Next two on home ice
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion faces three divisional games on its Ontario Hockey League schedule this weekend, starting with a visit by the Brampton Steelheads at 7 p.m. Thursday.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 26-22-3 for 55 points, tied for second place in the Central Division with the Niagara IceDogs, who fell 6-3 Monday night to the visiting Guelph Storm in a makeup date. Brampton is 15-27-8 for 38 points, fifth in the division.
The Troops complete the long weekend by playing host to Niagara on Sunday and visiting Brampton on Monday.
The Battalion has 17 games, one-quarter of the schedule, left to play, with 10 at home, where the Troops are 15-9-0, and seven on the road, where they’re 11-13-3. Nine games are within the division and eight are against East Division teams.
“Just looking at the opponents in terms of our division, we don’t want to get standings-watching, especially tomorrow night,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday. “It’s such a dangerous young team, and then we all know what’s at stake with other teams in our division.
“The way it works out, with the Family Day situation on Monday, we can really put a huge effort into tomorrow night, knowing that we’ve got two days to recover before we play on Sunday. I think that’s going to help, and then an afternoon game on Monday, so certainly the schedule and the travel are not going to be an excuse this weekend.”
Losses to the Barrie Colts in a home-and-home series last weekend capped a stretch of 10 games, including six on the road, in which North Bay went 3-6-1 against opponents who almost exclusively stood first or second in their divisions. Host Barrie won 3-2 via shootout Saturday night before a 7-4 decision Sunday at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
Those games followed the Battalion’s 5-4 win via shootout Thursday night over the visiting Windsor Spitfires, with Oulahen noting: “We thought we played well enough to get two of the three games.”
The 10-game run, which included five straight road games, dated to a 6-3 home-ice loss Jan. 18 to the Flint Firebirds.
“We played some really, really strong hockey in that stretch,” said Oulahen. “Now, coming out of it, I would say there’s times when I was very impressed with our group, and there’s times where there’s some learning to get better for the best time of the year. So take it in stride, move on and now not slip up and keep ramping our game up here.”
Kieran Witkowski tops Brampton in scoring with nine goals and a team-leading 15 assists for 24 points in 44 games, and Julian DeMiglio has 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 49 games. Troy Patton has nine goals and as many assists for 18 points in 47 games, while Keaton Ardagh and Matej Stankoven have 15 points apiece, Ardagh from a team-high 11 goals and four assists in 46 games and Stankoven from six goals and nine assists in 48 games.
Nick Wellenreiter paces North Bay with 15 goals and a team-leading 21 assists for 36 points in 51 games, while Ethan Procyszyn has a team-best 19 goals and 16 assists for 35 points in 49 games. Lirim Amidovski has scored 18 goals and earned 15 assists for 33 points in 49 games, and Parker Vaughan has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 51 games.
The Brampton visit features Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Night presented by OUTLoud North Bay and Deacon Wealth Management.
