Battalion rallies to overtime victory
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Rookie Adam McMaster scored at 3:53 of overtime to lift the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Barrie Colts in Ontario Hockey League action Sunday.
Jacob Ball and Steve Harland scored a goal apiece and Zach Shankar had two assists for the Battalion, which overcame a 2-0 deficit and has a won-lost-extended record of 17-22-3 for 37 points, tied with the Niagara IceDogs for third place in the Central Division. Goaltender Brent Moran made 24 saves before a crowd of 2,728.
Aidan Brown and Lucas Chiodo scored for Barrie, 12-24-5 for 29 points, fifth in the division. Goaltender David Ovsjannikov faced 33 shots for the Colts, who have lost four straight games since a 3-2 overtime win Jan. 6 over the host Mississauga Steelheads.
“I don’t think we played very well,” said coach Stan Butler, whose Troops lost 2-1 to visiting Mississauga on Thursday night and 3-2 to the host Sudbury Wolves the next night.
“Out of the three games we played this weekend, I thought we played much better against Mississauga and Sudbury, but we lost both those games by one goal. We’ve lost a lot of games where we had at least a 50-50 chance to win, so to find a way to win today is extremely important for our team.”
The Battalion won at home for the first time since a 6-0 blanking of the Flint Firebirds on Dec. 8, having gone 0-5-1 at Memorial Gardens since that decision.
Barrie led 2-1 to start the third period but couldn’t hold that margin as the Battalion tied it at 2:13. Ovsjannikov failed to handle a Shankar shot and, after Max Kislinger and Brett McKenzie whacked at the rebound, the puck skipped to Harland, who backhanded it home for his team-leading 20th goal of the season.
The Troops had the best chances through the rest of the period, but Ovsjannikov produced stops on McKenzie, McMaster, Shankar and Brett Hargrave.
North Bay outshot Barrie 6-1 in overtime, with McMaster netting the winner when he wheeled clockwise behind the net and jammed the disc between Ovsjannikov’s pads at the right post. Justin Brazeau and Shankar assisted on McMaster’s third goal.
Brown opened the scoring at 2:22 of the second period after Moran stopped a Jaden Peca shot. Brown charged to the net and chipped the rebound off the goaltender’s blocker.
Chiodo connected at 12:53, cruising across the goalmouth and beating Moran with a backhand deke, before Ball replied at 14:41, snapping the puck over Ovsjannikov’s glove from the deep slot. Shankar had the only assist on Ball’s fourth goal.
Both goaltenders were busy in the period, which saw the Battalion forge a 12-10 edge in shots. Moran made three stops on Chiodo, including two on breakaways, and denied a good scoring chance for Tom Hedberg. Ovsjannikov made good stops on drives by Mark Shoemaker, Zach Poirier, Daniel Walker and Adam Thilander.
The Colts, who had a 7-4 edge in shots in the first period, enjoyed the best scoring chances, but Moran denied Roy Radke on a breakaway in the eighth minute and made two close-in stops on Giordano Finoro.
Riley Bruce, already facing a minor for checking from behind, fought Barrie’s Curtis Douglas at 17:32 in a battle of the tallest players in the game, Bruce measuring six-foot-seven and Douglas six-foot-eight. They exchanged a multitude of punches before Bruce felled his opponent with a staggering right.
Each received a fighting major, while Brown and Shankar went off for roughing. Bruce suffered an upper-body injury in the bout and didn’t return.
The Battalion plays host to Sudbury at 7 p.m. Thursday on Centennials Alumni Night.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the teams’ third of six meetings. The Battalion won 5-2 at Barrie on Nov. 12 and prevailed 4-3 via shootout at home Nov. 20. The teams next meet Feb. 18 at Barrie … In 238 games, McKenzie has 68 goals and 83 assists for 151 points, tied with Kurt MacSweyn for 13th place in Battalion history … North Bay was 0-for-6 on the power play. Barrie went 0-for-3 … Opening lines featured McKenzie centring left winger Brad Chenier and right winger Harland, Poirier pivoting McMaster on left wing and Hargrave on right wing and Kyle Potts centring left winger Daniil Vertiy and right winger Brazeau. Ball centred left winger Kislinger and Walker and Rhys Forhan on right wing … North Bay was without Eric Allair, Cam Dineen, Brady Lyle and Mat Woroniuk … Hargrave turns 21 on Monday, when Ball marks his 18th birthday. Forhan is 17 on Tuesday … Before the trade deadline last Tuesday, Barrie dealt defenceman Matt Brassard to the Oshawa Generals on Dec. 28 and on Monday sent overage centre Cordell James to the Owen Sound Attack and rearguard Cameron Lizotte to the Erie Otters. On Tuesday, the Colts acquired defenceman Robert Proner from the Saginaw Spirit and centre Jason Smith from Mississauga. The Barrie Examiner reported that the Colts also had talks about remaining overagers Radke and Anthony Stefano, who left the game after a Bruce check in the first minute.
