Storm brewing for Troops

The North Bay Battalion, coming off an up-and-down overtime win over the archrival Sudbury Wolves, plays host to the Guelph Storm in Ontario Hockey League action at 7 p.m. Thursday.

It’s the first of three games on the week, which sees North Bay visit the Peterborough Petes on Saturday night and the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday. The Battalion has played only two games in each of the last three weeks.

“A good outcome for our guys,” coach Ryan Oulahen noted after Owen Van Steensel scored in extra time for a 6-5 victory Sunday over the visiting Wolves that saw the Troops score two goals to take a 4-2 third-period lead before falling behind 5-4 in a span of 2:28.

“I really liked our third period, got out to a lead, and then you have their high-powered offence that was just able to push us back. I thought we settled down after we took the timeout and then were able to tie it up. Then, especially with Van Steensel getting the game winner, I thought he deserved that, for sure.”

Van Steensel opened and closed the scoring, adding an assist, and Ethan Procyszyn had one goal and three assists. Jacob LeBlanc contributed one goal and two assists, with the other goals coming from rookies Reyth Smith and Stepan Chukharev.

Kocha Delic scored for Sudbury just 21 seconds after Chukharev made it 4-2 at 8:04, and Rowan Henderson scored two goals 15 seconds apart to put Sudbury ahead by 10:53. LeBlanc tied it 5-5 at 19:04 with goaltender Mike McIvor, who provided 41 saves, on the bench for a sixth skater.

“These guys don’t quit, ever,” said Oulahen. “It’s a really good strength of ours, for sure. There’s probably one game that really got out of hand, and that was in Kingston. Other than that, even when we’ve gotten down, they’ve been able to bounce back.

“That’s a fragile moment right there, when they’re able to not only tie it but then take the lead on us. Whoa! I’m not sure sometimes where that’s going to go, but they were able to settle it down, continue to make our push. We maybe even got a little bit better because of it, and then ultimately tie it up, so some really good signs with the guys.”

Oulahen was particularly pleased with the likes of youngsters Smith and Chukharev, although the latter, like Kent Greer, is sidelined this week with an upper-body injury.

“Their growth is coming. It’s coming in a hurry here. I’ve been saying how we as a team have been starting to execute what we want to do with our systematic style of play. That group of kids now that has some confidence, we’re able to have some poise with the puck, big bodies (that) can skate, play with energy.

“I really liked all of our young guys tonight (who) kind of drove it for us. It’s exciting to see that, because they’re getting in these situations now that can escalate the development.”

North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 9-9-2 for 20 points, fourth in the Central Division, while Guelph is 6-11-2 for 14 points, fifth in the Midwest Division.

Procyszyn paces the Battalion offence with a team-leading 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points, while LeBlanc has four goals and a team-high 18 assists for 22 points, each in 20 games. Van Steensel has scored nine goals and earned eight assists for 17 points in 20 games, and Shamar Moses has three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 15 games since a trade from the Barrie Colts.

Cam Allen leads the Storm with five goals and a team-best 12 assists for 17 points in 19 games, while Max Namestnikov has a team-high seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 18 games.

The Guelph game features CAA North & East Ontario Night.