Troops relish coming test
The North Bay Battalion has reached a key point in the Ontario Hockey League schedule, with the Brantford Bulldogs paying a visit at 7 p.m. Thursday before the Troops embark on a season-high five straight road games.
The Battalion completes weekend play with a two-game road trip to face the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday night and Sunday. Next week features visits to the Windsor Spitfires, London Knights and Niagara IceDogs.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 23-17-2 for 48 points, second in the Central Division. The Battalion won a season-high five straight games before losing 6-3 last Sunday to the visiting Flint Firebirds, who emerged atop the West Division and Western Conference.
With 13 home and 13 road games to play, the Troops are 13-8-0 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens and 10-9-2 in away dates.
Brantford is 30-7-6 for 66 points, second in the East Division to the Ottawa 67’s, with the seven regulation-time losses being the fewest in the league. The Bulldogs, who boast five first-round picks from the 2024 and 2025 National Hockey League Drafts, saw a five-game winning streak ended Sunday in a 4-3 setback at Niagara when Ryan Roobroeck scored 13 seconds into overtime.
“I think it is a really good time to put our game to the test, but also get our game in really good shape and form right now,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen, who counted Flint among the run of top-quality opponents, said Wednesday.
Oulahen suggested that the Troops are in a better place now than when they lost 7-2 at Brantford on Dec. 6.
“We weren’t healthy. We’ve obviously added some new faces. I think we’re just in a really good state of mind with our team. We’re trending in the right way. It’s a good time.
“Let’s play the best of the best and see where we stack up against them, because we feel, if we play as good as we can, we should be a team talked about in that regard as well.”
Brantford, which sent five players to the World Junior Championship at Minnesota, two with Canada and three with Czechia, is led offensively by Caleb Malhotra, who has 21 goals and 36 assists for 57 points in 42 games. Czech international Adam Benak has scored 21 goals and added 32 assists for 53 points in 31 games, while Marek Vanacker has a team-leading 30 goals and 21 assists for 51 points in 36 games.
Cooper Dennis has produced 24 goals and as many assists for 48 points in 43 games, and Jake O’Brien has 12 goals and 36 assists for 48 points in 29 games. Malhotra and O’Brien share the team lead in assists, while Vanacker’s 30 goals led the OHL before play Wednesday night.
“They’re a high-octane type of team, where if you allow them time and space they’ll make you hurt, and that’s their first-round picks,” noted Oulahen. “It’s a lot of talent over there. Now saying that, really good players don’t like when their space is taken away, and I think that’s going to try to be our focus.”
Captain Ethan Procyszyn, who has heated up in recent weeks, leads Battalion points production with 32 in 40 games from a team-high 17 goals and 15 assists. Procyszyn has scored 10 goals and earned six assists for 16 points in the last 11 games, with at least one point in all but three outings in that span.
“I didn’t think he was having a slow start,” Oulahen said of Procyszyn. “I guess, from a coach’s standpoint, it’s not always scoring that’s important to me. It’s impacting the lineup, impacting the state of the game. He was doing that whether the puck was going in or not, so maybe the only thing that’s changed is the puck is going in the back of the net, and we knew that was coming.
“The possession-driving plays, the offence that he creates, he’s like a man amongst boys some nights with the matchups.”
Nick Wellenreiter has 14 goals and a team-leading 17 assists for 31 points in 42 games, and Lirim Amidovski has scored 13 goals and added 13 assists for 26 points in 40 games. Parker Vaughan has 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 42 games.
The Brantford game features Soiree Carnaval presented by Les Compagnons.
