NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The North Bay Battalion gets back into Ontario Hockey League playoff action when it visits the Brantford Bulldogs to open a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at 7 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Fifth-place North Bay advanced to meet first-place Brantford with a six-game ouster of the fourth-place Peterborough Petes, while the Bulldogs, who won the Hamilton Spectator Trophy for finishing with the most points in the OHL\u2019s regular season, swept the eighth-place Sudbury Wolves in four games.<\/p>\n
The Battalion and Bulldogs split four season meetings, with each winning twice on home ice. Brantford prevailed 7-2 on Dec. 6 and 6-5 on March 20, while North Bay won 5-4 in overtime Jan. 22 and 3-2 in overtime March 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot a lot, I don\u2019t think, is going to change for us,\u201d Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Tuesday. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good things we went through in that Peterborough series that prepared us for meeting this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Peterborough series saw the Battalion win one of three overtime games, that being the clincher Saturday night when Parker Vaughan scored his second goal of the game at 17:09 of the second extra period to electrify a season-high 3,728 in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat crowd was insane,\u201d noted Oulahen. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s many moments that beat that. For me, I\u2019ve been here for a long time and all the major playoff runs since 2013, and that right there was top three for sure in terms of this building popping, the crowd going crazy, and we\u2019re going to need them here this round to match up with the Brantford crowd as well, and I think even excel and exceed it here and really give us an edge here and be the true 7th Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oulahen suggested that the Troops will require continued commitment to emotional control against the Bulldogs, who defeated North Bay in five games in a conference quarterfinal last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked going into that first round about being even-keeled, just because I had a funny feeling there were going to be so many moments that we were going to have to keep our emotions in check, whether it was losing an overtime game, whether it was dealing with a call that we didn\u2019t love.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever the case was, we really did a good job doing that, so I\u2019m going to stick with that theme here, that we\u2019re going into a very hostile building and what we just went through prepared us for this and now we\u2019ve really got to keep our emotions in check even more going into this series.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Bay outscored Peterborough 17-11, while Brantford had an 18-10 edge in goals against the Wolves, with one game at Sudbury going to overtime. The Troops allowed the Petes one power-play goal in 27 opportunities, that coming in Game 3 on one of two shots against Jack Lisson, who entered overtime cold after starting goaltender Mike McIvor was issued a match penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got so many offensive weapons through their lineup that we\u2019ve got to play really sound defensive hockey,\u201d Oulahen said of the Bulldogs, who boast 11 National Hockey League draftees and who scored on 50 percent of their power plays against Sudbury.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the cliche stuff, but it\u2019s blocking shots at the right time, it\u2019s winning our 50-50 puck battles, it\u2019s having the puck as much as we can in their zone. There are so many fundamental things that we\u2019re going to have to stress in this series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisson played in all six games against the Petes, posting a 1.71 goals-against average, a .950 save percentage and two shutouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack was outstanding,\u201d said Oulahen. \u201cIt goes without saying that a lot of those games was Jack keeping us in it. He did an awesome job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Lisson: \u201cWe have tremendous belief within our room, for sure. We know what we\u2019re capable of, so I think it\u2019s just going out there and putting that on ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaden Pitre took a tumble behind the Battalion net in the second period of Game 6 and was helped off the ice appearing to favour his left leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a serious, serious thing,\u201d said Oulahen. \u201cHe\u2019s got some stuff that he\u2019s just got to go through and some tests and whatnot, but he is feeling way better than coming out of the game. Don\u2019t expect him for Game 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game at Brantford, the first of two at the TD Civic Centre to open the series, can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The North Bay Battalion gets back into Ontario Hockey League playoff action when it visits the Brantford Bulldogs to open a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at 7 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/10\/22124848\/RyanOulahenStock2026.