Troops win at Oshawa
OSHAWA, Ont. — Lirim Amidovski scored what proved to be the winning goal and added an assist to pace the North Bay Battalion to a 3-1 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Ontario Hockey League action Friday night.
Reyth Smith and Owen Van Steensel each provided one goal, while goaltender Mike McIvor made 19 saves before a crowd of 5,449.
It was the teams’ first meeting since the Eastern Conference Championship Series last spring, when the Battalion fended off elimination three times to force Game 7 at the Tribute Communities Centre. The Generals won 6-1 on May 6 before being swept by the London Knights in the OHL final.
The Battalion moved its won-lost-extended record to 13-12-3 for 29 points, fifth in the Central Division.
Harrison Franssen had the lone goal as goaltender Jacob Oster made 33 saves for Oshawa, beaten 4-3 in overtime by the host Peterborough Petes on Thursday night.
The Generals are 18-11-3 for 39 points atop the East Division.
The Battalion, which trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes, tied it at 9:37 of the second period when Smith jammed the puck home from the crease off an assist from Amidovski. It was Smith’s fourth goal of the season.
Amidovski connected for his ninth goal at 13:05, just 12 seconds after a high-sticking penalty to North Bay’s Nolan Laird expired. Amidovski, assisted by Aaron Enright and Kent Greer, beat Oster cleanly from the right circle.
Van Steensel, in the slot, was credited with his 12th goal at 16:10. Jacob Therrien darted across the top of the zone and curled on the left side before feeding a pass for the sole assist as the puck glanced off Van Steensel’s skate.
The Troops outshot Oshawa 9-3 in the third period, with McIvor producing a stellar left-pad stop against Brady Smith on a redirection attempt at the crease in the sixth minute. Oster countered with a solid save against Stepan Chukharev off an odd-man rush at 6:07.
Oshawa pulled Oster for a sixth skater with 1:29 to play, but the Battalion stood firm.
Franssen struck 30 seconds into the first period after Colby Barlow dumped the puck into the left corner and the Troops were slow to react to the ricochet into the mid slot, from where Franssen cashed the rebound of an Owen Griffin shot. It was the first OHL goal for Franssen, a ninth-round choice in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection who played two games last season and 18 in the playoffs.
Therrien and Zackary Sandhu tangled at 7:40, with Sandhu handed an instigating minor, major and misconduct to Therrien’s fighting major.
After Therrien returned to the box for slashing at 16:13, penalty killer Nick Wellenreiter broke away alone, outwaiting Oster in a cruise across the net front only to put a backhander off the left post.
The Battalion plays host to the Ottawa 67’s at 2 p.m. Sunday on Tim Hortons Day.
BATTALION BULLETS: Brad Malone served his second game as Oshawa’s interim head coach after Steve O’Rourke’s dismissal Monday. O’Rourke succeeded Derek Laxdal, who won OHL coach-of-the-year honours in 2023-24 and took a job with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League. Malone was an assistant under Laxdal … The teams’ only other meeting of the season is March 20 at North Bay … In 227 games, Van Steensel has 74 goals and 97 assists for 171 points, one more than Kyle Jackson and 18th in franchise history … Van Steensel led North Bay with six shots on goal. Luke Torrance topped Oshawa with four … The Battalion went 0-for-3 on the power play. Oshawa was 0-for-4 … Opening lines had Ethan Procyszyn centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Therrien, Laird centring left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Wellenreiter and Ryder Carey pivoting left winger Smith and right winger Amidovski. Briir Long centred left winger Dylan Richter and right winger Chukharev … Defence pairs were Bronson Ride with Wyatt Kennedy, Enright with Jacob LeBlanc and Brayden Turley with Greer … The Battalion was without Declan Gallivan, Ihnat Pazii, Anthony Romani, Zach Wilson, Natan Teshome and Andrew LeBlanc … Oshawa’s Calum Ritchie and Beckett Sennecke, who was cut, were at the Ottawa selection camp for the Canadian team to compete in the World Junior Championship … Scott Ferguson and Jack Hennigan were the referees.
