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OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Skin Wolves with Butler on Bench

February 18, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - Mike Amadio, Zach Poirier and Mathew Santos each scored two goals and added one assist as the North Bay Battalion routed the Sudbury Wolves 9-1 in an Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.

Steve Harland contributed one goal and two assists and Brett Hargrave and David Sherman each had one goal and one assist, while goaltender Jake Smith made 25 saves before a crowd of 3,498.

The Battalion improved its won-lost-extended record to 28-18-8 for 64 points, second in the Central Division and third in the Eastern Conference, and is four points ahead of the Niagara IceDogs, Ottawa 67's, Peterborough Petes and Mississauga Steelheads, whom the Troops visit at 7:30 p.m. Friday, in the conference standings.

Coach Stan Butler returned to the Battalion bench after serving a one-game suspension for interaction with referee Ben Wilson in the second intermission of an eventual 6-5 loss Saturday night to the host Kingston Frontenacs. The suspension was reduced from two games, and Butler, who sat out a 3-2 win Monday at Ottawa, was fined.

Zach Wilkie scored for Sudbury, 15-36-4 for 34 points, fifth in the division and last in the conference. Starting goaltender Zack Bowman allowed six goals on 22 shots before being relieved by Troy Timpano, who gave up three goals on eight shots.

Butler said the game was different from Sudbury's last visit, a 4-2 Battalion victory Jan. 31 in which the Troops led 2-0 in the first period before the Wolves rallied to tie it up late in the frame.

"Last time they were here, we jumped to a good lead and we let them back in the game. We didn't want that to happen tonight. We wanted to push hard in the second period, and we did that. It was good to play 60 minutes, and we played a good 60 minutes in Ottawa. We're at the stage now where we have to do that. It was important to get off with good momentum."

Poirier scored the first of three first-period goals at 4:41, following up on his own shot from the left side and poking the puck between Bowman's pads. Harland and Brady Lyle provided assists.

Amadio struck on the power play at 13:03, snapping the puck home from the right-wing circle, and connected again with a targeted wrister past a screened Bowman from high in the left circle at 17:20. Amadio has 39 goals, the most in a season by a Battalion player since the franchise's move from Brampton in 2013 and two more than Nick Paul scored last season.

The onslaught continued in the second period as North Bay collected five goals, starting when Santos buried a Kyle Wood feed in the deep slot at 1:49. Poirier then steered the rebound of a Brett McKenzie shot home from the goalmouth at 4:00. Sherman also assisted on Poirier's 11th goal of the season.

With the teams skating four a side, Santos scored his 21st goal at 8:25, beating Bowman high to the glove side off a two-on-two rush with Amadio, ending Bowman's night.

Timpano immediately faced a tough chance as he denied Zach Shankar on a breakaway, but Hargrave scored at 9:18, sliding a Daniil Vertiy feed past the goaltender. Harland had the second assist on Hargrave's fifth goal.

Sherman beat Timpano low to the glove side off the left wing at 10:19. Poirier and Cam Dineen assisted on Sherman's third goal.

The Wolves were outshot 12-9, creating their best offensive chances on a power play late in the frame when Smith reacted quickly to successive shots from Mikkel Aagaard and Dmitry Sokolov.

With Timpano sliding out of the crease, Harland tucked the puck inside the left post at 1:06 of the third period. Hargrave and Wood assisted on Harland's 10th goal.

Wilkie broke Smith's shutout bid at 8:39 when he beat the screened goaltender from the left point, eliciting a collective moan from the crowd.

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

BATTALION BULLETS: The torrid Amadio, who scored a franchise-record five goals at Kingston, has nine in the last three games. He has a nine-game points streak during which he has 11 goals and seven assists for 18 points. Amadio has 80 points on the season, extending his Battalion record since relocation ... The Battalion, 20-8-1 at Memorial Gardens, posted a 20th home-ice win for the fifth consecutive season. In their first two seasons at North Bay, the Troops went 21-10-3 in 2013-14 and 20-9-5 in 2014-15 ... Santos has a career-high nine-game points streak in which he has six goals and eight assists for 14 points ... Harland has a four-game points streak during which he has two goals and four assists for six points ... Wood had three assists and Dineen two ... The game marked the Battalion's largest offensive output and largest winning margin this season. The Troops scored seven goals on three previous occasions ... North Bay has scored five goals in a period five times this season ... The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-3 ... The Battalion scratched Jake Ramalho, Mike Baird and Jacob Ball ... Baird served the fourth game of a 10-game suspension ... The Battalion's Kyle Potts returned to action after suffering an upper-body injury in a 4-3 overtime win Jan. 22 over the host Hamilton Bulldogs.

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