Guelph strikes late for OHL title
GUELPH, Ont. – The North Bay Battalion’s magical run to the Ontario Hockey League Championship Series ended in another late-game loss Friday night.
Kerby Rychel scored two goals in the final five minutes of the third period, including the winner at 19:33, as the Guelph Storm edged the Battalion 4-3 to capture the J. Ross Robertson Cup in five games. Guelph advances to the Memorial Cup tournament, to be held May 16-25 at London.
Rychel, who also had an assist, tied the game at 15:31 and then cashed the series clincher when the Troops couldn’t clear the zone and he fired a loose puck in the deep slot past Battalion goaltender Jake Smith.
The Troops, who bounced back from a 10-1 pasting Wednesday night at home that followed surrendering two goals in the last 30 seconds in a 4-3 loss the previous night, carried a 3-2 lead into the third period, and Nick Paul looked to have an excellent chance to extend the lead, but Ben Thomson’s rebound bounced over Paul’s stick.
The Storm, Western Conference champions, raced the other way, with Smith denying Zack Mitchell and Robby Fabbri before the puck squirted to Rychel, who slipped it into an open net.
Brock McGinn and Matt Finn also scored for Guelph, which won the OHL title for the first time since 2004. Fabbri, who had three assists, was named winner of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Goaltender Justin Nichols faced 26 shots before a sellout crowd of 5,015 at the Sleeman Centre for the game, which was televised nationally on Sportsnet.
Paul, Brett McKenzie and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Battalion, which advanced to the OHL final for the first time since 2009, when the Brampton-based Troops were beaten in five games by the Windsor Spitfires. Smith made 34 saves for the Battalion, which was without right winger Alex Henriksson, who was ill and stayed in North Bay.
“I’m really proud of the players,” said coach Stan Butler, who guided the Battalion to the Eastern Conference championship in its first season in North Bay.
“We came in here tonight and we were playing a really good team. As a coaching staff we believed in this group, and the way they played tonight shows the type of character they have. They played hard all game. I’m disappointed in the result. I think they deserved better and should be playing on Sunday, but sometimes in hockey games just don’t go your way, and tonight was one of those. There were a couple of bounces on rebounds on their third and fourth goals when the ice got bad.”
The Battalion built a 2-1 first-period lead, with Paul striking first on the power play at 16:18 when his low shot from the top of the left-wing circle eluded Nichols, who was screened by Thomson and others. Brenden Miller and Zach Bratina earned assists on Paul’s 12th goal of the playoffs.
Seconds after hammering a shot off the left post, McGinn tied the game at 17:08, beating Smith high to the stick side from the left circle.
McKenzie’s second playoff goal put North Bay back in front at 19:00 as he cruised into the slot and deftly tipped a Marcus McIvor drive inside the left post.
Goodrow’s shorthanded goal gave the Battalion a 3-1 lead at 6:39 of the second period. Jason Dickinson lost control of the puck in the neutral zone, and Goodrow scooped up the disc and broke in alone on Nichols, beating him with a backhand deke. The goal was Goodrow’s league-leading 14th of the playoffs and his third shorthanded tally of the postseason, tying Mitchell for the league lead.
The Troops thought Thomson had scored another shorthanded goal at 13:31. Thomson battled Nick Ebert for the puck in Guelph territory and, in trying to clear the puck, Nichols chipped it, only to have it carom off Thomson’s left arm into the net. After referee Mike Cairns, who worked with Scott Oakman, signaled no goal, the call was upheld on video review.
Finn replied at 19:00 to cut Guelph’s deficit to one. The Storm applied sustained pressure in the Battalion zone, with Smith making two stops against Ebert before defenceman Finn drove into the left circle to fire a wrister into the top corner.
BATTALION BULLETS: Four series games were decided by one goal, two in overtime … Miller ended on a 10-game assists streak, longest in the postseason, during which he had 12 assists. He led OHL defencemen in scoring with three goals and 17 assists for 20 points in 21 games. His assist and point totals are franchise playoff records for a rearguard. Miller has 11 career power-play assists, tying Josh Day for third in franchise annals … McIvor and Dylan Blujus each played a 39th playoff game, tying Thomas Stajan and Ken Peroff for eighth on the franchise list … Paul has 19 career playoff points, tying Blujus for ninth in franchise history … Mathew Santos left late in the second period after injuring his knee in a collision with Guelph’s Tyler Bertuzzi … It was the Battalion’s 22nd game of the playoffs, one more than it played in 2009 … North Bay went 1-for-1 on the power play. Guelph was 0-for-2 … Rychel led playoff scoring with 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points in 20 games. He had nine points, including three goals, in the final series … Opening lines included Paul centring left winger Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Mike Amadio centring left winger Bratina and right winger Santos and McKenzie centring Jared Steege on left wing and Vincent Praplan on right wing. Jamie Lewis centred left winger Connor Jarvis and right winger Matt MacLeod … Apart from Henriksson, the Battalion scratched Evan Cormier, Kyle Locke, Shawn Tessier, Mike Baird and Calvin Gomes … Locke turned 18 Friday, while Tessier is 18 Saturday.
