Warren’s return a boost
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion welcomes rookie centre Cam Warren back from Hockey Canada duties in time for two Ontario Hockey League games this week, starting with a visit by the Erie Otters at 7 p.m. Thursday.
In five games with title-winning Canada Red at the U17 World Challenge at Truro, N.S., Warren scored four goals and added three assists for seven points, second among OHL players at the six-team tournament to teammate Charlie Murata of the Flint Firebirds, who had four goals and six assists for 10 points.
Warren, the sixth overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection in April from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16s, missed five games.
“He does a lot of things for our lineup,” coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday. “He’s going to help the power play, things like that.
“You see what he did at the U17s. I mean, he’s world class. We’re not shocked that, No. 1, he comes back with a gold medal, ’cause he’s just a winner, and No. 2 that, as an individual, he did extremely, extremely well. So not shocked by the performance and thrilled to have him back.”
In addition to welcoming Warren back, the Battalion has carded Jax Pereira, who is joining the Troops fulltime after playing much of the season with the junior A Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“Jax has come in since his first day of camp and done everything that’s been asked of him,” said Adam Dennis, Battalion director of hockey operations. “He showed in preseason and subsequent callups that he can compete in our league and then followed it up with an impressive start to the season with the Voodoos. We’re thrilled to reward his great work with a fulltime position with our club for the remainder of the season.
“We would like to thank the Voodoos for providing him with a great development opportunity. Their help ensured he was ready to take this step in his career.”
Pereira, a fourth-rounder in April from the Junior Canadiens, has two goals and two assists for four points in seven OHL games. He played the first two games of the season, scoring the first goal of the OHL schedule in a 4-2 home-ice win Sept. 18 over the Oshawa Generals, and has skated in the last five.
In 10 games with Powassan, the Uxbridge, Ont., resident had six goals and seven assists for 13 points.
Meanwhile, Quinn Kipfer, who made his OHL debut Sunday against the Sarnia Sting, has been returned to the junior B Stratford Warriors of the Greater Ontario Hockey League.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 9-9-1 for 19 points, third in the Central Division. Erie is 6-13-1 for 13 points, fifth in the Midwest Division. The Battalion completes weekend play when the Saginaw Spirit visits Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens on Sunday.
The Battalion faced its only stretch of three games in as many days this season last weekend, all on the road. The Troops lost 6-5 in overtime at Sarnia after rallying from a 5-3 deficit with two late goals. That followed a 9-3 loss Friday night to Flint and a 7-1 victory Saturday night over Saginaw.
At Sarnia, North Bay grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Lirim Amidovski and Evgeny Dubrovtsev in the first 1:49 of the game before the hosts battled back to lead 3-2 through 40 minutes.
Trailing by two late in the third period, the Battalion got goals from Amidovski at 18:36 during a two-man advantage while skating six against three and Ihnat Pazii at 19:47 with goaltender Mike McIvor again on the bench for an extra attacker.
Pazii paces points production with five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 19 games, while Dubrovtsev has three goals and a team-leading nine assists for 12 points in 19 games.
Ryder Cali, Kent Greer and Warren all have 11 points. Cali, recovering from an injury, boasts a team-best seven goals and four assists in 13 games. Greer has scored five goals and earned six assists in 19 games, and Warren has three goals and eight assists in 14 games.
The Erie visit features Rug-A-Roo Night and a Special Olympics Ontario bucket pass at the OHL Big Ticket Game.
