Hounds defeat Battalion 7-4
Marco Mignosa scored three goals and added an assist, pacing the Soo Greyhounds to a 7-4 Ontario Hockey League victory Thursday night over the North Bay Battalion.
Brady Martin had two goals, including an empty-netter, and one assist, while Travis Hayes provided one goal and two assists. Brady T. Smith also scored for the Greyhounds, who got 19 saves from goaltender Landon Miller, a surprise starter after Nolan Lalonde was injured in warmup.
Soo has a won-lost-extended record of 20-27-2 for 42 points, fifth in the West Division and eighth in the Western Conference.
Bronson Ride scored two goals and Jacob LeBlanc and Ethan Procyszyn each had one for North Bay. Goaltender Mike McIvor allowed six goals on 34 shots for the black-clad Battalion before a crowd of 2,304 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
The Battalion is 18-26-3 for 39 points, fifth in the Central Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s with two games in hand.
With a 5-2 lead to start the third period, Soo capitalized on a two-man advantage when Martin ripped the puck from the left side at 11:01.
Ride broke in alone on Miller and had a shot trickle under the goaltender and just across the goal line 58 seconds later. The goal, assisted by Lirim Amidovski and McIvor, was Ride’s second of the season, giving him two with North Bay since a midseason trade last season from the Niagara IceDogs.
After Nick Wellenreiter had a would-be goal disallowed at 15:30 when he headed the puck into the net, Procyszyn scored his team-leading 27th goal at 17:07, driving to the left lip of the crease and backhanding the puck past Miller on the short side to pull the Troops within 6-4, but Martin put his 21st goal into the vacant cage at 19:39.
The teams fought to a 1-1 tie through 20 minutes before Hayes, in front in traffic, tipped a Hunter Solomon drive past McIvor at 1:11 of the middle period. Mignosa drew the other assist on Hayes’s 13th goal.
Mignosa scored from the right side off a three-on-one rush at 3:30 before Ride replied shorthanded at 9:35. He stole the puck from Noel Nordh, who had three assists, at the Battalion blue line and broke away to slip a backhander under Miller’s left pad.
Trailing 3-2, the Troops thought they had pulled even at 14:39 when Zach Wigle stole the puck and hoisted a backhander past Miller, but the play was ruled offside upon video review.
Mignosa struck twice more in the frame for a three-goal lead. He took a pass from Nordh at the Soo blue line and dashed down the right wing, splitting defenders and moving in alone on McIvor to score on the power play at 15:31, then converted shorthanded off an odd-man rush at 16:52 for his 22nd goal, the eventual winner.
Soo’s Smith opened the scoring on the power play at 2:36 of the first period, taking a pass from behind the goal line from Nordh and shoveling the disc home. It was Smith’s sixth goal and fourth in 10 games since a trade from the Oshawa Generals.
LeBlanc tied it with the man advantage at 19:02, firing his seventh goal from the high slot after a back-and-forth passing session with Shamar Moses in the right circle. Jacob Therrien had the other assist.
The Battalion opens a two-game road trip against the Guelph Storm at 7:07 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The game featured CMHA Talk Today presented by Syngenta and Grain Farmers of Ontario. Fans consulted representatives at a concourse display to gather information … It was the third of four meetings. The Battalion won 3-2 at GFL Memorial Gardens on Nov. 30 before the visiting Greyhounds prevailed 4-1 on Dec. 18. The teams complete the season series at Sault Ste. Marie on Feb. 25 in a game rescheduled from Nov. 29 … LeBlanc and Moses led North Bay with four shots on goal, while Martin paced the Greyhounds with seven … Miller stretched to his right to deny Moses on the Troops’ best first-period chance in the seventh minute … The Battalion went 1-for-3 on the power play. Soo was 3-for-8 … Opening line combinations had Procyszyn centring left winger Moses and right winger Wellenreiter, Wigle pivoting left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Parker Vaughan and Ihnat Pazii centring left winger Amidovski and right winger Therrien. Nolan Laird centred left winger Stepan Chukharev and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairings saw Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Aaron Enright with Adrian Manzo and Zach Wilson with Brayden Turley … The Battalion scratched Kent Greer, Briir Long and Reyth Smith … Among the missing for the Greyhounds was Owen Alllard … Soo acquired Lalonde and three OHL Priority Selection picks from the Kingston Frontenacs on Jan. 9 for Charlie Schenkel … Damian Figueira and Andrew Willmetts were the referees. Article/photo credit - North Bay Battalion
