Troops take season opener
Brandt Harper scored one goal and added an assist to power the North Bay Battalion to a 4-2 victory Thursday night over the Oshawa Generals in the first game on the Ontario Hockey League’s 2025-26 schedule.
Jax Pereira, Ryder Carey and Jonathan Kapageridis, into an empty net, provided a goal apiece for North Bay, which got 26 saves from goaltender Mike McIvor before a boisterous crowd of 3,135 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
The Battalion, with four players still at National Hockey League camps, dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen for the game, which was sponsored by Royal LePage Northern Life Realty. Former Battalion star Brandon Coe was the flagbearer for the 7th Man banner.
Vadim Smirnov and Sam Roberts scored for Oshawa, while goaltender Jaden Cholette allowed three goals on 33 shots.
The Battalion, which led 3-2 through 40 minutes, and Generals traded chances in the third period, when McIvor made perhaps his best save of the frame in denying Lucas Teixeira on a rebound effort at 1:44.
“You could just see how calm he was in that third period,” said coach Ryan Oulahen. “I mean, that’s Mikey’s time to shine, and I thought he did a really good job to keep it where it was in that third, made some stellar saves, killed plays when we needed to get some whistles and did a good job.”
Defenceman Kapageridis iced the win with his unassisted first OHL goal into the vacant cage at 19:08.
Rookie Pereira scored the Battalion’s first goal of the season at 2:37 of the opening period when he beat Cholette with a snap shot off a rush from the left wing. Parker Vaughan and Briir Long drew assists on the goal, scored on Pereira’s first shot on his first shift.
First-year defenceman Harper matched Pereira with his own first OHL goal at 13:12, connecting on a screened shot from the left point. Nolan Laird and Russian import Evgeny Dubrovtsev, with his first OHL point, received assists.
Rookie Russian import Smirnov replied at 19:57, backhanding the puck behind McIvor from the goal line to the goaltender’s left on assists by Colin Feeley and Teixeira.
Carey netted what proved to be the winner with the man advantage at 10:35 of the middle period. Arseny Pronin centred the puck from the left boards on a rush for an assist and his first OHL point as Carey wired the disc to the far side past Cholette’s glove. Harper also assisted.
Roberts responded at 13:45, just 11 seconds after Adrian Manzo went off for tripping. Brooks Rogowski swept the puck toward the net from the mid slot, and Roberts directed it home. Onni Kalto had the other assist.
The Battalion completes weekend play with a visit to the Sudbury Wolves at 7:05 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 11-14-2 in home openers, including 6-5-1 since relocation to North Bay in 2013. In the last eight such games, the Troops are 6-2-0. They lost 12 straight home openers from 2005 through 2016 … The Battalion went 1-for-2 on the power play. Oshawa, which provided the home- or season-opening opposition for the first time, was 1-for-4 … Opening lines featured Ihnat Pazii centring left winger Pronin and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Cam Warren centring left winger Ryder Cali and right winger Vaughan and Dubrovtsev pivoting left winger Laird and right winger Carey. Centre Long and left winger Pereira had rotating linemates … Defence pairs saw Aaron Enright with Harper, Kapageridis with Kent Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Manzo. Easton Poe, recalled from the junior A Haliburton County Huskies for the game, also saw action … Charlie Larocque backed up McIvor … The Battalion was without Ethan Procyszyn, Lirim Amidovski, Shamar Moses and Bronson Ride, all at NHL camps, Declan Gallivan and Jack Lisson … Pronin, Warren, Dubrovtsev, Pereira, Harper, Kunopaski and Poe made their OHL debuts … Oshawa acquired Cholette in a trade this week with the London Knights. He played last season with the Cranbrook Bucks of the British Columbia Hockey League … Among Oshawa’s missing were Beckett Sennecke, Zackary Sandhu and Owen Griffin … David Elford and Damian Figueira were the referees.
