OHL North Bay Battalion

Wolves Down Troops in Exhibition Opener

Published on September 6, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


SUDBURY, Ont. - Nicholas Romero scored the last two goals of the game in the third period to send the Sudbury Wolves to a 4-2 victory Sunday over the North Bay Battalion in the Ontario Hockey League preseason opener for both teams.

Ben Garagan and Kyle Capobianco also scored for Sudbury in the rookie-laden game, while goaltender Jake McGrath made 33 saves.

Brad Chenier, on a penalty shot, and Max Kislinger scored for North Bay. Goaltender Mat Woroniuk, in his OHL debut, faced 34 shots for the Battalion, which scratched eight veterans.

Romero roofed a rebound from a scramble at 7:35 of the final frame to break a 2-2 tie and popped home another rebound at 18:41 for insurance.

Kislinger pulled the Battalion, which trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, even at 2:56 of the third period, taking a pass from Kyle Moore and beating McGrath high to the stick side.

Chenier, from nearby Hanmer, was fouled in heavy traffic in front of the Sudbury net and got the Battalion on the board with his penalty-shot goal at 9:48 of the second period.

With Battalion rookie Jake Ramalho serving a delay-of-game call assessed at 5:57, penalty killer Zach Poirier had a breakaway on McGrath but couldn't convert as Capobianco got away with hacking at the attacker from behind.

The Troops again threatened on the penalty kill after Riley Bruce went off for checking from behind at 10:12. Mike Baird, Jacob Ball and Zach Shankar broke away on a three-on-one rush, with Shankar just failing to shovel the puck home from the left lip of the crease.

On a counter-rush seconds later, Sudbury's Dmitry Sokolov hit the left post.

North Bay product Ben Garagan opening the scoring on a quick shot from deep on the right wing 12:22 into the game. The teams were skating four a side when defenceman Capobianco scored on another sharp-angled shot from the left wing at 15:50.

Baird and Romero drew misconducts at 5:34 for a confrontation that almost resulted in a fight. Baird would have none of it with the cage-wearing Romero.

The Battalion, which is to play four exhibition games, hosts Sudbury in a rematch at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

BATTALION BULLETS: Assistant coaches Ryan Oulahen and John Dean ran the Battalion bench as head coach Stan Butler watched from the stands ... Kislinger, from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was North Bay's first-round pick in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on June 30 ... Opening Battalion line combinations featured Poirier centring left winger Ball and right winger Justin Brazeau, Kyle Potts centring left winger Baird and right winger Mathew Santos and Owen Green pivoting left winger Chenier and right winger Brock Perry. Kislinger centred left winger David Sherman and right winger Moore ... Defence pairings were Cam Dineen with Mark Shoemaker, Shankar with Brady Lyle and Ramalho with Bruce ... Ball, Brazeau, Potts, Chenier, Perry, Kislinger, Dineen, Lyle and Ramalho all made their OHL debuts ... The Battalion scratched Jake Smith, Austin Kosack, Kyle Wood, Miles Liberati, Brett McKenzie, Mike Amadio, Zach Bratina and Calvin Gomes ... Jake Kment backed up Woroniuk ... The Battalion went 0-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-7 ... Santos served as captain for the game, with Baird, Bruce and Shankar as the alternates ... The referees were Chris Carnegie and Ryan Park.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from September 6, 2015


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