Stage set for season opener
Rehearsals have ended, and the curtain is about to rise on the 2025-26 Ontario Hockey League season
The North Bay Battalion opens at 7 p.m. Thursday when the Oshawa Generals visit Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens. It’s the first of two games on the OHL’s first night and is to start minutes before the Brampton Steelheads visit the Peterborough Petes.
“At this time of year, everyone’s looking forward to dropping the puck tomorrow,” coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday as the Battalion prepared to meet Oshawa, the Eastern Conference champion in each of the last two seasons.
“They rely on work ethic and compete. They’re going to come in here and really push us, so we’ve got to be ready at home.”
North Bay posted a won-lost-extended record of 28-34-6 for 62 points last season, finishing fifth in the Central Division and eighth in the conference before losing in five games to the Brantford Bulldogs in the first playoff round.
Five Battalion members attended National Hockey League rookie camps ending Sunday or Monday, and all except Mike McIvor were retained for the start of main camps Tuesday. Goaltender McIvor returned Monday from the Anaheim Ducks’ gathering at Irvine, Calif.
Still with NHL teams are Ethan Procyszyn with Anaheim, Lirim Amidovski with the Minnesota Wild, Shamar Moses with the Florida Panthers and Bronson Ride with the Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’s not just us that’s dealing with guys away at NHL camp,” noted Oulahen. “I look at it as two points now are two points you’d be dying to get in March.
“It’s hard to win in this league, and I think we all want to get off to a good start. The preparation, how we’re going to play, I think that will lead to good things that happen for us.”
Oulahen said the Troops receiving NHL exposure have shown well.
“We’ve got tremendous feedback from all of them, guys that have moved on to main camps and possibly getting some exhibition games. We don’t know, but that’s all positive on that front.
“And then continual look and opportunity for some of the other players still here to gain some momentum, get off to a good start, gain some trust on special teams. All those types of things, I think, is real healthy.”
The Battalion has 25 on its roster, numbering 14 forwards, eight defencemen and three goaltenders, in McIvor, Charlie Larocque and Jack Lisson.
The forwards are centres Procyszyn, Ryder Carey, Evgeny Dubrovtsev, Cam Warren and Jax Pereira, with Ihnat Pazii, Ryder Cali, Arseny Pronin, Nolan Laird and Briir Long at left wing. Right wingers are Amidovski, Moses, Nick Wellenreiter and Parker Vaughan.
The defencemen are Ride, Aaron Enright, Brandt Harper, Kent Greer, Jonathan Kapageridis, Adrian Manzo, Declan Gallivan and Carter Kunopaski.
“We like the depth of this hockey team,” said Oulahen. “You still have, arguably, three of your top forwards away at NHL camps, but we’ve still got four lines that can roll and have scoring all throughout the lineup.”
The Battalion went 3-3-0 in exhibition play, with Pazii and Vaughan the scoring leaders, each with three goals and three assists for six points in five games. Kapageridis scored two goals and earned four assists for six points in five games, and Warren had one goal and four assists for five points in six games.
Pazii was limited to 38 games last season after suffering a broken collarbone in a 3-2 victory via shootout Oct. 11 over the host Erie Otters. He returned to action Jan. 9.
“A big part of that is developing your mental game and being ready for any setbacks or bounces,” Ukrainian import Pazii, who’s entering his third season, said of recovering and moving into a higher role.
