OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Welcome Win, Anticipate Sarnia Visit

Published on November 2, 2014 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - As it turned out, Marcus McIvor provided all the offence the North Bay Battalion needed Friday night.

Captain McIvor scored his first goal of the season at 6:59 of the first period in a 3-0 road victory over the Mississauga Steelheads. It proved the winner as goaltender Jake Smith made 29 saves for his first shutout of the Ontario Hockey League campaign.

Mathew Santos and Brenden Miller added third-period goals for the Battalion, which has a won-lost-extended record of 7-2-4 for 18 points atop the Central Division.

The teams were skating four-on-four when McIvor beat Mississauga goaltender Spencer Martin high to the stick side with a snap shot from above the left-wing circle. The goal was the career ninth for overage defenceman McIvor, who's tied with Luke Lynes for fourth place on the franchise's games played list with 269.

"I saw an opportunity to move into the play," McIvor said Saturday as the Troops prepared to host the Sarnia Sting at 2 p.m. Sunday. "I figured I had no other play and thought I'd put the puck on the net and hope for the best, and it happened to go in.

"We play aggressive defensively, and we can turn that into offence. And for us to shut someone out is perfect. Smith was great, and the defence played very well."

Sarnia has won the first two games of five in a row on the road, defeating the Barrie Colts 7-1 Thursday night and the Sudbury Wolves 4-1 Friday night.

The Sting, second in the West Division with a 6-6-2 log for 14 points, is led offensively by right winger Nikita Korostelev, with eight goals and nine assists for 17 points. Anthony DeAngelo is Sarnia's top-scoring blueliner with 12 points, including three goals.

"They'll be very offensive," noted McIvor. "They have some guys who can score. They're a hot team and they'll come in ready to go. We need to be just as ready as they are. Hopefully, we can play as well defensively as we did in Mississauga."

The game at Mississauga came one night after what may have been the strangest finish in Battalion history. The Troops had gone to a shootout against the Belleville Bulls when Adam Laishram, shooting sixth for the visitors and having to score to extend the game, fired a shot that Smith stopped with his blocker.

The puck soared into the air, landed and rolled into the open net while Smith, given referee Mike Cairns's no-goal signal, celebrated victory on the other side of the cage. The Bulls ultimately prevailed 3-2 when Stephen Harper scored in the 10th round.

Video of the fluke Laishram goal went viral on the Internet and attracted the attention of the National Hockey League, which said it wants to review it thoroughly, but McIvor said the Troops couldn't let the result influence their performance at Mississauga.

"I've never been part of a game like that. There was nothing we could do about it. We just had to focus on Mississauga. Having a game the next day really helped. There was a lot more talk among us about the Belleville game today than there was yesterday. It was off our mind in Mississauga, and we got down to business."

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from November 2, 2014


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