Cali tally caps rally
SUDBURY, Ont. — Ryder Cali’s second goal of the game at 1:12 of overtime lifted the North Bay Battalion to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Sudbury Wolves in Ontario Hockey League action Friday night.
Ryder Carey and Arseny Pronin also scored for North Bay, and goaltender Charlie Larocque provided 14 saves before a crowd of 4,071 for the Wolves’ season opener. The Battalion defeated the Oshawa Generals 4-2 in its opener Thursday night.
Brayden Bennett, Chase Coughlan and Hudson Chitaroni scored for Sudbury, while goaltender Owen Leonard faced 32 shots, including the only three in overtime.
Leonard and Bennett were teammates on the Toronto Titans U16s last season. Leonard was a fourth-round choice, 66th overall, in the OHL Priority Selection in April after Sudbury took Bennett in the first round, 11th overall.
Cali, who drove to the left side of the crease, knocked the winner into the net with the shaft of his stick, leading to a video review as to whether he had punched the puck home. Cam Warren put the disc to the net for his first OHL point, and Jonathan Kapageridis also assisted.
Pronin precipitated overtime with the only goal of the third period at 10:05, when he fired the puck from the left-wing corner and had it glance off the back of Leonard’s right skate and squeeze into the net. Nick Wellenreiter and Ihnat Pazii assisted on the Belarusian import’s first OHL goal.
The Battalion, which trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes, tied it at 3:27 of the second period when rookie Cali fired the puck off the end boards off a rush and darted to the slot to retrieve it, beating the surprised Leonard. Briir Long had the lone assist on Cali’s first OHL goal.
Coughlan connected at 10:54, beating Larocque to the short side between the left pad and glove. Blake Clayton and Rowan Henderson assisted.
Carey struck for his second goal of the season 34 seconds later, tying it 2-2. Carter Kunopaski, earning his first OHL point, fed the puck from the right wing, and Carey slipped it behind the diving Leonard.
Chitaroni put Sudbury ahead again at 18:31 when Trevor O’Dell’s left-point shot deflected off his skate in the left circle. Gavin Ewles also assisted on the goal, which survived a video review.
Bennett scored at 10:48 of the first period, taking a cross-slot pass from Daniel Berehowsky and one-timing the puck from the top of the right circle. Mason Walker had the second assist.
The Battalion forged a 12-8 edge in shots in the period, with Leonard making a number of early stops. He denied Cali twice at the crease in the second minute and foiled Nolan Laird jamming at the puck in the seventh.
Larocque countered with a denial of the deking Coughlan in alone at 15:50.
The Battalion returns to action when it plays host to the Ottawa 67’s at 7 p.m. next Friday.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion wore their white sweaters and socks, the usual home attire through December, at the request of the Wolves, who sported alternate sweaters in green. Owner Dario Zulich said the team will wear them for Wednesday night home games, of which there are three … North Bay killed two late penalties in the third period, a roughing call against Laird at 10:36 and a questionable high-sticking assessment to Warren at 14:25 … Each team went 0-for-3 on the power play … Opening lines saw Pazii centring left winger Pronin and right winger Wellenreiter, Warren pivoting left winger Cali and right winger Parker Vaughan and Evgeny Dubrovtsev centring left winger Laird and right winger Carey. Centre Long and left winger Jax Pereira had various linemates … Defence pairings were Aaron Enright with Brandt Harper, Kapageridis with Kent Greer and Kunopaski with Adrian Manzo. Devran Brown, recalled from the junior A Powassan Voodoos for the game, also saw action … Brown made his OHL debut after Easton Poe was returned to the junior A Haliburton County Huskies. He played against Oshawa … Jack Lisson backed up Larocque … The Battalion was without Mike McIvor, Declan Gallivan, Ethan Procyszyn, Shamar Moses, Bronson Ride and Lirim Amidovski … Among the missing for Sudbury were Kieron Walton, Jan Chovan and Nathan Villeneuve … David Elford and Damian Figueira were the referees, as they were Thursday night for the Oshawa game.
