McIvor shuts out Sarnia
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Goaltender Mike McIvor made 28 saves for his first shutout of the Ontario Hockey League season, backstopping the North Bay Battalion to a 2-0 victory Thursday night over the Sarnia Sting.
Arseny Pronin and Nolan Laird, into an empty net, scored the goals before a Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens crowd of 2,813 who saw overager McIvor record his sixth career shutout.
North Bay moved its won-lost-extended record to 8-11-1 for 17 points, pulling into a tie for second place in the Central Division with the Niagara IceDogs, who lost 4-1 to the host Windsor Spitfires. The Troops ended a losing skid of three games since a 7-4 win Oct. 30 at Niagara.
The Battalion’s Cam Warren was named Thursday to the Canadian Hockey League roster for the CHL USA Prospects Challenge set for Dec. 1-2 at Chicoutimi and Quebec City against the U.S. National Under-18 Team. The Troops’ Ryan Oulahen, who coached Warren with the title-winning Canadian entry in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup at Edmonton in August, is head coach of the CHL team, which brings together top 2027 National Hockey League Draft prospects from the OHL, Western Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
“The way he played tonight is exactly why he is a part of that team,” declared Oulahen.
Nikolas Rossetto made his debut with North Bay after recovering from shoulder surgery that limited him to 49 games last season with the Brantford Bulldogs.
“I thought our guys dug deep here today,” said Oulahen. “It started in the net with vintage Mike McIvor here tonight. That’s the best he’s been all season long and was awesome.
“I thought we did a good job in front of him. We gave up that first chance, but we alleviated the second chances tonight, which was huge for us. And one timely goal and then obviously an empty net, but I just loved the effort here tonight.”
Goaltender Kale Osipenko shone in defeat for the Sting, stopping 40 of 41 shots. Sarnia is 8-12-1 for 17 points, fifth in the West Division. Jake Crawford debuted with the visitors after a trade earlier in the day from the Owen Sound Attack, with Brenner Lammens going the other way.
Pronin opened the scoring at 4:04 of the second period with his 10th goal of the season. Shamar Moses took an initial slot shot off the rush, and Ryder Carey fed the rebound across the crease to Pronin at the right side for the conversion.
Warren cut off the left wing to the net alone in the sixth minute but hit the crossbar, and Osipenko denied Lincoln Edwards with a deflection with the catching glove in the 10th.
With the Battalion on a power play late in the third period, Osipenko was pulled for an extra skater, and Laird deposited the puck in the cage for a man-advantage empty-netter. Moses, who passed the disc up to Laird in the neutral zone, had the lone assist.
McIvor denied Matthew Manza off the right wing at 14:45 and covered up against Alessandro Di Iorio on a shorthanded breakaway at 18:44 before Laird provided insurance.
Sarnia’s Carter Chadwick scrapped with Carter Kunopaski at 6:54 of the first period, with both drawing majors while the Troops’ Oskar Konobelj received a misconduct for failing to clear the area.
The Battalion plays host to the Sudbury Wolves at 3 p.m. Sunday, an hour later than the usual start time because of the Santa Claus parade, on CAA North & East Ontario Day.
BATTALION BULLETS: On Military Appreciation Day, dignitaries including Col. Shawn Guilbault, Commander 22 Wing Canadian Forces Base North Bay, and Royal Canadian Navy veteran Colin Vezina, 93, conducted the ceremonial faceoff. Members of the Canadian Military Wives Choirs North Bay sang the U.S. and Canadian national anthems … Moses played his 200th OHL game, his 129th with the Battalion after an Oct. 10, 2024, trade from the Barrie Colts for Dalyn Wakely. Moses has 28 goals and 55 assists for 83 points with the Troops and OHL totals of 33 goals, 75 assists and 108 points … Rossetto, a Sault Ste. Marie native who turned 18 on Aug. 2, was acquired in an Aug. 6 trade for a sixth-round pick in the 2027 OHL Priority Selection. He was a third-round choice by Brantford in 2024 from the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 15U team … The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Sarnia was 0-for-2 … Opening lines featured Evgeny Dubrovtsev centring left winger Warren and right winger Rossetto, Carey pivoting left winger Pronin and right winger Moses and Laird centring left winger Edwards and right winger George Lovell. Rene Van Bommel centred left winger Austin Brekelmans and right winger Kam Hodgson … Defence pairs had Aaron Enright with Hayden Barch, Jean-Samuel Daigneault with Kent Greer and Konobelj with Kunopaski … The Battalion was without Alexander Karmanov, Parker Vaughan, Jax Pereira, Max Crete and Easton Poe.
