Brantford ousts Battalion
Jake O’Brien scored the winning goal at 8:14 of the third period as the Brantford Bulldogs defeated the North Bay Battalion 5-3 Wednesday night to sweep the Ontario Hockey League teams’ best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Adam Jiricek and Marek Vanacker each contributed one goal and one assist, and Gabriel Frasca and Parker Holmes also scored for first-place Brantford, which swept the Sudbury Wolves in a conference quarterfinal. O’Brien added an assist, and goaltender David Egorov made 24 saves in his first appearance of the postseason.
Ryder Carey, Shamar Moses and Parker Vaughan scored for fifth-place North Bay, which erased a 3-0 first-period deficit. Goaltender Mike McIvor faced 38 shots before a crowd of 2,599.
The game, which originally was to be played Tuesday night, was postponed because of heavy rainfall and snowmelt that caused widespread flooding and the closing of streets in the area of Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens. Brantford will face either the Barrie Colts or Ottawa 67’s in the conference final.
“Clear as day, just said how proud we were of the battle,” coach Ryan Oulahen reported of his remarks to the Troops. “When you’re down 3-0 to the best team in the OHL in the regular season, a lot of things could probably go through your head, and you start the game and you get down 3-0, it’s like, ‘Okay, where’s this going to go?’
“All of a sudden, we turned the switch, and the compete of the group is so impressive. I give them a lot of credit. I give our leaders a lot of credit, just dragging everybody into the fight, and that’s what I’m most proud of. You’ve got to create that culture. That culture starts six years ago.”
O’Brien broke a 3-3 tie when he deflected Jett Luchanko’s wrister from the slot past McIvor from the lip of the crease.
The Bulldogs thought they had taken a two-goal lead at 11:15 when the rebound of a Ben Danford shot from the blue line eluded McIvor. Referees Ryan Harrison and Brendan Kane reviewed the goal, which was disallowed after it appeared Luchanko directed the puck with his hand.
Danford went off for tripping at 15:59, but the Troops failed to generate a scoring chance. Seconds after the penalty expired, a screened Egorov found Kent Greer’s shot from the blue line and corralled the rebound with Ryder Cali lurking.
McIvor went to the bench for a sixth skater with 1:47 to play, and Vanacker scored into the empty net at 19:43.
Brantford struck for two goals in a span of 20 seconds in the first frame, sparked by Frasca, who beat McIvor between the legs from the left circle at 7:11 to finish off a passing play with Adam Benak and Luca Testa. Defenceman Jiricek then slipped between the hash marks to put a low wrister past McIvor’s glove.
Holmes scored his first goal of the playoffs at 13:44. His initial shot from the high slot hit the right post and caromed off a sprawling McIvor into the net.
Carey’s second goal got North Bay on the board at 17:08 as he wired a high wrister over Egorov’s glove from the left circle. Evgeny Dubrovtsev and Arseny Pronin earned assists.
Moses cut the Battalion deficit to one goal with an unassisted marker, his first of the postseason, at 1:17 of the second period, whipping a wrister off a faceoff past Egorov from the edge of the right circle.
Vaughan tied the game shorthanded at 9:39 with Hayden Barch off for tripping. Egorov, who ventured to the circle to his right to play the puck, delivered a clearing attempt to the stick of Vaughan, who fired the rubber into an open net for his team-leading fifth goal.
The visitors appeared to take the lead at 11:43 when O’Brien swept a loose puck behind McIvor, but referee Harrison immediately waved off the goal, ruling that Vanacker interfered with McIvor.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has won 22 of 45 playoff series in franchise history, including 13 of 23 since relocation to North Bay in 2013 … The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 111-125 in 236 playoff games, including 61-56 at home. The Troops are 65-59 since relocation, including 38-24 at home … The Battalion has a won-lost record of 21-25 in the fourth game of playoff series, including 9-16 at home. The Troops are 13-11 since leaving Brampton … In 10 postseason games, Vaughan had two assists to pace the Battalion in points with seven. Cam Warren had four goals and two assists for six points, and Ethan Procyszyn produced four goals and one assist for five points, both in 10 games … Egorov’s previous appearance was in a 6-5 home-ice win March 20 over the Battalion … Each team went 0-for-2 on the power play … Opening lines included Procyszyn centring left winger Moses and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Cali centring left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Lirim Amidovski and Warren pivoting left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Dubrovtsev centred left winger Pronin and right winger Carey … Defence pairings were Aaron Enright with Barch, Bronson Ride with Greer and Adrian Manzo with Brandt Harper … The Battalion scratched Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Kaden Pitre and Carter Kunopaski … Barch marked his 19th birthday … Among Brantford’s missing were Dylan Tsherna, Philip Govedaris and Camron Hankai.