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173626,"date":"2026-04-06T16:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173626"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:38:33","slug":"lisson-named-top-goaltender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/lisson-named-top-goaltender","title":{"rendered":"Lisson named top goaltender"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Jack Lisson of the North Bay Battalion has been named the Goaltender of the Week for the period ended Sunday, the Ontario Hockey League announced Monday.<\/p>\n
Lisson posted a 3-0 won-lost record during the week with a 1.39 goals-against average, a .963 save percentage and one shutout as the fifth-place Battalion won its best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the fourth-place Peterborough Petes four games to two.<\/p>\n
The clincher came Saturday night, when Lisson provided 52 saves at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in a 5-4 victory that was secured when Parker Vaughan scored his second goal of the game at 17:09 of the second overtime period.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, Lisson registered his second shutout of the series, a 33-save performance in a 4-0 home-ice win as the Battalion evened the set 2-2. He stopped 44 shots at Peterborough on Thursday night in a 3-1 victory.<\/p>\n
A second-year goaltender seeing his first OHL postseason action, Lisson played in all six games of the series, posting a 4-2 record, a 1.71 GAA and a .950 save percentage. Both losses came in overtime.<\/p>\n
Lisson, who turned 20 last Tuesday, went 24-11-3 with a 2.59 GAA, a .913 save percentage and one shutout in 40 regular-season games.<\/p>\n
Chosen in the 15th round, 301st overall, in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from his hometown Oakville Rangers U16s, Lisson played for the Ridley College Tigers of St. Catharines in 2022-23 before joining the junior A Wellington Dukes the following season. In 2024-25 he played with Wellington and the British Columbia Hockey League\u2019s West Kelowna Warriors before signing with the Battalion and seeing action in 12 games starting in January.<\/p>\n
Lisson is committed to Canisius College of Buffalo, N.Y.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the second Battalion goaltender to earn the OHL\u2019s weekly award this season, with Mike McIvor having been recognized for the period ended March 22, the final week of the 2025-26 schedule.<\/p>\n
The Battalion opens a best-of-seven conference semifinal against the first-place Brantford Bulldogs on the road at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Jack Lisson of the North Bay Battalion has been named the Goaltender of the Week for the period ended Sunday, the Ontario Hockey League announced Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/06154754\/JackLisson.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173625,"date":"2026-04-04T00:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173625"},"modified":"2026-04-05T00:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T04:52:29","slug":"semifinal-schedule-set-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/semifinal-schedule-set-3","title":{"rendered":"Semifinal schedule set"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The North Bay Battalion will open a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Brantford Bulldogs on the road at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Saturday night.<\/p>\n
The Battalion finished second in the Central Division and fifth in the conference, while Brantford was first in the East Division and the conference.<\/p>\n
The clubs meet in the playoffs for the third time. The Bulldogs, then based in Hamilton, swept North Bay in the conference final in 2022 and, as Brantford, won a 2025 conference quarterfinal in five games.<\/p>\n
Following is the series schedule:<\/p>\n
Wednesday, April 8, at Brantford 7 p.m.
\nFriday, April 10, at Brantford 7 p.m.
\nSunday, April 12, at North Bay 2 p.m.
\nTuesday, April 14, at North Bay 7 p.m.
\n*Thursday, April 16, at Brantford 7 p.m.
\n*Saturday, April 18, at North Bay 7 p.m.
