Troops put Guelph on shelf
Ethan Procyszyn scored a brilliant shorthanded goal and added two assists as the North Bay Battalion entered the Christmas break of its Ontario Hockey League schedule with a 6-2 victory Thursday night over the Guelph Storm.
Brandt Harper, Nick Wellenreiter, Kent Greer and Ryder Carey each contributed one goal and one assist, and Shamar Moses scored the first goal, precipitating a flood of teddy bears onto the ice. Goaltender Jack Lisson provided 25 saves before a festive crowd of 3,221 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
The Battalion, which dressed 17 skaters, one below the limit, improved its won-lost-extended record to 18-13-2 for 38 points, second in the Central Division.
Leo Serlin and Ethan Miedema scored for the Storm, while goaltender Colin Ellsworth faced 51 shots. Guelph, 0-4-1 since a 5-3 verdict Dec. 15 over the visiting Saginaw Spirit, is 15-15-3 for 33 points, fourth in the Midwest Division.
“We’re breaking here now, so it’s always great to end in that fashion, because we’re really going to enjoy these next eight or nine days before we get together as a team and then our next game’s on the 28th,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.
“It’s almost like a little bit of a team builder as well, considering we had some guys out of the lineup (and) had to play short tonight. I think after this break we’re going to get some healthy bodies back, so all that, like really, really thrilled with the outcome.”
Moses brought down the plush toys on The Brick North Bay Teddy Bear Toss Night when he opened the scoring at 2:08 of the first period, shoveling home a Greer rebound in the slot. Wellenreiter had the other assist on the sixth goal of the season by Moses, with the cleanup delaying the game for 10 minutes.
Harper cashed a backhanded pass into the slot from Procyszyn at 12:30, with Bronson Ride drawing the other assist on defenceman Harper’s third goal.
Procyszyn scored shorthanded on a highlight-worthy effort at 19:46 for a 3-0 lead. Ride fired the puck up to Procyszyn in the neutral zone, and he broke past Rylan Singh to go in alone and hoist a backhander into the net. The eventual winner was the captain’s ninth goal.
Serlin connected 38 seconds into the middle period, four seconds after the North Bay penalty expired, when he worked from the deep right wing to the inner edge of the circle and snapped the puck past Lisson on an assist by Charlie Paquette.
Wellenreiter took a cross-ice pass from Procyszyn and struck from the left circle at 3:37, with Harper drawing the other assist.
Miedema converted the rebound of a Parker Snelgrove shot at 16:58, but Greer responded 1:01 later. Evgeny Dubrovtsev won a right-wing faceoff back to Carey, who fed the puck across to defenceman Greer at the left point for his seventh goal.
Carey completed the scoring at 15:30 of the third period with his eighth goal, putting home a cross-crease pass from Dubrovtsev. Arseny Pronin was credited with the second assist.
The Battalion returns from the holiday hiatus to play host to the Barrie Colts at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28, on Relevant Life Financial Group Day.
BATTALION BULLETS: Apart from 1,561 bears, the night featured holiday prizes, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, themed warmup sweaters auctioned by DASH and a raffle for a game-worn sweater and team-autographed stick. Funds raised totaled $4,500 for the Children’s Miracle Network and $4,160 for the North Bay Santa Fund … The teams completed their two-game season series after the visiting Battalion won 5-2 on Oct. 10 … North Bay went 1-for-2 on the power play. Guelph was 0-for-4 … The Battalion, Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires were the first teams to start the Christmas break … Opening lines were Procyszyn centring left winger Wellenreiter and right winger Parker Vaughan, Nolan Laird centring left winger Pronin and right winger Lirim Amidovski and Dubrovtsev pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Carey. Centre Jax Pereira had rotating linemates … Defence pairings were Ride with Harper, Jonathan Kapageridis with Greer and Alexander Karmanov with Adrian Manzo. Carter Kunopaski also saw action … The Battalion was without Aaron Enright, Declan Gallivan, Kaden Pitre, Cam Warren and Ryder Cali … Amidovski turns 19 on Monday … Among the missing for Guelph was Grant Spada, who started serving a two-game suspension issued after he drew a misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct at 20:00 of the third period in a 6-4 road loss last Sunday to the Sarnia Sting. Spada received an instigating minor, fighting major and misconduct earlier in the game.
