McIvor earns Net Honour
Mike McIvor, who backed the North Bay Battalion to three straight wins in nailing down an Ontario Hockey League playoff berth, has been named Goaltender of the Week for the period ended Sunday, the league announced Monday.
McIvor, with 95 saves, posted a 1.67 goals-against average, a .950 save percentage and one shutout as North Bay secured the eighth and final Eastern Conference postseason spot ahead of the Ottawa 67’s. The Battalion opens a best-of-seven conference quarterfinal against the first-place Brantford Bulldogs on the road Friday night.
“Mike has been a rock for us all year and stepped up when we needed him the most,” said Adam Dennis, director of hockey operations. “This award is well deserved and a small example of the work Mike has put in this season.”
It’s the second such honour for McIvor, who won for the week ended Feb. 23.
On Thursday night, McIvor stopped 38 of 39 shots in a 5-1 victory over the visiting Oshawa Generals. At St. Catharines on Friday night, he made 28 saves in a 5-4 comeback win over the Niagara IceDogs. In the regular-season finale Sunday at North Bay, McIvor produced 29 saves in a 4-0 blanking of the Sudbury Wolves.
In 45 games this season, he registered a 2.86 GAA, a .910 save percentage, three shutouts and a won-lost-extended record of 22-17-3.
His career numbers are 65 games, a 3.11 GAA, a .901 save percentage, four shutouts and a 30-28-3 record.
Pressed into service in the second game of a conference quarterfinal last year against the Kingston Frontenacs when Dom DiVincentiis was injured, McIvor played the rest of the way for the Battalion, which advanced to the conference final for a third consecutive season. He went 10-5 with a 2.68 GAA, a .914 save percentage and one shutout.
McIvor was 22nd among North American-based goaltenders in midseason rankings issued by the National Hockey League’s central scouting department in anticipation of the NHL Draft scheduled June 27-28 at Los Angeles.
A Warkworth, Ont., resident who turned 19 on Saturday, McIvor was a fourth-round pick, 83rd overall, in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from the Quinte Red Devils U16s.