\n*Monday, April 20, at Brantford 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
* if necessary<\/p>\n
Further information can be obtained from Battalion Headquarters at (705) 495-8603, extension 270.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The North Bay Battalion will open a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Brantford Bulldogs on the road at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/03\/22123801\/Battalion-on-background-1600x900-1.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173623,"date":"2026-04-04T00:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173623"},"modified":"2026-04-05T11:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:31:25","slug":"battalion-eliminates-petes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/battalion-eliminates-petes","title":{"rendered":"Battalion eliminates Petes"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Parker Vaughan\u2019s second goal of the game, at 17:09 of the second overtime period, lifted the North Bay Battalion past the Peterborough Petes 5-4 Saturday night and into the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.<\/p>\n
Fifth-place North Bay captured the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series 4-2 and will face the first-place Brantford Bulldogs in a conference semifinal.<\/p>\n
Ethan Procyszyn, who forced overtime at 19:54 of the third period, also scored two goals and Cam Warren had one goal and one assist. Goaltender Jack Lisson faced 56 shots before a boisterous crowd of 3,728 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in the third-longest game in Battalion franchise history.<\/p>\n
Yanis Lutz and Kieron Walton each had one goal and one assist, and Leon Kolarik and Adam Levac also scored for fourth-place Peterborough, which got 39 saves from goaltender Easton Rye.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to win in our league, and I\u2019m proud of the guys to be able to finish this off at home and win a playoff series,\u201d said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen. \u201cNot a lot of teams get to do this. What is there, eight left, and we\u2019re one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaughan netted the winner after the Battalion hemmed the Petes in their own zone and applied sustained pressure. Evgeny Dubrovtsev stripped Adam Novotny of the puck on the end boards and fed it to Vaughan in the right circle for his team-leading fourth goal of the playoffs. The Troops killed an elbowing penalty to Procyszyn earlier in the frame.<\/p>\n
Exclaimed Oulahen: \u201cHoly cow! What a play, the winning goal. We really finally started to get some traction and had the pedal down there. We made some really good changes. Dubrovtsev jumps on, keeps the puck alive and then makes a beautiful pass. Parker Vaughan, what a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterborough outshot the Battalion 13-9 in the first overtime period and had the best scoring chance in the seventh minute, but James Petrovski missed an open net from the left circle after corralling the rebound of a Carson Cameron drive. Nick Wellenreiter was whistled for goaltender interference at 17:59, but the Petes managed only one good scoring chance when Levac drove to the net off the ensuing faceoff.<\/p>\n
Peterborough, which trailed 3-1 at the second intermission, erased the deficit with two goals 51 seconds apart, sparked by Lutz at 5:22. He took a pass from Garrett Frazer, cruised across the high slot and snapped the puck over Lisson\u2019s blocker. Levac tied it when he redirected a loose puck from the lip of the crease.<\/p>\n
Walton put the Petes ahead at 15:18 when he one-timed a pass from Braydon McCallum past Lisson\u2019s glove from the high slot.<\/p>\n
Lisson was on the bench for a sixth skater when Grayden Strohack went off for tripping Procyszyn at 19:25. Procyszyn tied it after Rye blocked Kent Greer\u2019s shot from the mid blue line. The rebound fell to Procyszyn, who backhanded the puck home from the slot for his third goal. Wellenreiter had the second assist.<\/p>\n
The Petes opened the scoring on their first shot at 8:38 of the first period. Lutz caused a turnover at the left point and fed the puck to Francis Parish, who whipped a backhanded cross-ice pass to Kolarik for the conversion.<\/p>\n
The Troops erupted for three goals in a span of 6:26 in the second period, with Warren tying it 1-1 on the power play at 6:25 when he beat Rye low to the stick side from above the left circle. Brandt Harper and Dubrovtsev assisted on Warren\u2019s third goal, the Battalion\u2019s first power-play marker of the series.<\/p>\n
