OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Earn Home Ice with 5-2 Victory

Published on March 18, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Mike Amadio and Steve Harland each had one goal and one assist to send the North Bay Battalion to a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League victory Thursday night over the Sudbury Wolves, clinching home-ice advantage for the Troops in the first round of Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Battalion, with a won-lost-extended record of 33-23-10 for 76 points, is second in the Central Division and third in the conference and can finish no lower than fourth, the final position earning home ice in the conference quarterfinals.

Justin Brazeau, Brett Hargrave and Cam Dineen also scored for the Battalion, while goaltender Jake Smith faced 20 shots before a Memorial Gardens crowd of 3,714 that saw Amadio extend his franchise record for goals in a season to 49.

Alan Lyszczarczyk had one goal and one assist and Cole Mayo the other goal for Sudbury, which got 40 saves from goaltender Zack Bowman. The Wolves, 16-45-5 for 37 points, last in the division and the conference, have lost seven straight games since a 6-3 victory Feb. 27 over the host Peterborough Petes.

"We haven't been playing very well, but a lot of that is travel and sickness," said coach Stan Butler, whose Troops ended a three-game losing skid, "so for our guys to find a win tonight was important. We want to get better in our games this weekend."

The Battalion pays a return visit to Sudbury at 7 p.m. Friday before playing host to the Barrie Colts on Sunday, the final day of the schedule.

The Niagara IceDogs, who rallied to defeat the visiting Kingston Frontenacs 5-4, are two points behind North Bay with two games to play and are the only team that can overhaul the Battalion for third in the conference.

The Troops still could face any of Niagara, the Ottawa 67's, Peterborough and the Mississauga Steelheads in the first round.

Brazeau opened the scoring at 12:18 of the first period, sweeping the puck inside the left post for his sixth goal of the season after driving into the slot with Max Kislinger and Kyle Potts, who earned the assists.

Amadio raced down the left wing and cut across the goalmouth to slip the puck under Bowman's left pad at 19:23. The unassisted goal put Amadio on the verge of 50 and the fans on the edge of their seats whenever he had the puck in the offensive zone for the rest of the game.

Hargrave scored what proved to be the winner at 8:41 of the second period. Bowman denied Jacob Ball off the left wing, but the puck trickled onto the goal line, where Hargrave fought off defender Ben Garagan to poke it home.

Defenceman Dineen, with his 13th goal, beat a screened Bowman to the stick side from the left point at 9:26, assisted by Mathew Santos and Amadio, before Mayo put Sudbury on the board at 10:01. Seconds after Smith foiled Lyszczarczyk on a drive to the net, he fed the puck back to Mayo, who hammered it past the goaltender's blocker from the high slot.

Harland made it 5-1 at 14:44 on an unassisted effort, dashing down the left wing toward the net and tucking the disc between Bowman's pads from the lip of the crease.

Lyszczarczyk took a cross-goalmouth pass from Dmitry Sokolov off a rush to finish the scoring at 17:27.

The Battalion outshot Sudbury 18-8 in the period. A seated Smith snared a Ryan Valentini drive early and turned away a Sokolov attempt in the 11th minute.

The Troops believed they had scored on the power play at 4:04 of the third period, but referee Matthew Traub, who had signaled a goal, conferred with the video goal judge, the ruling being that Santos pushed the puck over the goal line with his left glove.

The game at Sudbury can be seen live in North Bay on CogecoTV Channel 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.

BATTALION BULLETS: Attendance was the second-highest of the season, behind the 3,764 for the season opener, a 4-1 loss to Peterborough on Sept. 25 ... Amadio vaulted past Raffi Torres into fourth place on the franchise's career scoring list. Amadio has 91 goals and 133 assists for 224 points in 261 games. He moved into a tie with Jay McClement for seventh place in all-time franchise goals. Amadio ranks fourth in the league in goals, behind Christian Dvorak of the London Knights with 51 and Barrie's Andrew Mangiapane and Alex DeBrincat of the Erie Otters, each with 50 ... The Battalion went 0-for-5 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-2 ... Opening lines featured Amadio centring left winger Mike Baird and right winger Santos, Hargrave centring left winger Ball and right winger Harland and Potts skating between left winger Kislinger and right winger Brazeau. Centre Brett McKenzie and left winger Maurizio Colella had various linemates as the Battalion dressed 17 skaters, one below the limit ... North Bay scratched Riley Bruce, Zach Poirier and Daniil Vertiy ... Poirier served the second game of a five-game suspension, while Vertiy, who has been sidelined for the last 10 games with a knee injury, skated in warmup ... Santos turned 21 on Wednesday ... Sudbury was without Nicholas Romero and Zach Wilkie ... Joe Park was the other referee.

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