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OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Defeat Wolves on Winner by Wood

January 31, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Kyle Wood's power-play goal at 17:31 of the second period proved the winner, sending the North Bay Battalion to a 4-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves in Ontario Hockey League action Sunday.

Daniil Vertiy and Mike Amadio each had one goal and one assist and Maurizio Colella also scored for North Bay, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 25-16-6 for 56 points. The Battalion is second in the Central Division and third in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Niagara IceDogs, who lost 5-2 to the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs.

Goaltender Jake Smith, who extended his franchise-record wins total to 80, faced 24 shots before a crowd of 3,374 at Memorial Gardens.

Matt Schmalz and Dmitry Sokolov scored for Sudbury, 12-32-4 for 28 points, fifth in the division and last in the conference. Goaltender Troy Timpano made 38 saves for the Wolves, who climbed back into a tie after falling behind 2-0.

"I was happy with the result," said coach Stan Butler, who compared the game to the Troops' previous outing, a 4-0 road win Friday night over the Guelph Storm.

"We seemed to drift in and drift out of the way we needed to play. You have to give Sudbury a lot of credit; they played really hard. They're playing for a lot of pride. We're their rival, and they'd probably like nothing more than to wreck our result. We're finding ways to win games."

Wood put the Battalion ahead for good when he scored 19 seconds into a two-man advantage with Brandon Bastasin and Zach Wilkie in the penalty box. Defenceman Wood hammered the puck past a screened Timpano from the top of the left-wing circle, with Amadio and Cam Dineen drawing assists.

Vertiy struck 52 seconds into the first period, racing down the left wing and cutting to the net to beat Timpano between the pads. Mathew Santos and Brett McKenzie assisted on Vertiy's ninth goal of the season and seventh since being acquired from the Windsor Spitfires on Nov. 11.

Colella scored at 13:51 after Timpano made the initial save against Zach Poirier bulling his way to the net. A delayed penalty was signaled when Poirier was dumped, but the trailing Colella banged the puck home. Brett Hargrave had the other assist.

Sudbury scored goals 2:24 apart late in the period, starting when Schmalz redirected a left-point blast by Kyle Capobianco on the power play at 16:59. Sokolov tied it at 19:23, following up on his own initial shot and tapping the puck across the goal line after it sneaked behind Smith to the left post.

The Battalion had a 14-10 edge in shots in the frame. Timpano produced solid stops on Steve Harland and Justin Brazeau, while Smith was sharp to deny Sokolov twice, and Ben Garagan just missed converting at the left post on a two-on-one rush with Schmalz.

The Battalion outshot the visitors 14-7 in the second period. Timpano denied good chances by Colella, Dineen, Amadio, Mike Baird and Jacob Ball. Sudbury's best opportunity came in the seventh minute when Smith stopped Michael Pezzetta on a breakaway.

With Timpano on the bench, Amadio clinched the verdict when he slipped the puck into an empty net at 18:30 of the third period, in which North Bay again outshot Sudbury 14-7. Santos and Vertiy assisted on Amadio's team-leading 29th goal.

The Battalion hosts the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at 7 p.m. Thursday.

BATTALION BULLETS: Amadio tied Adam Henrich for sixth place on the Battalion's all-time points list. In 242 games, Amadio has 71 goals and 123 assists for 194 points. Amadio surpassed Jeff Bateman for sole possession of third place on the franchise assists list and now has 51 power-play assists, sixth all-time, one more than Brenden Miller ... Dineen extended a points streak to five games, in which he has four goals and two assists for six points ... Colella has three goals in eight games with the Battalion since a Jan. 11 trade from the Bulldogs, with whom he scored three goals in 37 games ... The Battalion went 7-3-3 in January ... North Bay was 1-for-5 on the power play. Sudbury went 1-for-4 ... Opening lines included Amadio centring left winger Vertiy and right winger Santos, McKenzie pivoting left winger Baird and right winger Harland and Poirier centring left winger Colella and right winger Hargrave. Ball centred left winger Max Kislinger and right winger Brazeau ... The Battalion scratched Jake Ramalho, David Sherman and Kyle Potts ... Brazeau turns 18 on Tuesday, while Butler turns 60 ... Baird left the game at Guelph after taking a stick to the face and required stitches. He again departed early, drawing a misconduct at 15:17 of the third period for throwing his neck guard into the stands.

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