Vaughan connected with the man advantage at 10:05, ripping a wrister high over Rye\u2019s glove from the right circle. Warren and Greer earned assists. Procyszyn then struck at 12:51, slipping the puck between Rye\u2019s pads from the slot. Sebastien Gervais and Wellenreiter assisted.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has won 22 of 44 all-time playoff series, including 13 of 22 since relocating to North Bay. The Troops have an all-time won-lost record of 9-8 in the sixth game of playoff series, including 3-4 at home. The club is 4-4 since relocation … In his first OHL postseason action, Lisson has a 4-2 won-lost record, a 1.71 goals-against average, a .950 save percentage and two shutouts. Both losses came in overtime … The Troops allowed more than 50 shots in a playoff game for the first time since the Niagara IceDogs recorded 57 in Game 4 of a conference quarterfinal on March 29, 2019 … The Battalion went 3-for-4 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-5 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Ryder Cali and right winger Wellenreiter, Kaden Pitre centring left winger Gervais and right winger Lirim Amidovski and Warren pivoting left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Dubrovtsev centred left winger Shamar Moses and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairs saw Bronson Ride with Adrian Manzo, Aaron Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Harper … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Hayden Barch and Arseny Pronin … Mike McIvor, who was suspended for two games after drawing a match penalty in overtime of a 2-1 home-ice loss Sunday in Game 3, backed up Lisson … Moses returned after losing eight games to an injury suffered in practice … David Elford and Scott Ferguson were the referees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Parker Vaughan\u2019s second goal of the game, at 17:09 of the second overtime period, lifted the North Bay Battalion past the Peterborough Petes 5-4 Saturday night and into the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/05003812\/TroopsCelebrate.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173622,"date":"2026-04-02T22:47:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173622"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:54:42","slug":"battalion-takes-series-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/battalion-takes-series-lead","title":{"rendered":"Battalion takes series lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Parker Vaughan\u2019s goal at 3:38 of the second period proved the winner as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Peterborough Petes 3-1 Thursday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Ontario Hockey League teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.<\/p>\n
Lirim Amidovski and Ethan Procyszyn, into an empty net, also scored for North Bay, which got 44 saves from goaltender Jack Lisson in a standout performance.<\/p>\n
Braydon McCallum scored late in the third period while goaltender Easton Rye faced 23 shots for the Petes before a crowd of 3,464 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.<\/p>\n
The Battalion can wrap up the series in Game 6 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens at 7 p.m. Saturday. A seventh game would be played Monday night at Peterborough.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was great tonight,\u201d Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said of Lisson. \u201cReally, the reason we\u2019re getting the big victory is a lot to do with the guy that played in net.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, saying that, I didn\u2019t think we had our best stuff clearly here tonight, but that\u2019s okay sometimes, you know, and I know Jack kept us in it, but we\u2019re able to reset now, get going back home and a huge opportunity for us on Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amidovski opened the scoring with his second goal of the series at 15:52 of the first period when his shot from the far side of the right circle beat Rye high to the glove side. Evgeny Dubrovtsev earned the only assist.<\/p>\n
Peterborough had a 12-6 edge in shots in the frame, with its best chance coming late during the period\u2019s lone power play when Lisson stretched to get his left arm on an Adam Novotny drive. Lisson scrambled to corral a bouncing puck off a Calum Hartnell shot from the blue line in the 11th minute. Carter Kunopaski fired the puck off the crossbar from the left point in the first minute, and Vaughan drilled the disc off the left post in the sixth. Rye denied Dubrovtsev on a net drive in the seventh minute.<\/p>\n
The Petes built a 20-9 advantage in shots and a decided edge in territorial play in the second period but came out of it trailing 2-0 after Vaughan seized a turnover and snapped the puck over Rye\u2019s glove from the right circle. The unassisted goal was Vaughan\u2019s second.<\/p>\n
Lisson\u2019s toughest stops came in the 14th minute when he slid to the left post to deny McCallum and turned away Carson Cameron\u2019s attempt at the rebound. Rye foiled Procyszyn\u2019s tip of a Kent Greer shot in the 16th minute and got his chest in front of a hard wrister from the right wing by Kaden Pitre in the last minute.<\/p>\n
McCallum cut the Battalion lead to one goal at 15:16 of the final period, converting a pass from Brennan Faulkner at the lip of the crease. Aiden Young also assisted.<\/p>\n
The Troops thought they had restored their two-goal lead at 18:16 when Rye failed to handle a shot from Procyszyn, who followed up and put the puck into the net off his skate. After a video review, referee Tyson Stewart ruled no goal.<\/p>\n
