Battalion wins opener 2-1
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Parker Vaughan scored at 8:12 of the third period to lift the North Bay Battalion to a 2-1 victory Friday night over the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League season opener for both teams.
Nolan Laird had the other North Bay goal, while goaltender Owen Loftus, the Battalion’s first-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection in June, made his league debut, providing 34 saves before an enthusiastic crowd of 3,449 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
William Schneid scored for Barrie as goaltender Hagan Bach, a fellow rookie, opposed Loftus in a goaltending duel, making 40 saves. Bach, of Niskayuna, N.Y., played one OHL game last season, backstopping Barrie to a 6-3 road win Nov. 7 over the Sudbury Wolves.
“You can see the vision, how we want to play, the buy-in from the group, the sticking together, all that kind of stuff, the extra plays, what’s needed to win a 2-1 hockey game,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “From Day 1, this is impressive with this team.”
Oulahen noted the strong work by both goaltenders but pointed to Loftus’s performance.
“He was outstanding, especially the last 10 minutes of the game.”
The Central Division rivals battled to a 1-1 tie through two periods before Vaughan netted the winner in the final frame. Max Crete won a right-wing faceoff back to Vaughan, who one-timed the puck past Bach with the teams skating four a side.
The Battalion killed a holding penalty to Evgeny Dubrovtsev issued at 17:55, with Barrie skating six against four after Bach was pulled with 1:29 to play. Sebastian Mogull fired the puck high on the visitors’ best chance at 19:18.
Newly named captain Laird opened the scoring unassisted at 7:23 of the first period, darting down the right wing from his own zone past Evan Passmore and driving through the circle to beat Bach over the shoulder.
Passmore, the new Colts captain, and Rene Van Bommel exchanged punches at 12:02, with each drawing a fighting major.
North Bay’s Arseny Pronin was skewered by his own stick at 16:04 after it sprang back from the netting in a dash behind the Barrie goal, but the Belarusian import was fine after attention from athletic therapist Dylan West.
The Troops’ Carter Kunopaski fought Dylan Tsherna at 1:41 of the second period after he took exception to Kunopaski’s check on Jonah McCormick. Tsherna was assessed an instigating minor, major and misconduct, while Kunopaski drew a major and game misconduct for removing Tsherna’s helmet.
Schneid tied it on the power play at 15:34 after the Battalion, breaking into the Barrie zone unopposed, was handed a bench minor for too many men. Schneid emerged with the puck from the right boards and beat Loftus under the pad from deep in the circle.
The Battalion completes the first weekend by visiting the Oshawa Generals at 6:05 p.m. Sunday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: The game was sponsored by Royal LePage Northern Life Realty … The Battalion has an all-time won-lost-tied record of 11-16-1 in season openers, including a won-lost-extended log of 7-4-2 since relocation from Brampton for the 2013-14 season. The Troops are 12-14-2 in home openers, including 7-5-1 at North Bay … Vaughan, a 2024 first-rounder who was acquired from Barrie in a trade Jan. 5, 2025, led the Battalion with seven shots on goal. Eamon Edgar paced the Colts with five … The Battalion went 0-for-4 on the power play. Barrie was 1-for-3 … Opening lines included Dubrovtsev centring left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Ryder Carey, Lincoln Edwards centring left winger Crete and right winger Vaughan and Laird pivoting left winger Van Bommel and right winger Pronin. Alexandre Saulnier centred left winger Austin Brekelmans and right winger Kam Hodgson … Defence pairs had Aaron Enright with Hayden Barch, Kunopaski with Adrian Manzo and Oskar Konobelj with Easton Poe … The Battalion was without Cole Vreugdenhil, Mike McIvor, Kent Greer, Alexander Karmanov, Declan Gallivan, Cam Warren, Jax Pereira and Nikolas Rossetto … Declan McNamara was recalled from the junior A Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League to back up Loftus … Also making their OHL debuts were Saulnier, Brekelmans, Hodgson and Konobelj … Matt Boulby and Aaron Neely were the referees.
