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OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Down Sudbury 5-2

December 31, 2018 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Brad Chenier and Justin Brazeau each scored two goals and added an assist to power the North Bay Battalion to a 5-2 victory Monday over the Sudbury Wolves, extending the Troops' Ontario Hockey League winning streak to a season-high six games.

Matthew Struthers had one goal and one assist and Nick King two assists as North Bay improved its won-lost-extended record to 17-18-2 for 36 points, fourth in the Central Division. Goaltender Christian Propp provided 40 saves before a crowd of 2,937 who took in the Battalion's annual New Year's Eve matinee.

Nolan Hutcheson had one goal and one assist and Anthony Tabak the other goal for Sudbury, which lost a fourth straight game and is 21-12-2 for 44 points, second in the division. Goaltender Mitchell Weeks, making his first OHL start, faced 30 shots for the Wolves, whom the Troops downed 5-3 Friday night at Sudbury.

"Goaltending gave us a chance to win," said Battalion assistant coach Adam Dennis. "Propp was very good and made some huge saves, especially with 20 shots in the second period. You can end up looking at that as a turning point. Special teams helped too. The power play wasn't as sharp as it has been, but they still managed to get three goals, and the penalty killers did a great job."

Chenier opened the scoring at 12:52 of the first period as he got position on defender Isaak Phillips at the lip of the crease and steered home David Maier's feed off the right wing. Brandon Coe had the other assist.

Hutcheson replied at 3:37 of the second period, pouncing on Luke Moncada's clearing attempt and tucking the puck inside the right post.

The Troops regained the lead on the power play at 11:19 when King fired a stretch pass to Chenier at the Sudbury blue line and he broke in alone on Weeks to slip the puck between the goaltender's pads. Propp also assisted on Chenier's 18th goal of the season, which set a career high.

The teams were skating four-a-side when Brazeau netted what proved to be the winner at 16:31. He kept the puck in at the blue line, eluded Owen Robinson and David Levin and moved into the mid slot, where he ripped a drive high over Weeks's glove. Simon Rose and Struthers drew assists.

"He surprises you every day," Dennis said of Brazeau. "Some of the things he can do with the puck are pretty special. We were pretty close to that one, and he didn't have much space to put the puck through the defender's legs, and you think he's going to shoot the puck, then he does an extra move and, just when you think he's skated himself into a corner, then what a shot."

The Wolves, who failed to capitalize on a two-man advantage lasting 1:04 late in the period, outshot the Battalion 20-15 in the frame. Quinton Byfield twice missed the net from close range, and Blake Murray fired wide with Propp down in the crease.

Tabak pulled Sudbury within 3-2 at 1:27 of the third period, taming a bouncing puck in the slot and flipping the disc past Propp.

Brazeau restored the two-goal lead on the power play at 5:21, powering past Phillips and Liam Ross and sliding the puck under Weeks's left pad. King had the lone assist on Brazeau's team-leading 37th goal. With 30 assists for 67 points in 37 games, Brazeau is the OHL's scoring leader.

Struthers struck with the man advantage at 16:03, converting a Chenier feed from behind the net to deep in the right-wing circle. Brazeau also assisted on Struthers's 18th goal.

The Battalion plays host to the Oshawa Generals at 7 p.m. Thursday.

BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost-tied record of 17-3-1 on New Year's Eve, including 4-2-0 at North Bay since relocation from Brampton in 2013. Sudbury has provided the opposition three times, including twice at Memorial Gardens, with the Troops 2-1-0 against the Wolves in Dec. 31 games ... The crowd was the second-largest of the season, behind the 3,129 that took in a season-opening 7-5 victory Sept. 21 over the Hamilton Bulldogs ... Brazeau has 14 game-winning goals, one more than John Hughes, Raffi Torres and Mike Amadio and fifth in franchise history ... Chenier has a four-game points streak in which he has four goals and three assists for seven points ... The Battalion posted a won-lost-extended record of 6-4-0 in December ... North Bay went 3-for-8 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-7 ... Opening lines included Struthers centring left winger Harrison Caines and right winger Brazeau, Mason Primeau pivoting left winger Chenier and right winger Coe and Luke Burghardt centring left winger Daniel Walker and Mitchell Russell on right wing. Moncada centred Cameron Peters on left wing and Patrick Brown on right wing ... The Battalion was without Pacey Schlueting, Travis Mailhot and Kurtis Evans ... Burghardt saw the end of a five-game assists streak in which he had five assists ... The referees were Jason Goldenberg and Dan Ransom.

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