Win ends season schedule
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Cam Warren scored the winning goal early in the third period to help the North Bay Battalion to a 4-2 victory Sunday over the Sudbury Wolves on the last day of the Ontario Hockey League schedule, with both teams resting several regulars.
Carter Kunopaski, Nolan Laird and Evgeny Dubrovtsev, into an empty net, also scored for the Battalion, while goaltender Mike McIvor celebrated his 20th birthday with 31 saves and an assist before 2,842 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
North Bay finished with a won-lost-extended record of 38-26-4 for 80 points, second in the Central Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference. The Battalion will face the fourth-place Peterborough Petes in a first-round playoff series.
The Troops recalled Jax Pereira, Lincoln Edwards, Devran Brown and Declan Gallivan from junior A clubs for the game. Pereira and Brown have been with the Powassan Voodoos, Edwards with the King Rebellion and Gallivan with the Soo Thunderbirds.
Adam Nemec had one goal and one assist and Daniel Berehowsky the other goal for the Wolves. Goaltender Bjorn Bronas stopped 26 of 29 shots.
Sudbury, which finished 27-39-2 for 56 points, fourth in the division and eighth in the conference, meets the first-place Brantford Bulldogs, the OHL’s regular-season champions, in a first-round matchup.
“I thought the guys that came up for us played really well, were able to help us roll our lines and play physical, play competitive, and McIvor was really good in net, too,” said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. “So all in all, a really good cap to a strong regular season, especially these last couple of months.”
The Battalion led 2-1 at the second intermission before rookie Warren connected at 6:16 of the final period. Sebastien Gervais fed a backhanded pass from the end boards to Warren in front for his seventh goal of the season.
It was the second assist for overager Gervais, a trade acquisition from the Saginaw Spirit whose OHL totals were finalized at 327 games, 61 goals and 101 assists for 162 points.
Nemec pulled Sudbury within 3-2 on the power play at 8:47 on an assist on his 14th goal by Hudson Chitaroni but, with Bronas gone for a sixth attacker, Dubrovtsev lofted the puck into the empty net from his own zone at 17:57. Gervais and McIvor assisted on Dubrovtsev’s 14th goal.
After the teams tied 1-1 through 20 minutes, Laird gave the Troops the lead at 16:08 of the middle period when he took a pass from Lirim Amidovski at the blue line and put a screened shot past Bronas from the high slot. Warren had the other assist on Laird’s 10th goal.
Each team killed a penalty midway in the frame before McIvor denied Nemec on a solo break-in in the 18th minute as the Slovakian import contended with a rolling puck.
Berehowsky opened the scoring with the man advantage at 5:26 of the first period, tapping the puck home at the left side of the crease. Nemec and Jean-Christoph Lemieux had the assists on Berehowsky’s 12th goal.
Kunopaski replied at 16:47, sifting a shot from the blue line through traffic for his second goal. Nick Wellenreiter and Alexander Karmanov, who marked his 18th birthday, assisted.
McIvor faced two breakaways in the period, with Carter Kostuch firing wide in the eighth minute and the goaltender making the stop against Lemieux in the 18th.
BATTALION BULLETS: On Kal Tire Fan Appreciation Day, artist Jack Lockhart presented portraits to overagers Bronson Ride and Gervais. Prizes for fans included autographed sweaters, sticks and helmets … The Battalion went 7-1-0 in the season series. The visiting Troops won 4-3 in overtime Sept. 19 and 3-1 on Oct. 3 before losing 6-2 on Jan. 2. The host Battalion won 5-2 on Jan. 4 and 2-1 on Jan. 15. North Bay prevailed 6-3 at Sudbury on Feb. 27 and 3-1 at home March 8 … Gervais led the Troops with six shots on goal. Nemec paced the Wolves with five … North Bay, which went 5-3-1 in March to complete the schedule, was 12-4-1 in its last 17 games, amounting to one-quarter of the season … The Battalion went 0-for-1 on the power play. Sudbury was 2-for-5 … Opening lines included Ryder Cali centring left winger Gervais and right winger Wellenreiter, Dubrovtsev centring left winger Arseny Pronin and right winger Ryder Carey and Warren pivoting left winger Laird and right winger Parker Vaughan. Pereira centred left winger Edwards and right winger Amidovski … Defence pairings were Jonathan Kapageridis with Adrian Manzo, Karmanov with Kunopaski and Gallivan with Brown … Jack Lisson backed up McIvor … The Battalion scratched Aaron Enright, Kent Greer, Brandt Harper, Kaden Pitre, Hayden Barch, Ethan Procyszyn, Shamar Moses and Ride … Among the missing for Sudbury were Chase Coughlan, Liam Ladds, Jan Chovan, Artem Gonchar and Luca Blonda.