With Rye gone for a sixth attacker, captain Procyszyn eventually finished the scoring into the empty net at 19:46 with his first goal. Pitre, who sent a high pass down the ice, and Bronson Ride drew assists.<\/p>\n
Lisson, who faced 13 shots in the period, was tested often before Peterborough scored, turning away good chances for Novotny, Yanis Lutz and Adam Levac. At the other end, Rye, who made eight stops, had to deal with a shot from Dubrovtsev on a two-on-one rush with Ryder Carey in the 11th minute and a backhanded deke by Pitre, who broke in alone in the 12th.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 15-16 in the fifth game of playoff series, including 5-10 on the road. The Troops are 11-5 since relocating to North Bay … In his first OHL playoff series, Lisson has a 3-2 won-lost record, a 1.41 goals-against average, a .959 save percentage and two shutouts. Both losses came in overtime … Pitre topped the Battalion with eight shots on goal. Hartnell led Peterborough with six … North Bay went 0-for-1 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-4 … The Troops bused to Peterborough after practice Wednesday … Opening lines included Procyszyn centring left winger Ryder Cali and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Pitre pivoting left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Cam Warren centring left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Centre Dubrovtsev and right winger Carey had various linemates … Defence pairs were Ride with Hayden Barch, Aaron Enright with Greer and Kunopaski with Brandt Harper. Adrian Manzo was a seventh blueliner … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Arseny Pronin, Shamar Moses and Mike McIvor, who completed an automatic two-game suspension for a match penalty in overtime of a 2-1 home-ice loss Sunday in Game 3 … Cole Vreugdenhil again backed up Lisson … Again among Peterborough\u2019s scratches was Matthew Soto, who has been sidelined since the series opener … Mac Nichol was the other referee.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Parker Vaughan\u2019s goal at 3:38 of the second period proved the winner as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Peterborough Petes 3-1 Thursday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Ontario Hockey League teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/02205031\/VaughanStrikesInSecond.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173621,"date":"2026-03-31T23:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173621"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:19:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:19:55","slug":"troops-win-4-0-tie-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/troops-win-4-0-tie-series","title":{"rendered":"Troops win 4-0, tie series"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Goaltender Jack Lisson made 33 saves to backstop the North Bay Battalion to a 4-0 Ontario Hockey League victory Tuesday night over the Peterborough Petes, tying the teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at 2-2.<\/p>\n
Cam Warren and Ryder Cali each had one goal and one assist and Parker Vaughan and Nick Wellenreiter also scored for the Battalion before 2,682 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.<\/p>\n
Lisson, who made 26 saves in a 1-0 road win in the opener last Thursday night, marked his 20th birthday by becoming the first Battalion goaltender to record multiple shutouts in a playoff series.<\/p>\n
The visiting Petes won the third game 2-1 Sunday as Kieron Walton scored in overtime for a second straight game.<\/p>\n
Peterborough goaltender Easton Rye faced 39 shots before the series reverts to Peterborough for Game 5 at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. The sixth game is scheduled Saturday night at North Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we probably had our best start of the series,\u201d said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked a lot about our first five minutes, just starting better, and that\u2019s not scoring a goal. It just means implanting our game, getting after it right away. I thought we did a better job of that and really carried it through most of the 60 minutes, so we\u2019re just going to have to continue to get better and better every game here because they\u2019re doing the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0 strong start saw the Troops seize a 2-0 first-period lead with goals 1:45 apart.<\/p>\n
Warren struck for what proved to be the winner at 9:36. Kent Greer\u2019s shot from the blue line bounced off the end boards into the slot, where Warren ripped the puck past Rye for his second goal of the series. Aaron Enright had the other assist.<\/p>\n
Rye made a good save as Ethan Procyszyn drove to the net, but the puck eluded two defenders and skittered to Cali, who swept the disc home at 11:21. The unassisted goal was Cali\u2019s first.<\/p>\n
The Battalion forged an 18-11 edge in shots in the frame. Vaughan tested Rye early, and the goaltender stopped Lirim Amidovski as he barreled to the net off the left wing in the eighth minute. The Petes\u2019 best chance came in the sixth minute when Adam Novotny failed to convert into an open net at the right post.<\/p>\n
