Battalion downs Guelph 5-2
Lirim Amidovski scored two goals, including the second of a pair of empty-netters, leading the North Bay Battalion to a 5-2 victory Friday night over the Guelph Storm in the opener of a two-game road trip.
Bronson Ride and Nolan Laird each had one goal and one assist and Nick Wellenreiter also scored for North Bay, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 4-3-0.
Goaltender Jack Lisson provided 24 saves for his first win of the Ontario Hockey League season before a crowd of 4,404 at the Sleeman Centre.
Jaakko Wycisk and Hunter McKenzie had the Guelph goals, with goaltender Zachary Jovanovski stopping 36 of 39 shots as the Storm, which lost 3-2 in overtime Thursday night to the host Windsor Spitfires, slipped to 3-3-2.
The Battalion carried a 3-1 lead into the third period but, with Jovanovski gone for a sixth attacker, McKenzie pulled the increasingly desperate hosts within a goal at 17:23, redirecting a Parker Snelgrove drive high into the net. Rylan Singh had the other assist on McKenzie’s team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Laird shot the puck into the empty net from his own zone for his first goal at 19:01. Amidovski escorted the puck to the vacant cage 40 seconds later for his third goal. Both empty-netters were unassisted.
The Battalion, which led 1-0 after 20 minutes, doubled its lead when Wellenreiter connected for his first goal at 5:07 of the middle period. The onrushing Wellenreiter beat Jovanovski under the right pad with a shot from the top of the right circle, with assists to Ride and Brandt Harper.
Wycisk replied 54 seconds later, converting the rebound of a Wil McFadden shot. Quinn Beauchesne also assisted on Wycisk’s fourth goal.
Amidovski cashed the big rebound of a Laird shot at 10:16, just six seconds after a high-sticking penalty to North Bay’s Cam Warren expired.
Two fights punctuated the late stages of the period, with Ride and Grant Spada scrapping at 14:49 and Ihnat Pazii and Guelph’s Christopher Soares throwing punches at 19:56.
Ride scored at 16:47 of the first period after the Troops seized a turnover in their own zone and raced away on a three-on-one rush. Ethan Procyszyn fed the puck to the left side to Ride, who batted it home. Pazii also assisted on defenceman Ride’s first goal.
Procyszyn was involved in a scrum at the Storm crease on his first shift, suggesting a rough night all round, but play settled down, and the teams traded early abbreviated power plays lasting 1:08. Guelph’s Daniil Skvortsov then received a high-sticking call at 18:17.
Lisson denied Mark Pape, deking at the crease in the sixth minute, for the goaltender’s best save of the frame.
The Battalion completes the trip against the Owen Sound Attack at 7 p.m. Saturday in the opener of a home-and-home series. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Guelph was 0-for-3 officially, but the Troops’ Shamar Moses was handed a slashing call at 19:58 of the final frame and the game wasn’t finished … Amidovski led the Battalion with six shots on goal. Procyszyn, Moses and Wellenreiter each had five … Opening lines included Procyszyn centring left winger Pazii and right winger Amidovski, Evgeny Dubrovtsev pivoting left winger Arseny Pronin and right winger Moses and Warren centring left winger Ryder Cali and right winger Parker Vaughan. Briir Long centred left winger Laird and right winger Wellenreiter … Defence pairings had Ride with Harper, Aaron Enright with Kent Greer and Jonathan Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo … Mike McIvor backed up Lisson … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Ryder Carey and Carter Kunopaski … Among the missing for Guelph was Jett Luchanko, who’s with the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers … Wycisk, the second overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April, scored 32 goals and earned 29 assists for 61 points in 30 regular-season games in 2024-25 with the Sun County Panthers U16s … Pape recorded his first OHL goal and assist at Windsor. He was a second-round pick in April from the Pittsburgh Penguins 15U team, with which he scored 51 goals and added 43 assists for 94 points with 82 penalty minutes in 62 games … Andre Grougrou and Mac Nichol were the referees.
