Battalion shoots to win
Lirim Amidovski scored in the 10th round of a shootout to give the North Bay Battalion a 5-4 victory Saturday night over the Barrie Colts, pulling the Troops into a tie with the idle Ottawa 67’s for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.
Ihnat Pazii scored two goals for North Bay, which got one goal and one assist from Ethan Procyszyn. Jacob Therrien had the other goal, while goaltender Mike McIvor provided 34 saves through overtime.
The Battalion improved its won-lost-extended record to 20-27-4 for 44 points, fifth in the Central Division and tied with Ottawa of the East Division with two games in hand.
The Battalion visits Ottawa on Monday. The 67’s, who defeated the host Peterborough Petes 4-1 Friday night, entertain the Kitchener Rangers on Sunday.
Anthony Romani scored two goals and Owen Van Steensel had one goal and one assist for the Colts, with Cole Beaudoin netting the other goal. Goaltender Sam Hillebrandt made 23 saves through overtime before a crowd of 4,042. Barrie is 33-15-4 for 70 points atop the Central.
In the shootout, in which the Colts shot first, Nick Wellenreiter scored for the Troops before Shamar Moses, Parker Vaughan, Therrien, Zach Wigle, Pazii, Procyszyn, Andrew LeBlanc and Jacob LeBlanc all failed to connect. Amidovski then swept the puck home on the forehand.
For Barrie, Beaudoin was stopped before Romani scored. McIvor thwarted Emil Hemming, Bode Stewart, Riley Patterson, Dalyn Wakely, Van Steensel, Brad Gardiner, Kashawn Aitcheson and Carter Lowe.
The teams battled to a 3-3 tie through 40 minutes before Procyszyn scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season at 3:02 of the third period, redirecting a screened left-point shot by Aaron Enright. Andrew LeBlanc drew the second assist.
Romani precipitated overtime at 11:53, spinning in the slot to convert a Wakely pass. It was Romani’s ninth goal and his seventh since joining the Colts in a Jan. 5 trade from North Bay. The extra session saw Barrie hold a 5-2 edge in shots.
Therrien opened the scoring at 11:27 of the first period off a three-on-one rush. Procyszyn centred the puck to Therrien from the left wing, and he directed it between Hillebrandt’s legs. It was Therrien’s ninth goal.
Beaudoin tied it at 15:32, stuffing the puck under McIvor’s right pad after a shot from deep on the right-wing boards by Patterson. Ethan Armstrong also assisted on Beaudoin’s 17th goal.
Pazii connected at 17:25, taking a back pass from Amidovski off a rush and putting a heavily screened shot past Hillebrandt high to the blocker side.
Van Steensel converted a Wakely pass from behind the goal line to tie it 2-2 at 4:36 of the second period. Gabriel Eliasson had the other assist on Van Steensel’s 15th goal, his second since arriving in Barrie with Romani.
Romani scored at 18:31, backhanding the puck into an open net on assists by Aitcheson and Van Steensel. The goal was Romani’s eighth and his sixth with his new club.
The Battalion is set to meet Ottawa at 2 p.m. on the Family Day holiday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the fifth of six meetings, with the Battalion having a record of 3-2-0. The Troops won 4-1 at Barrie on Sept. 28 before the Colts swept a home-and-home series Dec. 28-29, winning 5-2 at home and 3-1 at North Bay. The host Battalion won 2-0 on Jan. 16. The season series ends March 16 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens … Romani’s tally was the first shootout goal allowed by McIvor this season. He’s been beaten once in 15 attempts … Wigle and Vaughan, acquired in the January trade, played their first games as visitors at the Sadlon Arena … The Battalion went 0-for-3 on the power play. Barrie was 0-for-4 … Opening lines had Procyszyn centring left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Therrien, Wigle pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Vaughan and Pazii centring left winger Amidovski and right winger Wellenreiter. Nolan Laird centred left winger Chukharev and right winger Carey … Defence pairings were Bronson Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Enright with Adrian Manzo and Zach Wilson with Brayden Turley … The Battalion scratched Kent Greer, Briir Long and Reyth Smith … Among the missing for Barrie were Tristan Bertucci, Beau Jelsma and Beau Akey … In Jelsma’s absence, Wakely wore the captain’s ‘C’ … Patterson has a nine-game points streak in which he has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points … Hemming saw the end of an eight-game points streaks in which he had six goals and seven assists for 13 points … Mike Cairns and Mac Nichol were the referees.
