Guelph tops Troops in feisty affair
GUELPH, Ont. – Robby Fabbri’s goal at 17:26 of the third period proved the winner as the Guelph Storm edged the North Bay Battalion 5-4 in a scrappy Ontario Hockey League preseason game Monday.
Like Fabbri, Ryan Horvat and Scott Kosmachuk had one goal and one assist each, while Justin Auger and Brock McGinn also scored for the winners.
Starting goaltender Jason DaSilva allowed one goal on nine shots before being replaced by Michael Nishi at 10:41 of the middle period. Nishi surrendered three goals on 19 shots the rest of the way.
Mike Amadio, Vincent Praplan, Mathew Santos and Calvin Gomes scored for the Battalion, while goaltender Jake Smith faced 42 shots. The Troops wrapped up a two-game road trip after falling 5-2 to the Kitchener Rangers on Sunday.
The Battalion played most of the game three left wingers short, as Blake Clarke left at the end of the first period with a charley horse and Mike Baird and Brandon Robinson received game misconducts for fights.
Santos took a pass from Daniel Volpe at the left post and converted at 12:04 of the third period to tie the game 3-3. But Kosmachuk replied at 13:20 during a delayed penalty call, and Fabbri struck on a pass from Adam Craievich, who stole the puck from Marcus McIvor.
Gomes pulled the Battalion within a goal on a sweeping shot from a bad angle on the left wing at 18:56, but the Troops couldn’t get the equalizer.
Horvat opened the scoring at the nine-minute mark of the first period, converting from the deep slot off a two-on-one rush with Kosmachuk, who slipped the puck off the left wing past a sliding Zach Bell. Auger doubled the Guelph lead at 12:52 when he put a bouncer past Smith off a faceoff to the goaltender’s right.
Baird fought Auger at 13:08. Baird, who also drew a high-sticking penalty, and Auger each received majors and game misconducts in keeping with the rule in preseason.
Robinson was assessed a high-sticking call at 13:17, giving Guelph a two-man advantage that lasted just 42 seconds before a rash of penalties at 13:59 from a scrum in the Battalion crease. Smith was among those who got roughing calls.
Clarke suffered a knee-on-knee collision in the final seconds of the period and, after receiving attention from athletic therapist James Borrelli, was helped off the ice.
Amadio scored at 1:23 of the second period on the second rebound of a shot by Bell before McGinn gave Guelph a 3-1 lead four minutes later, snapping home a shot from the left-wing circle.
Praplan scored during a two-man advantage at 17:55, drilling the puck past Nishi while driving off the left wing.
Robinson and Matt Finn received fighting majors and game misconducts at 8:31.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion went 1-for-5 on the power play. Guelph was 0-for-5 … Opening Battalion line combinations included Jamie Lewis centring Robinson and right winger Santos, Amadio pivoting left winger Praplan and right winger Gomes and Brett McKenzie centring Clarke and right winger Alex Henriksson. Connor Jarvis centred Baird and Volpe on right wing … Defence pairings saw Bell with Shawn Tessier, Brenden Miller with McIvor and Mark Raycroft with Kyler Keating … Brendan O’Neill, who played the whole game at Kitchener, backed up Smith … Guelph defeated the Mississauga Steelheads 7-4 in the Storm’s exhibition opener Sunday, a game played at Mississauga’s Port Credit Arena … Stan Butler, the Battalion’s director of hockey operations and head coach, watched from the stands as assistants Ryan Oulahen and John Goodwin again ran the bench … Battalion scratches were Kyle Wood, Dylan Blujus, Riley Bruce, Jared Steege, Nick Paul and Matt MacLeod. Guelph scratched Ben Harpur, Ben St. Marseille, Ryan Migliaccio and Zack Mitchell … Five Battalion players are headed for National Hockey League rookie camps. Blujus is joining the Tampa Bay Lightning, Paul the Dallas Stars, Bell the Winnipeg Jets, McIvor the Los Angeles Kings and Miller the St. Louis Blues. All but Miller, who is to leave North Bay on Tuesday, were scheduled to depart Monday. Right winger Barclay Goodrow was not at training camp last week and already is with the Detroit Red Wings.
