Battalion sees lead shaved
Calem Mangone scored two goals and earned two assists, pacing the Saginaw Spirit to an 8-3 victory Sunday over the North Bay Battalion that cost the Troops breathing room in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference playoff race.
Igor Chernyshov had two goals and one assist, while Zayne Parekh provided one goal and three assists for the reigning Memorial Cup champions. James Guo and Michael Misa each had one goal and one assist, and Liam Storch also scored.
Goaltender Kaleb Papineau contributed 27 saves for Saginaw, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 34-23-3 for 71 points, second in the West Division and fourth in the Western Conference. The Spirit is 11-3-1 in its last 15 games.
Papineau, a Cochrane, Ont., product, was a 12th-round pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from the North Bay Trappers U16s. He played last season with the junior B Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Zach Wigle scored one goal and added an assist, and Nolan Laird and Jacob Therrien each had a goal for the Battalion. Starting goaltender Mike McIvor allowed five goals on 27 shots before Jack Lisson entered the game, giving up three goals on 17 shots in front of 3,204 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
North Bay is 23-31-5 for 51 points, fifth in the Central Division and eighth in its conference. The Battalion leads the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s, who defeated the visiting Windsor Spitfires 5-4, by just one point for the final conference playoff berth, with each team having nine games to play.
The Troops, who lost 5-2 Friday night at Ottawa, are 0-3-1 since a 5-1 road win Feb. 23 over the Sarnia Sting.
Storch opened the scoring at 3:07 of the first period, driving down the right wing, cutting around Zach Wilson and netting a fourth goal on the season. Mangone scored Saginaw’s second consecutive unassisted goal at 3:50, working through traffic in the mid slot and beating McIvor to the blocker side.
Guo connected at 14:36, moving into the right circle and putting the puck between McIvor’s legs from the faceoff dot. Parekh and Chernyshov assisted on defenceman Guo’s seventh goal.
Mangone deflected a left-point shot by Xander Velliaris at 4:11 of the second period to make it 4-1, with Guo also assisting on overager Mangone’s 27th goal, the eventual winner.
The Troops were handed an extended two-man advantage starting at 6:36 when Papineau was called for roughing with Saginaw already shorthanded and Parekh went off for high-sticking four seconds later. But the Spirit had the best chance, with McIvor forced to make a save against Sebastien Gervais on a breakaway.
Misa zipped down the right wing around Kent Greer to score at 10:01, bringing Lisson on in relief of McIvor, and Chernyshov scored at 15:48, assisted by Dimian Zhilkin and Parekh.
Therrien tallied at 18:53, snapping the puck high over Papineau from the left circle. Bronson Ride and Wigle assisted on Therrien’s 14th goal.
Wigle took a long lead pass from Wilson at the Saginaw blue line and broke away to backhand the puck behind Papineau at 5:34 of the third period, cutting the deficit to 6-3. Wigle’s 11th goal, his fifth since a trade from the Barrie Colts, also was assisted by Jonathan Kapageridis, who earned his first OHL point.
Chernyshov countered with his 14th goal just 1:10 later, and Parekh completed the scoring when he banked the puck off the fallen Lisson from the right-wing corner at 12:40.
The Battalion plays host to the Niagara IceDogs at 7 p.m. Thursday on Canadore College Night, when March Mania presents Country Night.
BATTALION BULLETS: Redpath Day also featured Mascot Madness, with Sarge, Grimace, Spike and more … The teams completed the season series, after Saginaw won 5-1 at home Feb. 20 … Misa leads the OHL in scoring with 57 goals and 63 assists for 120 points in 57 games. He has a 26-game points streak, the league’s second-longest this season, in which he has 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points … Parekh is the top-scoring blueliner, with 30 goals and 66 assists for 96 points in 55 games … Storch and Nick Wellenreiter fought 10 seconds into the final period … The Battalion went 0-for-5 on the power play. Saginaw was 0-for-3 … Opening lines had Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Wigle and right winger Therrien, Andrew LeBlanc pivoting left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Parker Vaughan and Ihnat Pazii centring left winger Lirim Amidovski and right winger Wellenreiter. Laird centred left winger Long and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairings saw Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Wilson with Greer and Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo … The Battalion was without Aaron Enright, Brayden Turley, Reyth Smith and Stepan Chukharev … Among the missing for Saginaw was Andrew Oke, with Sammy DiBlasi, up from Chatham, backing up Papineau. Saginaw native DiBlasi, who has played in one OHL game, was a ninth-rounder in 2023 …. Guo returned from a two-game suspension issued after he drew a match penalty for slew-footing in a 7-3 loss Feb. 23 at Windsor.
