On a Mission for Another Title
Sandis Vilmanis scored two goals and added an assist as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Sudbury Wolves 4-2 Sunday, serving notice that the Troops intend to fight to win the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division title for a third straight season.
Justin Ertel scored into an empty net and provided two assists and Brice Cooke had the other goal for North Bay, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 34-20-8 for 76 points, one point behind first-place Sudbury in the division. Each team has six games left to play.
Goaltender Dom DiVincentiis made 26 saves, none bigger than a backdoor stop against David Goyette, the OHL’s leading scorer, in the final minutes before a Memorial Gardens crowd of 4,056.
The Troops, who were without Dalyn Wakely, who was sick, are 12-5-0 in their last 17 games, including a 4-2 road loss Saturday night to the Barrie Colts.
“We had a lot of guys step up to the plate here,” said coach Ryan Oulahen. “I’m really proud of my team right now. The way the schedule was, losing an hour, there were a lot of excuses that they probably could have had in a game like this, but you come out, the building’s packed, the energy’s going, the rivalry’s there and then the puck gets dropped and you’re in a hockey game.”
Dalibor Dvorksky and Alex Pharand had a goal apiece and goaltender Marcus Vandenberg stopped 37 of 40 shots for Sudbury, 35-20-7 for 77 points.
The Wolves were without Nathan Villeneuve and Evan Konyen, who received suspensions of 15 and 10 games respectively for posts on a team group chat after a 7-3 win Jan. 18 at Barrie. Both suspensions extend past the regular season into playoffs. Kocha Delic also was scratched by Sudbury, which dressed 17 skaters, one below the limit.
The Battalion, which led 3-2 after 40 minutes, denied the visitors the tying goal throughout the third period, forging an 11-10 edge in shots in the frame. Owen Van Steensel hit the left post with Vandenberg helpless in the 16th minute before Ertel, assisted by Vilmanis and Tnias Mathurin, slid a backhander into the empty net from inside the blue line at 18:34. It was the 25th goal of the season for Ertel, who has career totals of 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points in 107 games.
Vilmanis capitalized with the man advantage 47 seconds into the middle period, pumping home a rebound. Ethan Procyszyn, whom Oulahen credited with “a monster game,” and Ertel assisted. Anthony Romani, originally credited with an assist for a 100th point on the season, was the victim of a scoring change.
Pharand tied it 2-2 at 7:32 with his 14th goal, converting at the right lip of the crease after Kieron Walton backhanded the puck across the goalmouth.
Vilmanis scored what proved to be the winner on another power play at 13:54 off a left-wing faceoff, slipping deep into the circle to beat Vandenberg high to the blocker side. Ty Nelson and Ertel assisted on Vilmanis’s 32nd goal, his 22nd in 24 games since a Jan. 6 trade from the Sarnia Sting.
The teams swapped first-period goals while skating four a side after Sudbury’s Chase Coughlan, returning from a four-game suspension, and Andrew LeBlanc went off with coincidental minors at 2:29.
Dvorsky took a pass from Goyette and broke away to score on a forehand deke at 3:53. It was Dvorsky’s team-leading 38th goal. Cooke replied 26 seconds later, retrieving the puck off the end boards from his initial effort, emerging at the right side and ripping the rubber high into the net for his 13th goal. Procyszyn and Mathurin drew assists.
Sudbury’s Andre Anania and Liam Arnsby fought 38 seconds into the game, with each receiving a major. The five minutes gave Arnsby a career total of 304, moving him two ahead of Nick Duff and into 10th place on the franchise list. He ranks first in penalty minutes in the North Bay era, which dates to 2013.
The Battalion plays host to the Brantford Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Thursday.
BATTALION BULLETS: On CAA Membership Drive Day, Jeff Woznow, manager of events and activations, conducted the ceremonial faceoff … The Battalion went 4-1-3 in the season series. The Troops won 2-1 at Sudbury on Oct. 1 and 5-4 at home Oct. 29 before suffering a 5-4 overtime loss on the road Nov. 1. North Bay prevailed 7-6 at home Nov. 19 before losing the next three, 8-4 at Sudbury on Dec. 29, 5-4 via shootout at home Jan. 25 and 5-4 in overtime at Sudbury on Jan. 26 … In 181 games, Nelson has 48 goals and 127 assists for 175 points, tied with Howie Martin for 14th place in franchise history. Nelson has 53 power-play assists, one more than John Hughes and fifth in Battalion annals … Van Steensel saw the end of a 13-game points streak in which he had 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points … Romani had a five-game points streak ended. He scored four goals and added seven assists for 11 points in the run … The Battalion went 2-for-4 on the power play. Sudbury was 0-for-1 … Opening lines saw Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Romani, Arnsby centring left winger Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Cooke pivoting left winger LeBlanc and right winger Jacob Therrien. Left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Lirim Amidovski had various linemates … Apart from Wakely, the Battalion scratched Brayden Turley, Nolan Laird and Stef Forgione … Dvorsky has a nine-game points streak in which he has eight goals and as many assists for 16 points.