Vaughan made it 3-0 at 2:37 of the middle period. Enright sent the puck to Warren deep on the left side, and he sent a backhanded cross-crease pass to Vaughan, who fired it past a sprawling Rye for his first goal.<\/p>\n
The Petes, who outshot the Troops 11-8 in the period, were unable to take advantage of two power plays. Walton forced Lisson to make a good left-pad save in the eighth minute and tested the goaltender again in close in the 18th.<\/p>\n
Wellenreiter connected at 7:55 of the final frame. Rye got his chest in front of Hayden Barch\u2019s right-point drive, but the rebound landed at the feet of Wellenreiter, who put a wrister high over the goaltender\u2019s right shoulder. Cali also assisted on Wellenreiter\u2019s first goal.<\/p>\n
Lisson fell in his crease to foil Braydon McCallum in the fourth minute of the period. McCallum rang the puck off the right post in the 11th minute, and Lisson slid to his left to kick away a Novotny power-play drive in the 15th.<\/p>\n
The game at Peterborough can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 21-23 in the fourth game of playoff series, including 9-14 at home. The Troops are 13-9 since relocation to North Bay for the 2013-14 season … Goaltender Mike McIvor received an automatic two-game suspension after being assessed a match penalty in overtime Sunday. Cole Vreugdenhil, whose season with the junior A Powassan Voodoos has ended, backed up Lisson. Vreugdenhil played six games with the Troops this season, with a won-lost-extended record of 3-2-0 … Cali led the Battalion with eight shots on goal. Walton paced Peterborough with five … The Battalion went 0-for-2 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-4 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Cali and right winger Wellenreiter, Kaden Pitre centring left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Warren pivoting left winger Nolan Laird and right winger Vaughan. Centre Evgeny Dubrovtsev and right winger Ryder Carey had rotating linemates … Defence pairs were Bronson Ride with Barch, Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Brandt Harper. Adrian Manzo was a seventh defenceman … In addition to McIvor, the Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Arseny Pronin and Shamar Moses … Again among the missing for Peterborough was Matthew Soto, who hasn\u2019t played since the series opener … Andre Grougrou and Aaron Neely were the referees.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Goaltender Jack Lisson made 33 saves to backstop the North Bay Battalion to a 4-0 Ontario Hockey League victory Tuesday night over the Peterborough Petes, tying the teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at 2-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/03\/31231828\/WarrenNetsWinner-2.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173595,"date":"2026-03-29T18:56:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T22:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173595"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:01:08","slug":"petes-prevail-in-overtime-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/petes-prevail-in-overtime-2","title":{"rendered":"Petes prevail in overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Kieron Walton\u2019s\u00a0power-play goal at 17:41 of overtime gave the Peterborough Petes a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League victory Sunday over the North Bay Battalion and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.<\/p>\n
Battalion goaltender Mike McIvor received a match penalty at 15:39 of overtime for a swipe at Francis Parish that was deemed an attempt to injure after McIvor took exception to Parish\u2019s actions as the goaltender covered the puck. After a four-minute video review, referee Pat Myers sent McIvor off the ice.<\/p>\n
Jack Lisson, who played the first two games in the series, came on and made one save before Walton hammered home a pass from Adam Novotny from the right-wing circle for his second goal of the series. Walton also scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 home-ice victory Friday night in Game 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen it,\u201d Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said of the goaltender\u2019s ejection. \u201cI mean, I\u2019ve been coaching in this league a long, long time, and that was an interesting one right there. But saying that, the game in whole, I liked a lot of things that we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sebastien Gervais scored shorthanded for the fifth-place Battalion. McIvor faced 42 shots before a crowd of 2,935 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.<\/p>\n
Adam Levac also scored for fourth-place Peterborough, which got 47 saves from goaltender Easton Rye.<\/p>\n
The fourth game is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the same ice.<\/p>\n
Overtime, in which North Bay had a 13-12 edge in shots, saw good chances for both teams. McIvor foiled Walton and Carson Cameron after Ethan Procyszyn went off for slashing at 8:36. Rye was sharp early, turning away a Parker Vaughan drive and Nolan Laird\u2019s hard shot off the rebound. Rye blockered away a shot by Kaden Pitre breaking in alone with the Troops shorthanded. McIvor handled two drives by Walton.<\/p>\n
