Fresh Troops eye Storm
The holiday weekend presents the North Bay Battalion with its first three-game week of the Ontario Hockey League schedule, and it’s a welcome development for coach Ryan Oulahen.
“We’re really looking forward to a three-game weekend,” Oulahen said Wednesday.
“It’s been a little bit tricky the prior weeks. How do you schedule just two games? I feel like there’s too much time, too much time to do too much, and then maybe the guys get a little bit worn out. I like the three-game weekend coming at us.”
A two-game road trip sees the Battalion visit the Guelph Storm at 7:07 p.m. Friday before facing the Owen Sound Attack on Saturday night. The teams complete a home-and-home set Monday in the Troops’ Thanksgiving Day game.
The Battalion, which has a won-lost-extended record of 3-3-0 after a 4-3 home-ice loss Sunday to the Soo Greyhounds, continues a run of four games against Western Conference opponents. But Oulahen took notice that the Troops won’t be heading to Guelph after a Thursday night home game.
Indeed, the Storm, 3-2-1, will be coming off a Thursday night visit to the Windsor Spitfires, who boast the OHL’s best record at 7-1-0 after losing 6-3 Sunday at Owen Sound, where the Attack scored two empty-net goals.
“I think this is the first time in my time in the last few years that we’re going to Guelph a little bit fresher on a Friday,” said Oulahen.
In the 11 seasons completed since the Battalion relocated to North Bay, the Battalion and Storm have played 10 times in each club’s building, with no meetings during the covid-wary 2021-22 schedule.
At Guelph, the Troops are 3-5-2, including 0-3-2 on Friday nights following a Thursday night home game. In three Friday visits after being off since the previous Sunday, the Battalion is 1-2-0. North Bay has won both of two Sunday visits to the Sleeman Centre, the first a 5-2 decision Jan. 6, 2019, after playing at Owen Sound the previous night and the second a 4-3 verdict Oct. 30, 2022, after a 4-3 road win over the London Knights two nights earlier.
Last season, the host Storm won 5-4 on Max Namestnikov’s goal at 1:10 of overtime Feb. 7. Colin Ellsworth got the win in goal over Jack Lisson.
The Battalion’s last outing saw Soo take a 3-0 lead by the 1:01 mark of the third period, but Ihnat Pazii and Shamar Moses pulled the Troops within a goal by 14:19. Marco Mignosa then hit the empty net at 18:52 for what proved to be the winner after Arseny Pronin struck for the Battalion at 19:19.
The Greyhounds scored two goals on seven power plays, including three two-man advantages, a game after North Bay faced five shorthanded situations in a 3-1 road win over the Sudbury Wolves last Friday night.
“We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and take ownership of it,” Oulahen said of the propensity for penalties. “We’ve addressed that, for sure, and you’ve got to get better at it.
“We always think that you can’t put referees in situations to make those calls on you. Is your stick on the ice? Are we being disciplined? Are we taking the right kind of penalties? I want our team to play hard, and we’ll take penalties by playing hard and playing the right way, but some of those silly ones we’ve got to stay away from.
“We talk about the type of penalties. A crosschecking or a tripping or a high-sticking, some of those calls we’ve taken in the last two, three games, those ones are the ones we’ve got to eliminate. Making hard plays, protecting your goaltender, sticking up for each other, those types of things, we want our guys to play hard and be physical. There’s no doubt about it.”
The game at Guelph can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
