Brampton beats Battalion
BRAMPTON, Ont. — Porter Martone scored three goals and added one assist, leading the Brampton Steelheads to a 7-2 victory over the North Bay Battalion in an Ontario Hockey League game Friday night.
Jack Van Volsen had two goals and one assist and Luke Misa one goal and one assist for Brampton, while Troy Patton also scored and Carson Rehkopf contributed four assists. Goaltender Jack Ivankovic made 22 saves before a crowd of 2,871.
Brampton, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 7-4-1 for 15 points, moved into a third-place tie with the Battalion, 7-7-1, in the Central Division.
The Steelheads, in their first season in Brampton after a move from Mississauga, wore themed sweaters and socks on Diwali Celebration Night, marking the Hindu festival of lights. The sweaters were to be auctioned off in support of Cancer Warrior Canada.
Ethan Procyszyn and Jacob Therrien scored for the Battalion, which relocated to North Bay from Brampton in 2013. Goaltender Charlie Larocque faced 36 shots at the CAA Centre, where what once was the Battalion bench now is occupied by the visitors.
The Troops’ previous game at Brampton was a 1-0 overtime loss to the Sudbury Wolves in the fifth game of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on March 29, 2013. Even de Haan scored 6:23 into extra time as goaltender Franky Palazzese made 35 saves for the shutout. Jake Smith stopped 21 of 22 shots in defeat.
Procyszyn opened the scoring at 5:20 of the first period when, 22 seconds out of the penalty box, he dashed down the right side and beat Ivankovic between the legs. Shamar Moses and Wyatt Kennedy assisted on Procyszyn’s team-leading 10th goal.
Misa replied at 10:56, backhanding the puck past the fallen Larocque, with assists going to Martone and Rehkopf.
Martone struck 49 seconds into the second period, completing a three-way passing play with Rehkopf and Misa by slipping to the front and backhanding the puck between Larocque’s pads.
Therrien tied it on the power play at 7:40, just 12 seconds after Parker Von Richter went off for a delay-of-game call. Moses fed Therrien at the left dot, and he one-timed his fourth goal.
Martone put Brampton ahead for good at 13:37, taking advantage of a bad change after the Troops were hemmed in their zone for an extended stretch. Martone staged an odd-man rush and snapped the puck past Larocque with Rehkopf and Finn Harding assisting.
Van Volsen connected 46 seconds later off a two-on-one rush against Brayden Turley, hoisting the puck high on a backhander in tight. Assists went to Adam Zidlicky and Lucas Karmiris.
Van Volsen netted his fourth goal from in tight to the right side at 1:04 of the third period before Martone, on the left side, took a Rehkopf pass from behind the net on the right and ripped the rubber home. Martone leads the OHL scoring race with 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 12 games.
Patton collected his first OHL goal at 10:45 off a neutral zone faceoff. Reed Gee and Van Volsen assisted as Patton broke off the left wing around Nolan Laird and snapped the puck past Larocque.
The Battalion plays host to Brampton at 2 p.m. Sunday on Military Appreciation Day sponsored by the Powassan Voodoos.
BATTALION BULLETS: A North Bay team played an OHL game at Brampton for the first time since the Centennials defeated the Battalion 3-2 on Oct. 14, 2001. Geoff Platt, Jeffrey Doyle and Mike Thompson scored for the winners as goaltender Andrew Penner made 28 saves. Patrick Turcotte opened and closed the scoring for the Troops, who got 34 saves from Brad Topping … Briir Long, acquired in a trade Sunday from the Brantford Bulldogs, made his Battalion debut … Procyszyn paced the Troops with four shots on goal, while Martone led the Steelheads with seven … North Bay went 1-for-2 on the power play. Brampton was 0-for-4 … Opening lines saw Procyszyn centring left winger Owen Van Steensel and right winger Moses, Andrew LeBlanc pivoting left winger Therrien and right winger Lirim Amidovski and Long centring left winger Laird and right winger Ryder Carey. Dylan Richter centred left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Stepan Chukharev … Defence pairings had Bronson Ride with Kennedy, Turley with Jacob LeBlanc and Aaron Enright with Kent Greer … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani, Zach Wilson, Natan Teshome and Mike McIvor … Carter Nadon again backed up Larocque … Patton, a second-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April, was a teammate of Greer with the Barrie Jr. Colts … Brampton scratches included Stevie Leskovar, Angus MacDonell and Mason Zebeski … Danny Emerson and Scott Ferguson were the referees.