Peterborough struck 12 seconds into the game after an awkward bounce in the mid slot left the puck on Levac\u2019s stick. McIvor stopped the initial shot, but Levac converted the rebound. Walton and Garrett Frazer were credited with assists.<\/p>\n
The Petes built a 9-0 edge in shots before Rye made his first save at 5:23. McIvor was busy in the aftermath of the goal, turning away fine chances for Brennan Faulkner, Brayden McCallum and Brody Partridge. McIvor, who made 10 saves in the frame, kicked away a Walton drive in the final seconds. The Battalion had five shots, with Ryder Cali driving hard off the left wing in the 10th minute.<\/p>\n
The period featured several big hits and a fight during a stoppage between McCallum and Bronson Ride, who drew major penalties.<\/p>\n
North Bay tied it at 18:55 of the second period when penalty killer Gervais took a pass from Lirim Amidovski and beat Rye low to the glove side with a wrister from the left circle off a rush. Adrian Manzo drew the second assist.<\/p>\n
The Battalion had a decided territorial edge in the period, outshooting the visitors 18-12. Rye, who was tested by Ride in the seventh minute with Laird lurking for a rebound, foiled Gervais in tight on the rebound of a Pitre threat in the 12th. The Petes\u2019 best chance came on the power play in the 14th minute when McIvor blocked a drive from the high slot by James Petrovski.<\/p>\n
Parish scrapped with Ryder Carey at 15:41, with each receiving a major.<\/p>\n
The Battalion forged a 12-9 edge in third-period shots. Vaughan forced Rye to make a tough save in the deep slot off the rebound of a Laird shot in the fourth minute, and Rye kicked away successive Pitre shots in the eighth minute. McIvor, who denied McCallum from the slot in the sixth minute and Leon Kolarik in close in the 15th, was strong as Walton burst to the net in the final seconds.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 17-27 in the third game of playoff series, including 6-11 at home. The Troops are 8-14 since relocation to North Bay … In 21 postseason games, McIvor has an 11-9 won-lost record with a 2.82 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage and one shutout. The Warkworth, Ont., resident was a fourth-round pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from the Quinte Red Devils U16s … Pitre topped the Troops with seven shots on goal. Walton led Peterborough with six … The Battalion went 0-for-3 on the power play. Peterborough was 1-for-6. North Bay had killed 13 consecutive power plays in the series before the overtime goal … Opening line combinations featured Procyszyn centring left winger Pitre and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Cali pivoting left winger Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Cam Warren skating between left winger Laird and right winger Vaughan. Centre Evgeny Dubrovtsev and right winger Carey had various linemates … Defence pairs were Ride with Hayden Barch, Aaron Enright with Kent Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Brandt Harper. Manzo was a seventh rearguard … Harper made his series debut after losing the last nine regular-season games to injury … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Alexander Karmanov, Arseny Pronin and Shamar Moses … Again among the missing for Peterborough were Kaden McGregor and Matthew Soto … Mike Cairns was the other referee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 Kieron Walton\u2019s\u00a0power-play goal at 17:41 of overtime gave the Peterborough Petes a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League victory Sunday over the North Bay Battalion and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/03\/29175430\/CaliViewWithMcCallum.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173594,"date":"2026-03-27T23:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173594"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:24:58","slug":"petes-ot-win-evens-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/petes-ot-win-evens-series","title":{"rendered":"Petes’ OT win evens series"},"content":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Kieron Walton scored at 13:54 of overtime to lift the Peterborough Petes to a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League victory Friday night over the North Bay Battalion, evening the teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at 1-1.<\/p>\n
The series now shifts to North Bay\u2019s Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens for the third and fourth games, at 2 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Walton joined Brennan Faulkner and Braydon McCallum in providing one goal and one assist, and Francis Parish also scored for the fourth-place Petes. Goaltender Easton Rye faced 43 shots before 2,181 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.<\/p>\n
Cam Warren, Ryder Carey and Kent Greer scored for fifth-place North Bay, which got 36 saves from goaltender Jack Lisson.<\/p>\n
For the winner, Walton got to the net, took a pass from McCallum on the end boards and lofted the puck over Lisson\u2019s blocker. Adam Levac had the second assist.<\/p>\n
