Three-game road trip set
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion opens a three-game Ontario Hockey League road trip at 7:05 p.m. Thursday against the Windsor Spitfires to continue a season-high stretch of five away games.
The Battalion, which lost two games last Saturday night and Sunday to the host Soo Greyhounds, completes the weekend and road run by visiting the London Knights on Friday night and the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 24-19-2 for 50 points, second in the Central Division. Windsor is 30-10-6 for 66 points, tied with the Flint Firebirds atop the West Division and holding a game in hand.
“Windsor is a beast of its own,” Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday of the Spitfires and the WFCU Centre. “It’s a tough building to play in. We have had some success there.
“Obviously, we play there only once a year, but I think it’s kind of a game where things haven’t gone well in the last couple. You need to tell the guys to play a little free. You know, don’t have a ton of pressure on us and then just go see what happens with a ton of compete. Play with our structure, play disciplined and see where we’re at.”
Oulahen pointed to Lirim Amidovski, skating on a line with recent additions Kaden Pitre and Sebastien Gervais, as a bright spot.
Amidovski has been on a scoring run lately with seven goals in the last seven games, including three in a 5-4 overtime win over the visiting Brantford Bulldogs last Thursday night. A ninth-round pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, the Alliston, Ont., resident scored one goal in the preceding 13 games.
“Obviously, he’s risen here over the last little bit,” noted Oulahen. “He’s a guy that I felt would rise this time of year, given the type of player he is, somebody that plays extremely hard. When he finds the net, he has a knack to continue that and get hot, so I think that’s happening.
“I think that line has potential to be a force moving forward, so Lirim’s trending the right way.”
Ethan Procyszyn leads the offence with 17 goals and 15 assists for 32 points in 43 games. Amidovski and Nick Wellenreiter have 31 points each, Amidovski from 17 goals, tied with Procyszyn for the team high, and 14 assists in 43 games and Wellenreiter from 14 goals and a team-leading 17 assists in 45 games. Parker Vaughan has scored 10 goals and added 13 assists for 23 points in 45 games.
Procyszyn incurred no supplemental discipline after receiving a head-checking major and game misconduct as well as a fighting major in a 6-1 loss Sunday. The game followed a 3-0 blanking Saturday night.
Carson Woodall paces the Windsor offence with nine goals and a team-leading 40 assists for 49 points in 43 games. Ethan Belchetz has scored a team-high 29 goals and earned 16 assists for 45 points in 43 games. Liam Greentree and Anthony Cristoforo have 41 points apiece, Greentree from 20 goals and 21 assists in 31 games and Cristoforo from 14 goals and 27 assists in 40 games.
The Battalion faces the Spitfires twice in four games, as they provide the opposition when the Troops are back at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens next Thursday night.
The game at Windsor can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.
