Troops open weekend with overtime loss
NORTH BAY, Ont. – The Guelph Storm again escaped in the last minute against the North Bay Battalion.
Guelph, which defeated the Battalion twice in the final minute of regulation time and once in overtime in the Ontario Hockey League Championship Series last spring, captured another late victory Thursday night when Robby Fabbri scored at 4:46 of overtime for a 5-4 verdict.
The Battalion, which lost 3-2 in overtime at Guelph on Oct. 10, trailed 3-1 after the first period but pulled even by 9:21 of the second on goals by Mike Baird and Ray Huether. Tyler Boston put the Storm back in front 20 seconds later, but Brenden Miller’s goal at 15:59 ultimately sent the game to extra time.
North Bay outshot the visitors 6-5 in the wide-open fourth frame, which saw Guelph goaltender Justin Nichols make two big stops against Nick Paul and one on Marcus McIvor. Nichols denied Kyle Wood and Mathew Santos when they whacked at a loose puck in the goalmouth.
Battalion goaltender Jake Smith, who foiled Tyler Bertuzzi off the left wing, was slow to get up after stopping a Jason Dickinson shot off a right-wing rush and sliding across the crease to deny Bertuzzi’s attempt at the rebound.
“Both teams had chances to win,” said coach Stan Butler, whose Troops visit the Owen Sound Attack at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. “You have to give them credit; they scored when they had to.”
In addition to a phantom head-checking call on Alex Henriksson in the first period which led to the first Guelph goal, Butler was upset that referees Korey Bannerman and Jason Faist ignored a Boston trip on Mike Amadio in overtime.
“When those types of things happen, it always bites you in the butt. I tried to talk to them and I was extremely polite, but for some reason they didn’t want to talk to me. What I’ve learned in life is that when people don’t want to talk to you, it’s usually because they know you’re right.”
Guelph beat Smith three times on six shots in the first period. Fabbri, who had three goals, for a team-leading total of 16, and one assist for four points, scored twice in the period, with Dickinson providing the other goal.
“They were pretty nice goals,” allowed Butler. “Jake is one of the top goalies in the league for a reason, and those things happen. They’ve got some talented players, and they’re really patient with the puck.”
Baird, a second-round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, scored his first career goal. Huether has 14 points, including four goals, in 21 games since being acquired Sept. 29 from the Sudbury Wolves.
“We have a lot of guys we need to score right now,” noted Butler. “It was nice to see Mike get a goal, and Owen Green almost had a goal tonight. You like to see those guys get rewarded, and if we can get a little bit from those guys it would certainly help us overall.”
The spirited game between the 2014 OHL finalists featured one fight, in which Riley Bruce pounded and dropped Guelph’s Marc Stevens.
North Bay was without left winger Zach Bratina, who suffered an upper-body injury in practice Tuesday. Bratina, who has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 21 games, is to undergo further evaluation.
Meanwhile, the Battalion learned that right winger Calvin Gomes’s season has ended before it began. A magnetic resonance imaging exam Thursday revealed a recurrence of the shoulder injury that limited him to 12 games in 2013-14. Gomes, who hasn’t played since suffering the injury in an off-ice workout during the preseason, is to have surgery in Toronto next Wednesday.
The Owen Sound game can be seen live in North Bay on TVCogeco Cable 12 and heard on Country 600 CKAT.
The Battalion hosts the Niagara IceDogs at 3 p.m. Sunday, one hour later than standard for a Sunday home date.
