Troops down Bulldogs 6-3
Jacob Therrien scored two goals, including an empty-netter, as the North Bay Battalion refused to see its Ontario Hockey League playoff series end Thursday night, defeating the Brantford Bulldogs 6-3.
The Bulldogs lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal three games to one, with Game 5 scheduled at 7 p.m. Saturday at Brantford.
Nolan Laird, Nick Wellenreiter, Ethan Procyszyn and Ihnat Pazii each scored a goal, while goaltender Mike McIvor contributed 44 saves in a sterling performance before a crowd of 3,106 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
Nick Lardis, Calvin Crombie and Luca Diplacido had the Brantford goals. Goaltender Ryerson Leenders allowed five goals on 32 shots.
“We’ve got to stay the course,” said coach Ryan Oulahen, whose Troops gained a split of two home games after a 4-3 overtime loss Tuesday night. “We can’t get too high here. I think this group showed they want to keep playing.”
After leading 3-2 through 40 minutes, the Battalion doubled its advantage when captain Procyszyn scored on the power play at 2:17 of the third period. For his second goal of the series, Procyszyn tipped a Jacob LeBlanc shot from high on the right-wing boards, with Andrew LeBlanc drawing the other assist.
Rookie defenceman Diplacido scored his first OHL playoff goal at 7:31 when his right-point shot appeared to deflect off a defender in front, but Pazii replied with his first goal of the playoffs 1:50 later, darting to seize a puck that slid into the mid slot from the crease and drilling it past Leenders.
Leenders was pulled for a sixth skater at 17:12, but Therrien collected his team-leading fourth goal of the postseason 27 seconds later after Lardis muffed a pass back into his own zone. Therrien seized the disc and had no opposition in escorting the puck to the net.
Laird gave the Battalion its first lead of the series when he opened the scoring at 7:22 of the first period. With Leenders far to his left in the crease and blocked by the kneeling Owen Protz, Laird cruised across the goalmouth to the left side and, as Ryder Carey leapt out of the way, deposited his first OHL playoff goal in the open cage. Briir Long had the lone assist.
Wellenreiter struck at 14:02, rushing the puck from the North Bay zone, breaking through defenders at the blue line and finding open ice in the mid slot to snap home his second postseason goal.
McIvor produced two outstanding stops in the frame, denying Crombie in alone in the 11th minute and getting the left pad on a Patrick Thomas threat in the 18th.
Lardis got Brantford on the board 15 seconds into the second period, converting a Thomas pass from the left corner. It was Lardis’s team-leading fourth playoff goal.
Therrien replied on the power play at 6:19, taking a pass from Jacob LeBlanc in the left circle, moving to the inner edge and ripping the puck past Leenders.
After the Troops killed a double minor for high-sticking called on Long at 14:18, Crombie connected at 19:42 to pull Brantford within a goal, chipping the puck behind McIvor from the left lip after a pass from behind the net by Noah Nelson, who drew the only assist on Crombie’s second playoff goal.
The game Saturday can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: If a sixth game is necessary, it will be played at North Bay at 6 p.m. Sunday … The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 107-117 in 224 playoff games, including 59-52 at home. The Troops are 61-51 in 112 games since relocation to North Bay in 2013, with a home record of 36-20 … The Battalion is 20-23 in the fourth game of playoff series, including 7-14 at home … While Lardis led the Bulldogs with 13 shots on goal, Therrien, Carey, Pazii, Jacob LeBlanc, Shamar Moses and Bronson Ride topped the Troops with three shots apiece … The Battalion went 2-for-2 on the power play. Brantford was 0-for-4 … Opening lines saw Procyszyn centring left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Therrien, Zach Wigle pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Parker Vaughan and Pazii centring left winger Lirim Amidovski and right winger Wellenreiter. Laird centred left winger Long and right winger Carey … Defence pairings had Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Brayden Turley with Kent Greer and Jonathan Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo … The Battalion was without Aaron Enright, Reyth Smith, Zach Wilson and Stepan Chukharev … Diplacido was a sixth-round pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection from the York Simcoe Express U16s. He joined the Bulldogs for the last regular-season game and has played all four playoff games … Brantford was missing Adam Jiricek, Braeden O’Keefe, Daniel Chen and Ben Radley … Blake Beer and Aaron Neely were the referees.
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