Soo first of two at home
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion is back home for two Ontario Hockey League games this week, starting with a visit by the Soo Greyhounds at 7 p.m. Thursday.
After losses in both ends of a two-game road trip last weekend, the Battalion also entertains the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 7-7-0 for 14 points, second in the Central Division, while Soo was 8-6-1 for 17 points, second in the Midwest Division, before a Wednesday night visit to the Sudbury Wolves.
The game Thursday night is Soo’s second and last visit of the season to Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens after a 4-3 victory Oct. 5 in which Marco Mignosa’s second goal of the game, into an empty net, proved the winner.
“They got the better of us in the first appearance here,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen noted Wednesday. “Just rewatching that, it was a wild game that we weren’t able to stay out of the penalty box, so that’s going to be a focus.”
The Battalion lost 2-1 last Saturday to the Brampton Steelheads before a 3-1 setback, including a shorthanded empty-netter, Sunday night to the Kitchener Rangers. Centre Cam Warren, now with Canada Red preparing for the U17 World Challenge at Truro, N.S., and right winger Lirim Amidovski scored the North Bay goals.
Amidovski, centre Ethan Procyszyn and left winger Shamar Moses have made up the top line in recent games, but the veterans have just four, one and two goals respectively.
While the Troops lost twice on the road, Oulahen called them “maybe the best two games we’ve played all year.”
“The chances that everybody’s getting and some of our top players are getting, they are getting their chances,” said Oulahen. “You have to think that one goes in, maybe one goes in an ugly way or a different fashion and some of the guys get hot, and if that happens then we start rolling a little bit.
“Now there’s little things we can do, and the special teams can get better and a whole bunch of different things that can relieve maybe some pressure off some guys, and stop gripping the sticks so tight.”
While the offence has largely fallen to the youngsters, the defence, with a significant youthful element, has shown considerable promise.
“They’ve really come a long ways here, like in the short time. We’re talking one week to the next week we see big improvements in the way we want to do things. It’s not keeping the puck out of the net right now that’s keeping us back. It’s the other side of it.”
Soo is bolstered by the return of centre Brady Martin from the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators, with whom he played three games, earning one assist. The return of the fifth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was announced last Wednesday, and he made his OHL season debut Friday night, earning one assist in a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Peterborough Petes.
Through 15 games, right winger Jordan Charron paced the Greyhounds with a team-leading 11 goals and five assists for 16 points in 15 games. Centre Christopher Brown had four goals and 10 assists and defenceman Chase Reid two goals and a team-high 12 assists, both for 14 points in 15 games. Right winger Mignosa had six goals and as many assists for 12 points in 13 games.
Soo has been missing defencemen Brodie McConnell-Barker, day-to-day with an illness, and Callum Croskery, who suffered an upper-body injury in the preseason. Left winger Carson Andrew has been out since Oct. 17 with an upper-body injury originally expected to sideline him for four to six weeks, a timeline which coach John Dean recently said is likely to be six to eight weeks.
Rookie left winger Ryder Cali, who suffered a separated shoulder at Brampton, leads North Bay with a team-high seven goals and four assists for 11 points and Warren has three goals and a team-best eight assists for 11 points, in 13 and 14 games respectively. Left winger Ihnat Pazii has scored two goals and added seven assists for nine points in 14 games.
Fans are encouraged to dress in their best Hallowe’en attire for the Soo visit, which is the Hallowe’en Costume Game presented by Expedia Cruises North Bay and Norwegian Cruise Line.
