‘Hounds nip Troops 5-4
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Brady Smith scored the winning goal shorthanded at 3:08 of the third period to give the Soo Greyhounds a 5-4 victory over the North Bay Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night.
Smith added an assist, while Noah Laus also had one goal and one assist, with the other goals coming from Ryan Kaczynski, Cam Anderson and Quinn McKenzie.
Goaltender William Camputaro, making his league debut after having been a fourth-round pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16s, contributed 28 saves as Soo moved its won-lost-extended record to 3-1-0.
Kam Hodgson had two goals and one assist, and Max Crete and Shamar Moses also scored for North Bay. Goaltender Mike McIvor, in his first action of the season, made 22 saves before 3,220 at GFL Memorial Gardens. The Battalion, which played the first of four straight away games, is 2-2-0.
“A road game here in this building, I did like our effort,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “It’s just a game of mistakes. We made some big blunders that they were able to capitalize on, and we’ve got to clean those up.”
The Greyhounds led 4-3 through 40 minutes before penalty killer Smith struck in the final frame. An isolated McIvor left his crease to attempt to pass the puck ahead but put it to Smith just outside the blue line. He moved into the offensive zone and drilled the disc home with McIvor scrambling.
“Obviously, you see who makes the pass, but we can’t leave our goaltender out to dry,” said Oulahen.
Hodgson pulled the Battalion within a goal at 7:23, beating a startled Camputaro from the right boards. Adrian Manzo and Alexander Karmanov assisted on Hodgson’s team-leading fourth goal of the season, but the Troops then couldn’t find the equalizer.
Soo trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes but tied it at 5:14 of the middle period when Anderson shoveled the puck past McIvor from traffic in front. Nolan Long and Smith assisted on rookie Anderson’s first OHL goal in his first game.
McKenzie connected at 12:01 as Laus fed the puck from the end boards to the onrushing McKenzie. Trevor Daley Jr. also was credited with an assist.
Moses replied on the power play as North Bay skated four against three at 12:01. Moses took a pass from Evgeny Dubrovtsev and one-timed the puck from the left faceoff dot. Aaron Enright also drew an assist.
Laus scored his fifth goal with the teams skating four a side at 16:22, driving up the middle and beating a screened McIvor with a wrister. Christopher Weiss assisted.
Hodgson opened the scoring at 8:40 of the first period, cashing a second rebound from the left edge of the crease. Cam Warren had the lone assist.
Kaczynski tied it on the power play at 10:14 with his league-leading sixth goal. Kaczynski moved toward the net from deep on the right wing and scored from a sharp angle, assisted by Colin Fitzgerald and Callum Croskery.
Crete connected at 12:41 for his first goal since an offseason trade from the London Knights. Crete jammed home the rebound of a Hodgson shot from the slot, with Warren also assisting.
The Battalion opens a three-game road trip when it visits the Windsor Spitfires at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
BATTALION BULLETS: Hodgson has a three-game points streak in which he has four goals and one assist for five points … Dubrovtsev, Moses and Enright also have three-game points streaks … The Troops bused to Sault Ste. Marie after practice Friday … The Battalion went 1-for-6 on the power play. Soo was 1-for-3 … Opening lines saw Nolan Laird centring left winger Rene Van Bommel and right winger Ryder Carey, Warren pivoting left winger Jax Pereira and right winger Hodgson and Dubrovtsev centring left winger Arseny Pronin and right winger Moses. Alexandre Saulnier centred left winger Crete and right winger Austin Brekelmans … Defence pairs had Enright with Hayden Barch, Carter Kunopaski with Manzo and Karmanov with Oskar Konobelj … The Battalion was without Cole Vreugdenhil, Kent Greer, Declan Gallivan, Parker Vaughan, Easton Poe, Lincoln Edwards and Nikolas Rossetto … Rookie Owen Loftus, who played the first three games, backed up overager McIvor … Vaughan completed a two-game suspension after receiving a match penalty for slew-footing as time expired in a 7-2 loss last Sunday night to the host Oshawa Generals … Karmanov made his season debut, coming off a three-game suspension resulting from a crosschecking major and game misconduct in a 6-2 exhibition loss Sept. 6 to the visiting Sudbury Wolves … Among the missing for Soo were Harris Pangretitsch and Christopher Brown … David Elford and Mac Nichol were the referees.
