Knights, Generals up next
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion completes a run of six out-of-conference games when the London Knights make their only visit of the Ontario Hockey League season to Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens at 7 p.m. Thursday.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 11-9-1 for 23 points, tied with the Niagara IceDogs for second place in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. London, which has won its last two games, is 13-5-3 for 29 points atop the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.
The Battalion, with a 3-1-1 record through the first five games of the opposite-conference stretch, completes its schedule this week with a visit to the East Division’s Oshawa Generals at 7:05 p.m. Friday.
“They’re the defending champs,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen noted Wednesday of the Knights. “There is a lot of turnover and a lot of new faces on their team, but they’re off to another really good start. They’re right there at the top of the Western Conference.
“They’re among the league’s best so, yeah, they’re a tough team to handle all the time. Everyone thinks of them, and they are, offensively capable, but really their pride is what they do away from the puck. They’re really stingy defensively. They play real aggressive. They make things extremely hard on the opposition.”
The Battalion defeated the visiting Saginaw Spirit 6-5 via shootout Sunday in its last outing, with Lirim Amidovski scoring the only shootout goal after contributing one goal and one assist in the first 60 minutes. Nick Wellenreiter and Ethan Procyszyn also had a goal and an assist, while Ihnat Pazii, on a brilliant rink-length rush, and Evgeny Dubrovtsev scored a goal apiece.
Sam O’Reilly and Ben Wilmott scored shootout goals to lift London to a 3-2 home-ice win Sunday over the Soo Greyhounds in its most recent game. The Windsor Spitfires and Greyhounds have 33 and 30 points respectively in the West Division.
O’Reilly leads the offence with a team-high nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 19 games. Wilmott has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in as many games, and Jaxon Cover has scored five goals and added 11 assists, tied with O’Reilly and Wilmott for the team lead, for 16 points in 20 games.
Braidy Wassilyn, acquired from Niagara in a trade for Noah Read on Oct. 28, has six goals and five assists for 11 points in nine games with London after registering two goals, three assists and five points in six games with the IceDogs, who took him fourth overall in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection from the Markham Majors U16s.
Pazii paces the Battalion with 15 points from six goals and nine assists in 21 games. Dubrovtsev has four goals and nine assists, tied with Pazii for the team lead, for 13 points in 21 games. Amidovski and Kent Greer have 12 points apiece, Amidovski from seven goals and five assists in 19 games and Greer from five goals and seven assists in 21 games.
The seven goals for Amidovski and the sidelined Ryder Cali are team highs.
The London visit features Tim Hortons Day, when the first 200 youngsters at the entry gates are to receive prizing courtesy of the game sponsor.
