Sarnia-takes-the-W
Beckham Edwards and Mitch Young each scored one goal and earned an assist as the Sarnia Sting squeezed out a 3-1 victory over the North Bay Battalion in an Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.
Daylen Moses added an empty-net goal and Alessandro Di Iorio had two assists, while goaltender Nick Surzycia contributed 37 saves for Sarnia before 2,419 at Memorial Gardens. The Sting moved its won-lost-extended record to 4-2-3 for 11 points, second in the West Division.
Kent Greer scored for North Bay, and goaltender Charlie Larocque stopped 23 of 25 shots. The Battalion is 5-4-0 for 10 points, tied with the Sudbury Wolves and Barrie Colts for second place in the Central Division.
“I thought we came out slow and weren’t ready really to take charge of the game,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “It’s something that you want to do, especially when you’re on home ice, so there’s an area for improvement from our team.
“Especially when we got into the second period, the last 40 minutes, we had a lot of good looks, a lot of really good grit, a lot of good things. Loved our last 20.”
Edwards opened the scoring on the power play at 6:24 of the first period, taking the rebound of a shot-pass by Di Iorio off the end boards and converting from the right side. Young had the other assist on the sixth goal of the season by Edwards, which leads rookie scorers.
Sarnia’s Carter Kostuch and Brayden Turley drew roughing minors in a scrum behind the Battalion net at 18:01, with a video review confirming that the puck never entered the goal on a crease-crashing rush by Kostuch.
Defenceman Young connected with the man advantage at 14:20 of the second period, lofting a right-point shot on assists by Di Iorio and Edwards. The crowd expressed its displeasure with the holding call against Ethan Procyszyn that put Sarnia on the power play, as he appeared to have been tied up on a chance in the slot.
Greer struck on the power play at 7:38 of the final period, lobbing a shot from the blue line that beat Surzycia high to the glove side. Ryder Carey and Andrew LeBlanc assisted on rookie rearguard Greer’s second goal.
Midway in the frame, North Bay killed a two-man disadvantage lasting 43 seconds after Nolan Laird received a double minor for high-sticking and Owen Van Steensel was called for delay of game for putting the puck into the visiting penalty box despite it apparently being deflected.
The Battalion then failed to capitalize on a power play lasting 1:23 when Kaeden Johnston drew a slashing penalty at 13:32, and Larocque left for a sixth attacker before Shamar Moses hit the left post on an open chance with just under 30 seconds to play.
Moses won a race for the puck and put it into the vacant net at 19:56 for his second goal.
The Battalion visits the Brantford Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Clubhouse sponsored Paint the Rink Pink Night in support of the fight against breast cancer, with the Battalion wearing themed warmup sweaters that were auctioned off. In total, more than $12,775 was raised … The Battalion traded Kostuch, defenceman Alex Cajkovic and OHL Priority Selection picks to Sarnia on Jan. 6 for Andrew LeBlanc, Jacob LeBlanc and Sandis Vilmanis, who’s now in the pro ranks. Jacob LeBlanc, who has three goals and seven assists for 10 points in nine games this season, now has career totals of 18 goals, 86 assists and 104 points in 211 games … The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Sarnia was 2-for-6 … Opening lines saw Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Moses, Andrew LeBlanc pivoting Lirim Amidovski on left wing and right winger Jacob Therrien and Laird centring left winger Natan Teshome and right winger Carey. Dylan Richter centred left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Stepan Chukharev … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani, Tyson Rismond and Zach Wilson … Among the missing for Sarnia were Lukas Fischer and Lane Sim … Sarnia chose Edwards, a Komoka, Ont., resident in the third round of the Priority Selection in April from the Detroit-based Little Caesars U15s. He previously played with the Elgin Middlesex Canucks. Edwards has three assists and nine points in as many games this season … Blake Beer and David Elford were the referees. Photo/article credit- North Bay Battalion
