Clinched

Troops seize playoff berth

The North Bay Battalion kicked in the playoff door and charged right through it.

Goaltender Mike McIvor provided 29 saves for his third shutout of the Ontario Hockey League season to backstop North Bay to a 4-0 victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves, securing the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth on the last day of the schedule.

Ethan Procyszyn, Reyth Smith, Bronson Ride and Parker Vaughan each scored a goal as the Battalion finished the regular season with a won-lost-extended record of 28-34-6 for 62 points, fifth in the Central Division and four points ahead of the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s.

Ottawa, which had hopes of forcing a tiebreaker playoff game Tuesday, fell 7-2 to the host Brantford Bulldogs, whom the Battalion will meet in a best-of-seven conference quarterfinal.

The Troops, who won their last three games, including a 5-1 verdict Thursday night over the visiting Oshawa Generals and a 5-4 road decision Friday night over the Niagara IceDogs, were without Brayden Turley. He served a one-game suspension after drawing head-checking and fighting majors and a game misconduct against Niagara.

Goaltender Finn Marshall faced 41 shots for the Wolves, who were missing eight regulars through injury or rest. Sudbury finished 32-31-5 for 69 points, third in the Central and sixth in the conference, and will face the Kingston Frontenacs in the first playoff round.

“We’ve been playing extremely stressful hockey for, I think, four or five weeks,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen, whose charges thrilled a jubilant crowd of 3,657 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.

“I almost feel like we’ve played four Game 7s already, and those have been our best games, so really excited to head into the playoffs with this group: young, eager, excited. Here we go.”

Procyszyn struck first, with his team-leading 34th goal of the season at 11:20 of the first period. Andrew LeBlanc kept the puck in the zone at the left boards and advanced it to Shamar Moses. Procyszyn received a short pass and took an initial shot, then sidestepped a defender to get to the lip of the crease and backhand his own rebound past the sprawling Marshall.

Just 41 seconds later, Smith converted the rebound of a Briir Long shot that ricocheted in front of the net. Ryder Carey did the spadework on the right wing to draw the other assist on Smith’s fifth goal.

With the teams skating four a side, Ride netted the only goal of the middle period after taking a deft breakaway pass from Nolan Laird and skating in on Marshall to sneak the puck between his legs. It was defenceman Ride’s sixth goal.

Vaughan completed the scoring at 10:24 of the third period, beating Marshall to the short side from the left circle after Carey retrieved the puck in the corner. Ihnat Pazii had the other assist on Vaughan’s ninth goal, his fifth since a January trade from the Barrie Colts.

BATTALION BULLETS: On Kal Tire Fan Appreciation Day, overagers Andrew LeBlanc, Jacob LeBlanc and Zach Wigle were presented portraits by artist Jack Lockhart, and fan prizing went on throughout the game … The Battalion went 3-4-1 in the teams’ season series. Sudbury won 4-3 in overtime Oct. 20 at North Bay and 3-1 at home Oct. 25. The Troops prevailed 6-5 in overtime Nov. 17 at home before losing two in a row at the Sudbury Community Arena, 6-3 on Dec. 20 and 4-1 on Jan. 3. The Battalion won 3-2 at home Jan. 26 before the host Wolves took an 8-3 win Jan. 31 … The Battalion went 5-4-1 in March to complete the schedule … Jonathan Kapageridis, who played this season with the junior A Cobourg Cougars, replaced Turley … The Battalion was 0-for-3 on the power play. Sudbury went 0-for-2 … Opening lines saw Procyszyn centring left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Moses, Wigle pivoting left winger Laird and right winger Vaughan and Pazii centring left winger Lirim Amidovski and right winger Nick Wellenreiter. Long centred left winger Smith and right winger Carey … Defence pairings were Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Zach Wilson with Kent Greer and Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo … Apart from Turley, the Battalion was without Aaron Enright, Jacob Therrien and Stepan Chukharev … Among the missing for Sudbury were Kocha Delic, Donovan McCoy, Quentin Musty, Nathan Villeneuve and Nick DeAngelis … Ryan Elbers and Connor Mallon were the referees.