Cornel paces Petes past Battalion
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. – Eric Cornel was a virtual one-man wrecking crew for the Peterborough Petes on Saturday night.
Cornel, playing a second game on a line with Nick Ritchie and newcomer Hunter Garlent, scored two goals and added three assists to power Peterborough to a 6-2 victory over the North Bay Battalion in an Ontario Hockey League game before a season-high crowd of 3,024.
Ritchie had one goal and two assists and Garlent one goal and one assist for the Petes, who also got goals from Anthony Stefano and Clark Seymour. As if Cornel needed more help, goaltender Andrew D’Agostini made 41 saves as Peterborough moved its won-lost-extended record to 17-21-4 for 38 points, third in the East Division.
Cornel’s five points matched the season high against the Troops, set by Andre Burakovsky of the Erie Otters in an 8-4 home-ice win Oct. 5 in which he had one goal and four assists. Cornel was the Petes’ first-round pick, third overall, in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection.
Ben Thomson and Matt MacLeod scored for the Battalion, 20-17-5 for 45 points, tied for second place in the Central Division with the Barrie Colts, who defeated the visiting Kingston Frontenacs 8-5. Starting goaltender Jake Smith gave up four goals on 12 shots before being relieved early in the second period by Brendan O’Neill, who allowed two goals on 12 shots.
Barclay Goodrow left in the first period with a bruised hip suffered when Ritchie checked him into the top of the boards at the Battalion bench, but Goodrow’s limited action constituted a 292nd game, eclipsing Cameron Wind for the franchise record. Overager Goodrow, an Aurora, Ont., resident, was the Troops’ first-round pick in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection from the York-Simcoe Express minor midgets.
“We were down 3-0 after the first period, and I told the kids there was plenty of hockey left to be played and we had to chip away,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler. “We scored, and then there was a defensive zone breakdown.”
Cornel wasted no time getting to work, scoring the first two goals, at 1:00 and 12:33 of the opening frame, before Stefano struck for what proved to be the winner at 13:41, carrying the puck across the mid slot and beating Smith low to the stick side.
Thomson connected at 1:13 of the second period, taking a pass from Mike Amadio and driving down the left wing to put a snap shot between D’Agostini’s legs. The assist extended Amadio’s career-high points streak to six games, during which he has four goals and five assists for nine points.
Ritchie converted a pass from behind the net from Garlent at 4:24, bringing O’Neill off the bench to replace Smith. It was the fifth goaltending switch by the Troops this season and marked O’Neill’s first relief appearance.
Defenceman Seymour made it 5-1 on the power play at 13:01, putting a left-point shot past a heavily screened O’Neill, and Garlent scored at 18:53 off a three-way passing play with Cornel and Ritchie.
MacLeod completed the scoring at 11:11 of the third period, tipping a left-point shot by Brenden Miller. Rookie defenceman Riley Bruce drew the second assist for his first OHL point.
Mathew Santos and Seymour scrapped in a nondescript fight at 16:39.
The Battalion hosts Kingston at 6 p.m. Sunday.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion is 7-2-4 in its last 13 games, the only other regulation loss in that span a 4-2 setback Dec. 28 to the host Sudbury Wolves … Peterborough made several deals before the Friday trade deadline. The biggest saw Garlent acquired from the Guelph Storm on Tuesday for fellow centre Stephen Pierog and second-round OHL Priority Selection picks in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019, the 2018 selection having originally belonged to the Belleville Bulls. The Petes got goaltender Jason Da Silva and a fifth-rounder in 2017 from Belleville for goaltender Michael Giugovaz and shipped the rights to left winger Cody Thompson to the Mississauga Steelheads for Kingston’s 10th-rounder in 2015. Thompson had one assist in three games with Peterborough this season before joining the junior A Toronto Jr. Canadiens … The Battalion went 0-for-3 on the power play. Peterborough was 1-for-3 … Opening line combinations included Amadio centring left winger Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Nick Paul pivoting left winger Zach Bratina and right winger MacLeod and Brett McKenzie centring left winger Vincent Praplan and right winger Alex Henriksson. Jamie Lewis centred left winger Connor Jarvis and right winger Santos … The Battalion scratched Dylan Blujus, Mike Baird, Jared Steege and Calvin Gomes … Blujus sat out with a shoulder injury suffered in a 4-1 home-ice victory Thursday night over Mississauga … Peterborough, which edged the Troops 2-1 in their home opener Oct. 11, visits North Bay again Jan. 26.
