Troops’ feast leaves ‘Dogs with Bones
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – Stuffed bears, a misbehaving mascot and plenty of acrimony marked the North Bay Battalion’s 6-3 Ontario Hockey League victory Saturday night over the Niagara IceDogs.
Barclay Goodrow scored three goals, the last into an empty net, and added one assist to power the Battalion offence in the feisty affair worthy of the longstanding rivalry between the clubs.
Ben Thomson contributed one goal and two assists and Matt MacLeod and Miles Liberati also scored for the Troops, who improved their won-lost-extended record to 14-15-1 for 29 points and moved into a tie with the Mississauga Steelheads, who were drilled 8-1 by the host Sudbury Wolves, for third place in the Central Division.
Mike Amadio earned two assists for the Battalion, which rallied from a 2-0 deficit, while goaltender Brendan O’Neill faced 25 shots.
Anthony DiFruscia, Johnny Corneil and Hayden McCool scored for Niagara, 8-19-4 for 20 points, fifth and last in the division. Goaltender Brent Moran made 26 saves.
“It was a long bus ride but, once we got the bus legs out of the way and got our first goal, it was our game,” said Goodrow. “We knew if we could pressure their defence we’d get some scoring chances. We were able to get some pressure up the ice and create some offence off it.”
After a scoreless first period in which Niagara held a 12-7 edge in shots on goal, DiFruscia triggered a torrent of stuffed toys from the sellout crowd of 3,145 when he scored 30 seconds into the second frame. The game was delayed six minutes while the ice surface was cleared of the pre-Christmas bounty.
Corneil added an unassisted goal at 7:35, beating O’Neill to the stick side from the high slot, but Goodrow replied at 8:47, when he snapped a wrist shot past Moran from the edge of the right-wing circle.
Thomson tied it 2-2 at 14:11, barreling past Luke Mercer and beating Moran with a forehand deke. It was Thomson’s seventh goal of the season and fourth with the Battalion since a Nov. 22 trade from the Kitchener Rangers.
Shortly after arena security escorted IceDogs mascot Bones away from the Battalion bench area, MacLeod’s fifth goal gave the Troops the lead at 19:03 and silenced the petulant crowd. MacLeod fired a wrist shot from the high slot past Moran, who appeared to be screened by Aleksandar Mikulovich.
Defenceman Liberati was credited with what proved to be the winner, scored on the power play at 1:12 of the third period, when defender Vince Dunn swatted the rebound of Liberati’s shot from the left point into the Niagara net. The goal was Liberati’s second of the season and first with the Troops since being acquired from the London Knights on Nov. 19.
McCool cut the IceDogs’ deficit to 4-3 at 9:14, making a strong move around Marcus McIvor and slipping the puck between O’Neill’s legs. It was the first OHL goal for McCool, Niagara’s first-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection last April.
Goodrow ripped a nifty cross-zone Thomson pass over Moran’s glove off a rush at 12:28 to give the Battalion breathing room and closed the scoring into the empty net at 18:50. Goodrow has a team-leading 16 goals.
The Battalion hosts Mississauga at 6 p.m. Sunday.
BATTALION BULLETS: The game was delayed several minutes when referee Joe Park, who had earlier told the mascot to leave the Battalion bench area and nearby glass, had security paged to remove the costumed cur. Bones, who gesticulated profusely at Park in their first encounter, simply attempted to appear incredulous the second time … The six goals were a season high for the Troops, who were credited with five on three previous occasions, including a 5-4 victory via shootout over the visiting IceDogs on Oct. 14 … The Battalion went 1-for-4 on the power play. Niagara was 0-for-4 … Liberati broke up a two-on-one rush by Brendan Perlini and Alexander Protapovich in the 14th minute of the middle period … Goodrow enjoyed his second career three-goal game … Thomson has scored in the last three games and has six points in as many games with the Troops … Moran stoned MacLeod on a breakaway with two minutes left in the game … Opening line combinations included Amadio centring left winger Thomson and right winger Goodrow, Nick Paul centring left winger Blake Clarke and right winger MacLeod and Brett McKenzie pivoting left winger Vincent Praplan and right winger Alex Henriksson. Jamie Lewis centred left winger Mike Baird and right winger Mathew Santos … The Battalion dressed six defencemen for the first time in five games after acquiring Kyle Locke in a trade Friday with the Guelph Storm … The Battalion scratched Kyle Wood, Connor Jarvis, Jared Steege and Calvin Gomes … Ben Wilson was the other referee.
