Troops take 30 from camp
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion broke training camp Thursday with 26 skaters and four goaltenders still vying for roster spots with the Ontario Hockey League club.
Veterans Mike McIvor, Jack Lisson and Charlie Larocque were retained with fellow goaltender Cole Vreugdenhil, a fifth-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April who signed an education and development agreement after the four-day camp ended.
Ten defencemen number Bronson Ride, Brandt Harper, Jonathan Kapageridis, Aaron Enright, Declan Gallivan, Kent Greer, Adrian Manzo, Sam Rivet, Easton Poe and Carter Kunopaski. Gallivan, sidelined by illness, didn’t play during the camp.
A total of 16 forwards are made up of five centres, six left wingers and five right wingers. The centres are Ethan Procyszyn, Ryder Carey, Evgeny Dubrovtsev, Cam Warren and Jax Pereira, while the left wingers number Ihnat Pazii, Nolan Laird, Briir Long, Arseny Pronin, Ryder Cali and Austin Brekelmans. The right wingers are Lirim Amidovski, Nick Wellenreiter, Shamar Moses, Parker Vaughan and Kam Hodgson.
Dubrovtsev, a first-round selection in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on July 2, arrived in North Bay in the early hours of Thursday after repeated flight delays in leaving St. Petersburg. The Russian saw no intrasquad action. Pronin of Belarus was the Troops’ second-rounder in the same draft and helps make up the club’s three-man import contingent with veteran Pazii, a Ukrainian.
Vreugdenhil played last season with the Halton Hurricanes U16s, posting a won-lost record of 23-3 in 27 regular-season games with a 1.42 goals-against average. He played four games in the OHL Cup, going 1-3 with a 2.01 GAA and a .930 save percentage. A Hannon, Ont., resident, he turns 16 on Nov. 3.
Warren, a resident of Vaughan, Ont., was the Battalion’s first-round pick in the 2025 Priority Selection from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16s. He and Kunopaski, a second-rounder from the Ottawa Valley Titans U16s who resides in Pakenham, Ont., have already signed.
Poe was a free-agent invitee to camp who played last season with the Detroit HoneyBaked 16U team. The six-foot-five, 222-pound White Lake, Mich., product turned 17 on March 6.
The roster includes only one overager, in Ride.
In the last intrasquad game, assistant coach Matt Marquardt’s Team Green defeated Bill Houlder’s Team White 6-5 for a second win, both coming via shootout, against three losses.
Warren led camp scorers with four goals and two assists for six points. Cali and Vaughan tied with five points apiece, Cali from three goals and two assists and Vaughan from two goals and three assists. Brekelmans had four goals for as many points, while Amidovski produced three goals and one assist for four points. Wellenreiter and Hodgson each had two goals and two assists for four points.
The Battalion opens a six-game exhibition schedule against the Owen Sound Attack at Collingwood, Ont., at 2 p.m. Sunday.
FIFTH GAME RECAP
Manzo and Oscar Konobelj each scored in a shootout set at five rounds to give Green the victory. Brekelmans scored two third-period goals for a 5-3 lead before White, with goaltender Vreugdenhil on the bench, tied it on tallies by Vaughan and Greer. Winning goaltender McIvor and Vreugdenhil both played the full game.
Lineups
Green: Jack Lisson, Mike McIvor, Oskar Konobelj, Brandt Harper, Jonathan Kapageridis, Sam Rivet, Ryan Fairbairn, Adrian Manzo, Bronson Ride, Briir Long, Ryder Carey, Adam Smeeton, Javian Nei, Quinn Kipfer, Nolan Laird, Lincoln Edwards, Ihnat Pazii, Austin Brekelmans, Jax Pereira, Daks Klinkhammer, Lirim Amidovski.
White: Charlie Larocque, Cole Vreugdenhil, Aaron Enright, Kent Greer, Sam Weedmark, Devran Brown, Easton Poe, Carter Kunopaski, Richard Wang, Lucas Van Steensel, Cam Warren, Parker Vaughan, Ryder Cali, Jack Foley, Arseny Pronin, Ethan Procyszyn, Kam Hodgson, Stepan Chukharev, Shamar Moses, Tristan Konobelj, Nick Wellenreiter.
Green goals: Brekelmans 2, Kipfer, Amidovski, Long.
White goals: Warren, T. Konobelj, Wellenreiter, Vaughan, Greer.
