Overtime win overdue
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — On an already long day, the North Bay Battalion got off the bus and worked overtime Friday night.
Ethan Procyszyn scored 2:17 into extra time, giving the Battalion a 5-4 victory over the Soo Greyhounds and its first win in six games decided beyond 60 minutes this season.
Justin Ertel scored two goals and added one assist, and Liam Arnsby contributed one goal and one assist. Anthony Romani also scored and Jacob Therrien had three assists for the Battalion, which got 26 saves from goaltender Mike McIvor before a GFL Memorial Gardens crowd of 3,962.
North Bay moved its won-lost-extended record to 9-6-5 for 23 points, assuming second place in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division, one point behind the Mississauga Steelheads.
Jack Beck and Marco Mignosa each had one goal and one assist for Soo, while Brady Martin and Jordan D’Intino also scored. Goaltender Charlie Schenkel faced 27 shots for the Greyhounds, 13-7-1 for 27 points, first in the West Division.
In overtime, Procyszyn took a pass from Arnsby at the Battalion blue line and charged up the ice, going around Andrew Gibson to backhand the puck past Schenkel. Procyszyn’s fifth goal of the season made the prospect of the late-night return trip to North Bay that much less daunting.
Ertel gave the Troops a 4-3 lead at 10:14 of the third period when he converted a scintillating Therrien pass from the left wing to the crease. Tnias Mathurin also assisted on Ertel’s seventh goal. Mignosa forced overtime when he struck at 15:16, cutting across the goalmouth.
Ertel scored at 3:52 of the first period, wiring the puck past Schenkel from above the left circle. Therrien and Ty Nelson assisted.
Beck replied with his seventh goal at 9:07 on a quick screened snap shot, precipitating an avalanche of stuffed toys on the occasion of the league’s first Teddy Bear Toss of the season. The cleanup delayed the game by nine minutes.
Romani capitalized at 16:07 when he found himself alone at the goalmouth with a bouncing puck and put it home for his team-leading 15th goal after scoring three in a 6-5 overtime loss Thursday night to the visiting Peterborough Petes.
Rookie Martin countered 35 seconds later with his first goal. Soo’s first-round pick, third overall, in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection from the Waterloo Wolves U16s has played only five games because of injury.
D’Intino gave the hosts a 3-2 lead when he netted a long shot off a rush at 19:38. Kirill Kudryavtsev and Bryce McConnell-Barker assisted on D’Intino’s seventh goal.
Arnsby tied it at 8:12 of the second period, firing the puck from the right faceoff circle for his second goal on assists by Ertel and Therrien.
The Battalion plays host to the Sudbury Wolves at 2 p.m. Sunday on MADD Nipissing Day.
BATTALION BULLETS: The host Battalion defeated Soo 5-3 with McIvor in net Nov. 9. The third of four meetings between the teams is scheduled Dec. 13 at North Bay … McIvor snagged a D’Intino drive at 12:14 of the third period, and Schenkel denied Therrien in alone in the 14th minute … Nelson has an eight-game points streak during which he has five goals and six assists for 11 points. In 152 games, he has 41 goals and 105 assists for 146 points, tied with Chris Rowan for 22nd place in franchise history … The Battalion went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Greyhounds were 0-for-2 … Opening lines featured Dalyn Wakely centring left winger Owen Van Steensel and right winger Romani, Arnsby centring left winger Ertel and right winger Therrien and Procyszyn pivoting left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Brice Cooke. Nolan Laird centred left winger Carter Kostuch and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairs saw Mathurin with Nelson, Brayden Turley with Paul Christopoulos and Tyson Rismond with Wyatt Kennedy … The Battalion was without Dylan Richter, Trevor McDowell, Zach Wilson, Alex Cajkovic, Pasquale Zito, Stef Forgione and Dom DiVincentiis … Cajkovic was shaken up Thursday night when checked from behind by Brody Partridge … Charlie Robertson backed up McIvor, with DiVincentiis given the trip off after returning the previous night from an ankle injury … McConnell-Barker has a nine-game points streak in which he has three goals and eight assists for 11 points.
