Battalion marches into OHL final
NORTH BAY, Ont. – The North Bay Battalion brought out the brooms Wednesday night and swept its way into the Ontario Hockey League Championship Series.
Jamie Lewis scored at 14:27 of the third period to lift North Bay to a 3-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals, giving the second-seeded Battalion the Eastern Conference Championship Series in four straight games. Marcus McIvor and Alex Henriksson also scored for the Troops, who got 31 saves from goaltender Jake Smith in capturing the Bobby Orr Trophy before a sellout crowd of 4,235.
The Battalion now awaits the winner of the Western Conference final between the Guelph Storm and Erie Otters, which Guelph leads 3-1 with Game 5 at home Friday night. The Troops, who won the Central Division title, are making the second trip to the league final in their 16-year history, having lost to the Windsor Spitfires in five games in 2009 when based in Brampton.
Michael Dal Colle had one goal and one assist and Dylan Smoskowitz the other goal for first-seeded Oshawa, which finished atop the East Division and conference. Goaltender Ken Appleby, seeing his first OHL playoff action, faced 28 shots.
Appleby, a North Bay resident, got the call ahead of Daniel Altshuller, who had played every Oshawa playoff game this season, posting a 1.89 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage, both league-leading numbers, with an 8-3 won-lost record. Generals coach D.J. Smith said Altshuller “tweaked something and wasn’t 100 percent” after facing 29 shots in a 5-3 loss here Tuesday night.
“We thought the series would go a lot longer than it did,” allowed coach Stan Butler, whose Battalion needed seven games to defeat the Niagara IceDogs before eliminating the Barrie Colts in six.
“We knew Oshawa was a great team, and you can tell their character. It’s tough to be down three games and have to come into this rink, which is one of the toughest rinks to play in in the league. They battled us right to the end. I’m really proud of the players. We were on the ropes in the first series and found a way to get off, and in the second series we were tied after four games and found a way to win. In this series we seemed to create our own puck luck and find ways to win.”
Barclay Goodrow, held without a point in the finale, had five goals and four assists in the series and is tied for the playoff scoring lead with Guelph’s Zack Mitchell and Kerby Rychel. Goodrow has a league-high 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 17 games.
“We’ve worked so hard all season, and there have been some ups and downs,” said Battalion captain Goodrow. “The guys showed a lot of character the whole season. I couldn’t be happier for all the guys. It’s awesome.”
The Troops carried a 2-1 lead into the third period, but Smoskowitz tied it at 11:07, snapping a shot over Smith’s glove from the right-wing circle on a rush that appeared to be offside.
Lewis netted what proved to be the series-clinching goal when he drove up the middle and hammered the puck over Appleby’s right shoulder. Brenden Miller and Kyle Wood assisted on Lewis’s first goal of the playoffs.
“It was the biggest goal I’ve ever scored in my life,” said Lewis. “I saw Miller jump up like he always does, and he was about to dump it in. I called for it and he gave it right to me, and I just walked in and took the hardest shot I could. Thankfully, it went in.”
Their season on the line, the Generals pressed for the equalizer, but Smith got his glove on a Dal Colle shot from deep in the right circle in the 16th minute. Smith denied Scott Laughton from the slot in the 17th minute and got the blocker on a Smoskowitz effort in the 20th.
Defenceman McIvor opened the scoring at 16:22 of the first period when his shot from inside the right point beat a screened Appleby high to the glove side. The goal, assisted by Ben Thomson and Nick Paul, was McIvor’s second.
Dal Colle, with his team-leading eighth goal, tied it at 19:44 on Oshawa’s third power play of the period, drilling a pass from Laughton past a sprawling Smith from the right circle.
Smith, who made a pad save to rob Cole Cassels at the back door on the power play in the eighth minute, challenged Dal Colle as he cruised through the high slot in the 12th. Smith turned aside a chance from the right circle by Mitchell Vande Sompel in the 15th minute and seconds later swatted away a Laughton offering.
Appleby made 10 saves in the frame, none bigger than in the sixth minute with Oshawa on the power play. Brett McKenzie broke in on a two-on-one rush with Lewis and fired a shot that Appleby kicked right to Lewis, but the goaltender was quick to block the rebound.
The Battalion regained the lead with the man advantage at 16:35 of the second period. The puck came free when Paul barged through the slot and collided with two defenders. Miller poked at the disc, which landed on Henriksson’s stick, and he shoveled it home at the right post for his seventh goal.
BATTALION BULLETS: The crowd, five fewer than for Game 3, was the third-largest of the playoffs at Memorial Gardens … Paul and Miller each earned two assists … Paul has a seven-game points streak during which he has four goals and five assists for nine points. He has 15 career playoff points, tied with Jeff Bateman, Anthony Peluso and Matt Kang for 17th place in franchise annals … Miller has a five-game assists streak during which he has earned seven assists. He has 20 career playoff points, eighth on the franchise’s all-time list. Miller has 16 assists, fifth all-time, with seven on the power play, tying Kevin Young for seventh in that category … Matt MacLeod played a 40th playoff game, tying Wojtek Wolski for sixth place in Battalion history … North Bay went 1-for-2 on the power play. Oshawa was 1-for-4 … Opening lines included Paul centring left winger Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Mike Amadio centring left winger Vincent Praplan and right winger MacLeod and McKenzie centring Jared Steege on left wing and right winger Henriksson. Lewis centred left winger Connor Jarvis and right winger Mathew Santos … The Battalion scratched Evan Cormier, Shawn Tessier, Riley Bruce, Mike Baird, Zach Bratina and Calvin Gomes … Battalion goaltender Brendan O’Neill turns 20 Thursday … Oshawa scratched Chris Carlisle and Owen McDade … The Generals had defenceman and captain Josh Brown back from a one-game suspension … The Battalion won the first two games at Oshawa, 1-0 last Friday night and 5-2 Sunday night.
