Vernace’s OT goal stretches streak
BRAMPTON, Ont. Defenceman Michael Vernace scored the winning goal 12 seconds into overtime as the Battalion beat the Oshawa Generals 3-2 and extended its club-record home unbeaten streak to 11 games in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night.rrThe Troops, who built a 2-0 lead by the middle of the second period, saw Oshawa battle back, with Brett Trudell’s shorthanded goal at 6:51 of the third period forcing overtime.rrTyler Harrison, who had one goal and one assist, won the faceoff to start overtime and carried the puck into Oshawa territory. Generals defenceman James Neal knocked the puck off Harrison’s stick to the trailing Vernace, who beat goaltender Carlo DiRienzo with a low shot to the glove side.rrThe victory moved the Battalion’s won-lost-tied record to 20-14-6, including two overtime losses, for 48 points, maintaining a share of first place in the Eastern Conference with the Peterborough Petes, who beat the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 in overtime. The Troops hold a five-point lead over the Barrie Colts, Mississauga IceDogs and Sudbury Wolves atop the Central Division.rrDan McDonald scored the other goal and netminder Kevin Couture made 26 saves for the Battalion, 9-0-2 at home since a 4-2 loss to Sudbury on Nov. 7.rrDevereaux Heshmatpour scored the first goal for the Generals, who fell to 12-23-2, including one overtime loss, for 27 points, last in the East Division and conference. DiRienzo faced 39 shots.rrThe loss spoiled the OHL debut of Oshawa coach Randy Ladouceur. He replaced general manager Brad Selwood, who had guided the club to a 2-1-1 record in an interim capacity after Bob McGill was fired Dec. 27.rrWe made it tough for ourselves, said Battalion coach Stan Butler. rrWe weren’t mentally sharp tonight, and that might account for a lot of our mistakes. We gave up a bad goal in the third period, and that put us in a bit of a hole. The only thing colder than our team tonight might have been the weather outside.rrSaid captain Ryan Oulahen: I thought we came out really strong and we had a lot of chances, but we just couldn’t capitalize. We let them back into it, and it was a back-and-forth game from there. rrWe knew they’d come out with a lot of emotion playing for a new coach, and we knew we had to match that and work as hard as them. I think for the most part we worked pretty hard tonight.rrHarrison opened the scoring with his 18th goal of the season on the power play at 2:51 of the first period, swatting a bouncing puck home from the lip of the crease to DiRienzo’s right.rrMcDonald made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 11:36 of the second period, burying a cross-crease pass from Howie Martin. Vernace also drew an assist on McDonald’s eighth goal.rrDefenceman Heshmatpour cut the Oshawa deficit in half at 15:53 when he beat a screened Couture from the left point.rrTrudell’s 20th goal tied it with the Troops on the power play. Trudell chased down the puck in the Battalion zone and banked it off Couture from behind the goal line.rrAaron Snow, John de Gray, Graham McNabb and Scott Boomsma were scratched for the Battalion. rrSnow and de Gray rested after returning Wednesday from the World Under-17 Challenge at Lethbridge, Alta., where they were part of the fourth-place Ontario squad.rrOshawa was without Bret Nasby, Mark Prentice and Justin Sawyer.rrThe Battalion visits the Kitchener Rangers at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The game can be seen in the Brampton, Caledon and Orangeville areas on Rogers Television, with an audio simulcast available on battalionhockey.com.rrBATTALION NOTEBOOK: Attendance was 1,785 The teams split their four-game season series, with each winning twice at home The Battalion is 15-3-2 at home, while the Generals are 3-16-0, including one overtime loss, on the road The Battalion was 2-for-7 on the power play, while Oshawa was 0-for-5 Harrison has six game-opening goals this season, tying him with Luke Lynes for the club lead. They are second in the OHL to the Barrie Colts’ Hunter Tremblay, who has eight first goals … Harrison has 94 career points, one behind Scott Thompson for 16th place on the Battalion’s all-time list The Battalion’s Wojtek Wolski had a six-game points streak snapped Stuart Simmons tangled with the Generals’ Tom Jefferson, a Brampton resident, in a late third-period fight. Jefferson received a minor for instigating, but the Troops were unable to generate a solid scoring chance on the subsequent power play Oshawa managed only three shots with a two-man advantage lasting 1:32 in the first period Defenceman Martin Lojek returned to the Battalion lineup after missing seven games while with the Czech Republic’s team that won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championship at Grand Forks, N.D., and Thief River Falls, Minn. I thought Marty played pretty well considering he was just returning from the world juniors, said Butler.r
