Troops Win
Owen Van Steensel scored two goals, including the winner, to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 5-4 victory Thursday night over the Windsor Spitfires in Ontario Hockey League action.
Lirim Amidovski and Ryder Carey each had one goal and one assist and Andrew LeBlanc provided the other goal for North Bay, which opened a two-game road trip by moving its won-lost-extended record to 8-7-2 for 18 points, tied with the Barrie Colts for second place in the Central Division.
Goaltender Charlie Larocque made 22 saves for the Battalion, which jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead in ending a four-game losing skid. The Troops’ previous win was a 3-2 home-ice decision Oct. 24 over the Ottawa 67’s.
Liam Greentree and Noah Morneau had one goal and one assist apiece for Windsor, while Jack Nesbitt and Cole Davis also scored. Goaltender Joey Costanzo made 23 saves before 4,843 at the WFCU Centre.
Windsor, 6-2-0 at home, is 12-3-1 for 25 points atop the West Division. The Spitfires, who dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, wore green- and gold-trimmed sweaters and socks on St. Clair College Night.
LeBlanc opened the scoring 19 seconds into the first period, trailing Jacob Therrien on a rush to the net and cashing his rebound. Stepan Chukharev also assisted on LeBlanc’s third goal of the season.
Amidovski cruised across the goalmouth to backhand the puck home at 7:58 for his fifth goal. Nolan Laird and Carey assisted.
Carey collected his third goal at 11:58 after Costanzo went to the boards behind the net to play the puck. Amidovski intercepted the goaltender’s attempted pass and fed the rubber out front for the quick conversion by rookie Carey.
Greentree replied at 12:50, scoring his ninth goal on a pass from Ilya Protas to make it 3-1.
The Battalion killed a two-man disadvantage lasting 1:54 that spanned the first intermission after Brayden Turley and Van Steensel went off for roughing and delay of game respectively.
Morneau struck on the power play from the inner edge of the right circle at 2:55 of the middle period, but Van Steensel netted the next two goals to provide breathing room at 5-2.
The Battalion captain connected at 5:48, driving off the left wing despite an uncalled hold by Adrian Manzo and sliding feet-first to the crease, with the puck ending up behind Costanzo. Shamar Moses drew the lone assist.
Van Steensel then sneaked the puck in the short side between Costanzo and the post from a sharp angle on the right wing on the power play at 16:42. Moses and Jacob LeBlanc assisted on Van Steensel’s seventh goal, the winner after a Windsor rally in the third period.
The Troops failed to score with a two-man advantage lasting 33 seconds in the first half of the frame before Ethan Procyszyn and Windsor’s Ryan Abraham received roughing minors at 14:08. With the teams set to skate four a side, Costanzo was pulled for a fifth attacker, and Nesbitt put the puck through traffic for his 10th goal, tied for the team lead, at 15:09.
Davis crashed the crease for his fifth goal at 16:22 to pull the Spitfires within one, but the Battalion held on against six skaters in the final minute.
The Battalion visits the London Knights at 7 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion and Spitfires complete their season series at Memorial Gardens next Thursday night … Carey was North Bay’s first-round choice, 16th overall, in the OHL Priority Selection last April … Tnias Mathurin faced his former teammates for the first time since an Aug. 8 trade that saw North Bay send the overager to Windsor with a 13th-round pick in the 2025 Priority Selection for a second-rounder in 2025, fourth- and sixth-rounders in 2026 and a 13th-rounder next year. A Toronto native, Mathurin was a third-round pick in 2020 from the Ajax-Pickering Raiders minor midgets … Each team went 1-for-4 on the power play … Opening lines had Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Moses, Andrew LeBlanc pivoting left winger Chukharev and right winger Therrien and Carey centring left winger Laird and right winger Amidovski. Briir Long centred left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Natan Teshome … Defence pairings were Bronson Ride with Wyatt Kennedy, Turley with Jacob LeBlanc and Zach Wilson with Kent Greer … The Battalion was missing Declan Gallivan, Aaron Enright, Dylan Richter, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani and Mike McIvor … Carter Nadon backed up Larocque … Windsor was without Ethan Belchetz, Jean-Christoph Lemieux and Carter Hicks, all with Canadian entries in the World Under-17 Challenge at Sarnia … Nicholas Bet and Ben Wilson were the referees. Photo/article credit - North Bay Battalion
