Troops rally for overtime win
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Arseny Pronin’s second goal of the game, at 4:45 of overtime, lifted the North Bay Battalion to a 4-3 victory Thursday night over the previously undefeated Sudbury Wolves, snapping the Troops’ four-game Ontario Hockey League losing skid.
Ryder Carey scored one goal and assisted on the winner, while Shamar Moses, who also had an assist, tied it 3-3 at 19:40 of the third period. Goaltender Mike McIvor provided 20 saves before 2,435 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
North Bay, which last won Sept. 24 in a 5-2 decision over the visiting Brampton Steelheads, has a won-lost-extended record of 3-5-0 for six points, third in the Central Division. Sudbury is 5-0-1 for 11 points atop the division.
Rowan Henderson, Jan Chovan and Parker Smith scored for the Wolves, and goaltender Owen Leonard, making his season debut, made 38 saves.
Among the scratches for Sudbury, which dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, was Tanner Adams, the third overall pick in the 2026 OHL Priority Selection. He was acquired from Brampton on Sept. 11 for 15 selections, including four seconds, three thirds and two fourths.
“Quite frankly, I thought the guys earned it and deserved it tonight and I’m glad they got the two points out of this, because there’s a lot to like in that hockey game, there really is,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “We really played the way we want to play, especially five on five.”
North Bay, shorthanded for the first 1:46 of overtime after a delay-of-game penalty to Adrian Manzo and having survived a two-on-none break-in in the third minute, prevailed when Carey slipped the puck up the slot to Pronin, who backhanded the rubber around the sprawling Leonard.
With McIvor gone for a sixth attacker, Moses tied it when he filtered a shot through traffic from the outer edge of the left circle. His fourth goal of the season was assisted by Aaron Enright and Parker Vaughan.
The Wolves seized their only lead at 3-2 with two goals 2:26 apart early in the third period. Chovan struck on the power play at 1:07 before Smith took a pass from the end boards from Norman Greene and connected from the net front.
Sudbury, which trailed 1-0 through 20 minutes, tied it at 3:50 of the second period when Henderson cashed a centring pass from Mason Walker on the right wing off a rush. Vladimir Provorov also assisted on Henderson’s fourth goal, tied with Jean-Cristoph Lemieux for the team lead.
Pronin responded at 18:02 with his first goal. Moses made a short backhanded pass in the right circle to the Belarusian import, who snapped the puck home from the inner edge. Cam Warren also assisted.
Carey and Luca Blonda tangled at 19:44, causing a whistle that negated an apparent Battalion goal by Enright. Each combatant received a fighting major.
Carey opened the scoring on the power play at 4:37 of the first period, going to the goalmouth to convert a pass from Max Crete behind the goal line to the left. Evgeny Dubrovtsev had the other assist on Carey’s second goal.
Leonard, down in his crease, denied Moses on a solid chance in the closing seconds of another power play in the 11th minute before making the stop on a shorthanded breakaway by Rene Van Bommel after Carey was whistled for tripping at 15:25.
The Battalion plays host to the Peterborough Petes at 2 p.m. Monday in the traditional Thanksgiving Day game. It’s Expedia Cruises & Norwegian Cruise Line Day, when fans can visit a booth in the concourse to be eligible to win a cruise.
BATTALION BULLETS: On Cascades Casino Night, a cheque for $1,000 was presented to Chat4Chad supporting mental health … Nate McDonald, a Battalion assistant general manager and the team’s goaltending coach, has been named to the goaltending post with Canada Red for the U17 World Challenge to be held Nov. 1-7 at Oakville, Ont. … Dubrovtsev has a seven-game points streak in which he has six goals and two assists for eight points … Each team went 1-for-6 on the power play … Opening lines featured Warren centring left winger Pronin and right winger Moses, Dubrovtsev pivoting left winger Jax Pereira and right winger Vaughan and Nolan Laird centring left winger Van Bommel and right winger Carey. Lincoln Edwards centred left winger Crete and right winger Kam Hodgson … Defence pairs had Enright with Hayden Barch, Oskar Konobelj with Manzo and Alexander Karmanov with Devran Brown … The Battalion was without Owen Loftus, Kent Greer, Alexandre Saulnier, Carter Kunopaski, Austin Brekelmans, Easton Poe and Nikolas Rossetto … Cole Vreugdenhil backed up McIvor … Brown was recalled from the junior A Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for the game … The Troops’ Declan Gallivan has taken a leave from the team for personal reasons … Others missing for Sudbury included Blake Clayton, Patrik Ula and Hudson Chitaroni … Derek Risebrough and Tyson Stewart were the referees.
