Road double on tap
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The undefeated North Bay Battalion continues Ontario Hockey League preseason play this weekend with back-to-back away games against the Sarnia Sting and Ottawa 67’s.
The Battalion, which defeated the visiting 67’s 4-3 via shootout Wednesday night, travels to Midland, Ont., to face the Sting at 7:05 p.m. Friday before a date at Ottawa at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Ihnat Pazii scored one goal and added two assists in the win over Ottawa, the Troops’ second in two games after a 4-3 decision over the Owen Sound Attack at Collingwood, Ont., Sunday.
Lirim Amidovski and Nick Wellenreiter scored second-period goals to erase a 2-0 deficit before Wellenreiter netted the only goal of the shootout to complete North Bay’s second comeback win.
“There are lots of things that we’ve done really well, but certainly some things we’ve got to get better at,” coach Ryan Oulahen said Thursday.
“I’m not really looking at the results and things like that. Of course, it’s nice to feel good about yourselves, but we’re really looking at our game, and there’s some things that we want to make sure we’re getting better going into the Sarnia game.”
With defenceman Devran Brown, called up from the Powassan Voodoos to face Ottawa, having been returned to his junior A club, the Battalion has three goaltenders and 23 skaters still in tow.
There’s been considerable turnover from last season. Four players with eligibility remaining who played at least 38 games and finished 2024-25 with the Troops no longer are on board. Two of them, left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Jacob Therrien, were traded; right winger Stepan Chukharev and defenceman Brayden Turley have joined the junior A ranks.
The churn results largely from a plethora of promising youngsters.
“Overall, we’ve talked about the buy-in factor,” said Oulahen. “We feel like a strength of ours this year could really be the depth. There are a lot of good hockey players up and down our lineup.
“With that, you need every line going, every line coming at you in different waves, playing a little bit different style, different ingredients. We have a lot of different ingredients in our lineup, so there’s a way we want to play but, as an individual, making sure that that buy-in and that ingredient is there. I talk about running like a car engine where all the parts are really in good shape and it’s a smooth ride.”
Nine defencemen with the team include Carter Kunopaski, a second-round pick in the 2025 OHL Priority Selection, and Brandt Harper, a free agent signed after playing last season with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League.
“First pair right to the third pair, no matter who’s in the lineup, is going to be very strong,” said Oulahen.
Goaltender Cole Vreugdenhil, a fifth-rounder in April who went all the way against Owen Sound, joined the junior A Haliburton County Huskies after that game. Veterans Mike McIvor and Jack Lisson split duties against Ottawa, with McIvor getting the win. Holdover Charlie Larocque has yet to see action.
The Ottawa game saw Pazii, a third-year veteran from Ukraine, joined in the lineup by fellow centre Evgeny Dubrovtsev of Russia and Belarusian left winger Arseny Pronin, both chosen in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on July 2. It marked the first time that the Battalion dressed three imports in a game, as the limit was two before this season.
Oulahen, who has noted Pazii’s increased physical prowess, praised the play of Dubrovtsev and Pronin, noting that, notwithstanding scouting via video, seeing a player live provides a better appreciation of his abilities.
