Troops Return Home

North Bay Battalion fans got a fresh look at the Ontario Hockey League club Monday when the Troops emerged from a season-high six straight road games and served up a 4-2 Thanksgiving Day victory over the Owen Sound Attack.

It marked the first of four home dates in a five-game stretch which continues with a visit by the Sarnia Sting at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Central to the new look was the home-ice debut of right winger Shamar Moses, acquired last Thursday in a trade that saw overage centre Dalyn Wakely sent to the Barrie Colts.

Moses, with two goals and four assists for six points in three games with North Bay, as well as the deciding goal in the shootout in a 3-2 comeback victory Friday night over the Erie Otters, has put a “pretty good stamp on every game that we’ve had him,” noted coach Ryan Oulahen.

“Obviously, we got to see him on the road, and I’m just throwing him into every kind of situation. His hockey sense is what impresses me the most. You see the ability, you see the talent, you see all that, but once you get up front, live and hands-on a player, you just see the hockey sense.

“With that, now I can use him in different areas, obviously on the penalty kill and late in games and all those kind of things, so a really exciting package here to work with.”

Moses has stepped into the top power-play role vacated by right winger Anthony Romani in light of the broken collarbone he suffered at Erie.

“We weren’t sure how the power play was going to sort itself out,” said Oulahen. “That’s probably his best, what do I say, like his strength. He’s a weapon on the power play, but we weren’t sure where to put him with Romani (out), being in that spot. But with what happened, Shamar is a pretty good fit right there to kind of take that spot.”

While Moses hasn’t scored a power-play goal, his four assists with the Troops have come in man-advantage situations, including on Jacob Therrien’s first-period tally that tied the Owen Sound game 1-1. Moses, who scored what proved to be the winner, Therrien and Ethan Procyszyn all had one goal and one assist against the Attack, playing its fourth game in six days and coached by former Battalion assistant Scott Wray.

“When best friends go at it, the competitiveness is there, for sure,” acknowledged Oulahen, whose charges split a pair of preseason games with Owen Sound. “We know each other so well, so those adjustments he made didn’t surprise me, but our team had a hard time with it.

“He’s such a good coach. He’s really brought a lot of the things that we do here on an everyday basis into that program, and you can just tell.”

The Battalion has a won-lost-extended record of 5-3-0 for 10 points, in a first-place tie in the Central Division, while Sarnia is 3-2-3 for nine points, tied with the Saginaw Spirit for second place in the West Division.

The Battalion traded left winger Carter Kostuch, defenceman Alex Cajkovic and OHL Priority Selection picks to Sarnia in January for centre and left winger Andrew LeBlanc, defenceman Jacob LeBlanc and right winger Sandis Vilmanis, who’s playing professionally this season.

Kostuch was a first-round pick in 2023, 21st overall, but the acquisition of Moses, Barrie’s first-rounder at No. 19, restores the Troops’ stock of 2007-born players to seven, including forwards Reyth Smith and Stepan Chukharev, defencemen Zach Wilson, Aaron Enright and Declan Gallivan and goaltender Charlie Larocque.

North Bay visits the Brantford Bulldogs on Friday night and plays host to the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday to complete the weekend.

The Sarnia game features Paint the Rink Pink Night presented by The Clubhouse. Photo/article credit- North Bay Battalion