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OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Host Sting Thursday Night

February 8, 2023 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion faces an opponent with its own high-powered offence when the Sarnia Sting visits for Ontario Hockey League action at 7 p.m. Thursday.

"It's a day to build on, for sure," coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday of a 9-1 home-ice rout Sunday of the Kingston Frontenacs. "I think what the really good thing about it, something that we stress in our room, is when the score did get kind of out of hand we still stuck to our game plan, which is the nice thing to see."

The goals total matched the Battalion's season high set in a 9-3 conquest of the visiting Niagara IceDogs on Nov. 3. Five second-period goals equaled the five scored in the middle frame of a 7-3 home win Dec. 28 over the Sudbury Wolves.

The Troops netted three power-play goals for the fourth time this season, after the Nov. 3 game, a 7-3 verdict Jan. 15 over the visiting Flint Firebirds and a 5-4 loss Jan. 20 to the host Mississauga Steelheads.

But Oulahen cautioned that Sarnia boasts "a lot of firepower" and is "a team that's scoring a lot of goals, especially as of late." The Sting added Luca DelBelBelluz and Ethan Del Mastro from Mississauga in separate trades Jan. 7, bolstering both the offence and blue line.

While the Battalion, No. 10 in the Canadian Hockey League's Top-10 ranking this week, has a won-lost-extended record of 34-13-2 for 70 points, first in the Central Division, Sarnia is 25-15-6 for 56 points, second in the West Division.

The Sting has scored 41 goals in its last seven games, going 6-1-0, including a 12-1 pasting of the visiting Soo Greyhounds last Friday night. The most recent outing was a 4-3 home-ice loss Sunday to the Ottawa 67's.

Ty Nelson produced his first three-goal game in the OHL against Kingston, while Kyle McDonald scored two goals and earned two assists. Liam Arnsby, who returned from mononucleosis, had one goal and two assists, and Nikita Tarasevich, Brett Bouchard and Anthony Romani each contributed a goal. Matvey Petrov had three assists.

In 48 games, Petrov has 22 goals and a team-leading 51 assists for 73 points, which ranked second in the OHL scoring race before games Wednesday night. He stood second in the league in assists and, with 21 power-play assists, was tied for third on the same basis.

Petrov, who earned three assists for the fourth time this season, has 62 goals and 101 assists for 163 points in 111 games in two OHL campaigns.

Kyle Jackson was fifth in league scoring with a team-leading 28 goals and 40 assists for 68 points in 49 games, while Nelson, who led OHL defencemen in goals, has 19 goals and 41 assists for 60 points in 49 games, a record for points in a season by a Battalion defenceman in the North Bay era.

Cam Dineen produced 13 goals and 46 assists for 59 points in 68 games in 2015-16. The franchise record for points in a season by a defenceman is 72, by Michael Vernace in 2005-06, when he had 10 goals and 62 assists in 68 games for Brampton.

In 115 career games, Nelson has 28 goals and 83 assists for 111 points, two more than Dineen and the most by a Battalion rearguard since relocation from Brampton in 2013. Dineen scored 30 goals and added 79 assists in 136 games before being traded to Sarnia during the 2017-18 season.

The franchise record for points by a defenceman is 129, by Brenden Miller in four-plus seasons with Brampton and North Bay culminating in 2014-15. He had 37 goals and 92 assists in 248 games.

Nelson's 19 goals tie the single-season high for defencemen in North Bay set by Miller in 65 games in 2014-15. Bobby Sanguinetti holds the franchise mark with 29 goals in 61 games in 2007-08.

On the defensive side of the ledger, Paul Christopoulos, who has two goals and 17 assists for 19 points in 49 games, led the OHL in plus-minus at plus-45 and, in 35 games, goaltender Dom DiVincentiis has a goals-against average of 2.43, a save percentage of .913, a record of 27-7-1 and one shutout. His GAA, save percentage and wins total were league-leading.

The Battalion completes play this week by entertaining the Barrie Colts at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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