Nelson, DiVincentiis lead
NORTH BAY, Ont. — Ty Nelson scored the only goal of a shootout to give the North Bay Battalion a 2-1 victory over the Owen Sound Attack in an Ontario Hockey League preseason game Sunday.
Stef Forgione scored in regulation time for North Bay, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 2-1-0.
Goaltender Dom DiVincentiis, seeing his first action of the preseason, shone brightly in making 54 saves, including a game-saving stop against Harry Nansi midway in the third period.
Kaleb Lawrence scored the Owen Sound goal. Starting goaltender Carter George allowed one goal on 20 shots, and Corbin Votary made 12 saves through the rest of regulation time.
Joining the Battalion was defenceman Declan Gallivan, a seventh-round pick from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds U18s in the OHL Priority Selection in April. He signed an education and development agreement Saturday.
Per OHL preseason rules, the teams went straight to a shootout, eschewing overtime. Nelson beat Votary on a deke while falling on the Battalion’s first attempt before Dalyn Wakely was foiled on the second. DiVincentiis stopped Cedrick Guindon to open the penalty-shot competition and then denied Colby Barlow and, to clinch the win, Sam Sedley.
Forgione tied the game 1-1 in the middle period, taking a feed from Wyatt Kennedy and racing away on a two-on-one rush to snap the puck past George from the left circle at 13:02. Forgione’s second goal in exhibition play spelled the end of action for George, with Votary coming on in relief.
The Battalion applied heavy pressure early in the third period, capped by Brayden Turley firing wide at an open net on a deep pinch on the left side at 6:02.
Nansi was set up at the right lip of the crease directly off a left-wing faceoff at 11:50, but DiVincentiis sprawled to get a piece of the puck and covered up.
Lawrence opened the scoring at 3:39 of the first period. Declan Waddick, chased by Nelson, hit the left post on a rush, and Lawrence put home the rebound.
The Troops killed the only penalty of the period after Tnias Mathurin went off for tripping at 5:59, and DiVincentiis denied Waddick on a breakaway, with the rebound fired high over the net at 14:56.
The Battalion, which defeated the host Ottawa 67’s 5-4 Saturday for a split of two games against them, is idle until completing its preseason schedule with a visit to Owen Sound at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Owen Sound was 0-for-3 … Opening line combinations included Liam Arnsby centring left winger Brice Cooke and right winger Ethan Procyszyn, Wakely pivoting left winger Owen Van Steensel and right winger Brett Bouchard and Dylan Richter centring left winger Carter Kostuch and right winger Lirim Amidovski. Nolan Laird centred left winger Chase MacQueen-Spence and right winger Forgione … Defence pairings saw Mathurin with Nelson, Turley with Kennedy and Gallivan with Tyson Rismond … Mike McIvor backed up DiVincentiis … The Battalion was without Charlie Robertson, Paul Christopoulos, Jacob Therrien, Justin Ertel, Iggy Pazii, Anthony Romani, Zach Wilson, Alex Cajkovic and Pasquale Zito … Gallivan stepped into the lineup in place of Wilson, a third-rounder in April who suffered a shoulder injury in the preseason opener … Wakely and Nelson served as alternates under captain Arnsby, who played his first game of the preseason, as did Nelson … Assistant general manager John Winstanley again stood in for the absent Bill Houlder as an assistant coach on the Battalion bench … Among the missing for Owen Sound were Deni Goure, Servac Petrovsky and Thomas Chafe.
