Romani paces Troops’ win
Anthony Romani scored three goals, including an empty-netter, and added an assist to power the North Bay Battalion to a 4-2 Ontario Hockey League victory Thursday night over the Mississauga Steelheads in a key Central Division game.
Owen Van Steensel had the other goal for North Bay, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 19-14-6 for 44 points and tied Mississauga for second place in the division, one point behind the Sudbury Wolves.
Goaltender Dom DiVincentiis contributed 24 saves before a crowd of 2,268 in the third of six meetings. The Troops hold a record of 2-1-0.
Romani assumed the OHL scoring lead with 65 points, three more than Hunter Brzustewicz of the Kitchener Rangers. In 39 games, Romani has 34 goals and 31 assists. He tied Kitchener’s Carson Rehkopf for the league lead in goals.
The game marked the Battalion debuts of Sandis Vilmanis and Bronson Ride, acquired in trades last weekend with the Sarnia Sting and Niagara IceDogs respectively. Andrew LeBlanc and Jacob LeBlanc, obtained in the same transaction with Sarnia, played in a 3-2 home-loss Sunday to Kitchener.“This is the good old-fashioned four-pointer, two points that we don’t let them get and two extra points for us,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.
“I thought we had the puck a lot more, obviously. That’s something we’re going to have to get used to as a group, believe it or not. That can sometimes cause issues, because you start to press a little bit, so we just need to be a little bit more patient, but a lot to like.”
Angus MacDonell had one goal and one assist, while Luke Misa also scored for Mississauga, which won 2-1 Wednesday night at Sudbury and is 21-16-2. Goaltender Ryerson Leenders allowed three goals on 37 shots.
MacDonell backhanded the puck high past DiVincentiis on the short side off the right wing at 8:18 of the third period for his 14th goal of the season and a 2-2 tie, but Romani snapped the disc high over Leenders’s glove at 12:24 for the winner, the 12th of Romani’s career to tie Ty Nelson, Adam Henrich and Chris Rowan for 10th place in franchise history. Justin Ertel and Dalyn Wakely did the spadework.
With Leenders gone for a sixth attacker, Romani skated around the sprawling Finn Harding and escorted the puck to the empty net at 19:50.
After the teams battled to a 1-1 tie through 20 minutes, Van Steensel netted his 18th goal at 8:25 of the second period off solid work by Wakely. He carried the puck behind the net to the left side and zipped it through the crease to Van Steensel at the right post. Romani also assisted.
Leenders foiled Andrew LeBlanc on a pointblank chance at the lip of the crease in the 19th minute to keep Mississauga’s deficit at one goal.
Romani struck on the power play at 10:00 of the first period, putting the puck past Leenders from the top of the right circle on a pass from deep on the right side from Ertel. Nelson provided the other assist.
Misa replied with his 17th goal at 17:18, going to the crease to direct a right-wing pass from MacDonell behind DiVincentiis. Porter Martone had the second assist.
The Battalion completes weekend play with a visit to the Soo Greyhounds at 7:07 p.m. Saturday.
BATTALION BULLETS: The LeBlancs are the third set of twins to play for the Battalion, after Blair and Cam McLaughlin in the first two seasons in Brampton and Paul and Alex Christopoulos in North Bay … Romani has a 16-game points streak in which he has 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points … Wakely is on an eight-game points streak in which he has six goals and six assists for 12 points … Van Steensel has a seven-game points streak in which he has three goals and five assists for eight points … The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Mississauga was 0-for-1 … Opening lines saw Wakely centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Romani, Liam Arnsby centring left winger Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Ethan Procyszyn pivoting left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Jacob Therrien. Brice Cooke centred left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairs had Ride with Nelson, Tnias Mathurin with Jacob LeBlanc and Wyatt Kennedy with Paul Christopoulos … The Battalion scratched Brayden Turley, Trevor McDowell, Nolan Laird and Stef Forgione … Procyszyn, who played his 100th game, has 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 career points. It was announced that he’ll play for Team Red in the Top Prospects Game at Moncton on Jan. 24 … Mississauga added overager Dean Loukus from the Saginaw Spirit, who made room for Josh Bloom from the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, while sending Zander Veccia to the Guelph Storm and William Haley to the Peterborough Petes.
Article credit- North Bay Battalion