to slip home a backhander. Austin Kosack also assisted on rookie Poirier's seventh goal of the season.

Wood, above the left-wing circle, struck on the power play at 15:47 off a crisp Paul feed from the right corner, beating Timpano high to the glove side. The goal was defenceman Wood's 12th and his team-leading 10th with the man advantage.

Timpano foiled Olsson from the lip of the crease but kicked the rebound into the slot, where Henriksson converted through a maze of bodies at 19:05. Brett McKenzie had the second assist.

Paul's 22nd goal made it 4-0 at 4:55 of the second period when he redirected Marcus McIvor's right-point shot past Timpano. Ryan Kujawinski earned the second assist on the goal, which tied Mike Amadio for the team lead.

The Troops owned a 14-5 edge in shots, with Timpano facing tough chances from Ray Huether, Santos, Owen Green, Kujawinski and Miles Liberati, who also fired the puck off the left post in the 18th minute. Smith produced stops on Brody Silk, Chad Heffernan and Michael Pezzetta.

Olsson collected his second goal of the season, his first on home ice, at 6:41 of the third period. After Wood's shot from the blue line missed the net, the puck went to the left post, where Olsson flipped it home.

Henriksson, who had the second assist on Olsson's goal, finished the scoring at 15:55, putting the puck between Timpano's pads from a sharp angle to the goaltender's right. Olsson and McKenzie received assists on Henriksson's 11th goal.

Sudbury recorded six shots. Smith sprawled to deny Pezzetta in the seventh minute and stopped a Jacob Harris shot off the right wing in the 12th, with Harris putting the rebound off the right post.

The Battalion hosts the Mississauga Steelheads at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

BATTALION BULLETS: The shutout was Smith's eighth, tying him with Patrick Killeen for second place in franchise history ... The Battalion went 1-for-3 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-1 ... Liberati sat out the third period after being tripped up by Reagan O'Grady late in the second. Brenden Miller also skipped the third as rookie defencemen Zach Shankar and Mark Shoemaker moved back to the blue line after starting the game up front ... Opening line combinations included Paul centring Kujawinski on left wing and Amadio on right wing, McKenzie pivoting Olsson on left wing and right winger Henriksson and Huether centring Poirier on left wing and right winger Santos. Shankar centred left winger Green and Shoemaker on right wing ... The Battalion scratched Mike Baird, Zach Bratina and Nick Moutrey ... The top boys' and girls' teams in donations to the Coach4Food program were honoured. The North Bay Trappers atom AA team raised 15,500 pounds, while the Ice Boltz bantam AA team raised 9,078. The program, which amassed more than 41 tons for North Bay and area food banks this year, began in 2005. It has generated more than 860,000 pounds of food in Ontario, with more than half of that in North Bay. The top two teams, as well as the third-place Trappers major peewee AA team, won practices run by Battalion coaches.

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