Both teams had chances in overtime, which saw the Battalion forge a 10-7 edge in shots. Aaron Enright fired the puck off the right post with the Troops on the power play in the fifth minute after James Petrovski drew a delay-of-game penalty, and Lisson foiled Adam Novotny in close in the ninth.<\/p>\n
The series opener was a 1-0 win for the Battalion on Thursday night, but the teams combined for five goals in the first period of Game 2.<\/p>\n
The Petes opened the scoring at 2:24 after Calum Hartnell cruised through the slot and slid the puck to Parish, who fired it past a sliding Lisson from the right side. Faulkner also assisted.<\/p>\n
Warren replied at 5:48 off a turnover. After missing the net with an initial attempt, he got the puck back in short order and fired it into an open net from the right-wing circle. Nolan Laird had the lone assist on rookie Warren\u2019s first playoff goal.<\/p>\n
Faulkner connected at 11:39, firing the puck behind Lisson from a sharp angle near the boards to the goaltender\u2019s left. Aidan Young and Grayden Strohack earned assists.<\/p>\n
The Petes opened a 3-1 lead at 16:26. Lisson stopped McCallum\u2019s shot from the deep slot, but he backhanded the rebound under the goaltender\u2019s right pad. Levac and Walton received assists.<\/p>\n
Carey answered with an unassisted goal 34 seconds later, fending off a Leon Kolarik check and beating Rye with a wrister from the slot.<\/p>\n
Greer tied it 3-3 at 18:55 of the second period when his wide shot from inside the right point deflected off Petrovski\u2019s right skate past Rye. Kaden Pitre and Ethan Procyszyn drew assists on defenceman Greer\u2019s first career postseason goal.<\/p>\n
The Troops built a 19-7 edge in shots in the frame. Rye slid to his left post to deny Lirim Amidovski in the fourth minute and got enough of a Parker Vaughan drive in the seventh minute to send the puck skittering past the post. Lisson, who foiled Levac on a rebound attempt in close in the 14th minute, denied him breaking in alone seconds later.<\/p>\n
Neither team could find a go-ahead goal in the third period as the hosts outshot the Battalion 15-5. Lisson got his right pad on a Young shot in the sixth minute and made two stops on McCallum from the deep slot in the seventh. Lisson turned away a Young chance from the deep slot in the final minute.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost record of 18-26 in the second game of playoff series, including 4-12 on the road. The Troops are 10-12 since relocating to North Bay for the 2013-14 season … The Battalion has an all-time log of 16-27 in playoff overtime games \u2026 Greer led the Battalion with seven shots on goal. McCallum paced the Petes with seven … Each team went 0-for-3 on the power play … Opening lines included Procyszyn centring left winger Pitre and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Ryder Cali centring left winger Sebastien Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Warren skating between left winger Laird and right winger Vaughan. Evgeny Dubrovtsev centred left winger Arseny Pronin and right winger Carey … Defence pairings were Bronson Ride with Hayden Barch, Enright with Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Adrian Manzo … Mike McIvor backed up Lisson … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Brandt Harper, Alexander Karmanov and Shamar Moses … Enright turns 19 on Saturday. The Cobden, Ont., resident was a fourth-round pick in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection from the Renfrew Wolves U18s … The Troops spent two nights at Peterborough after leaving North Bay on Wednesday … Among the missing for Peterborough were Kaden McGregor and Matthew Soto, who left the opener and didn\u2019t return … Scott Ferguson and Derek Risebrough were the referees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Kieron Walton scored at 13:54 of overtime to lift the Peterborough Petes to a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League victory Friday night over the North Bay Battalion, evening the teams\u2019 best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at 1-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/03\/27221949\/GervaisOnAttack.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173593,"date":"2026-03-26T23:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T03:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173593"},"modified":"2026-03-27T23:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:35:00","slug":"battalion-wins-opener-1-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/battalion-wins-opener-1-0","title":{"rendered":"Battalion wins opener 1-0"},"content":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Goaltender Jack Lisson made 26 saves for the shutout in his Ontario Hockey League playoff debut as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Peterborough Petes 1-0 Thursday night in the opener of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
Lirim Amidovski scored the only goal as Lisson earned the Battalion\u2019s first playoff shutout since Mike McIvor made 36 saves in a 5-0 victory over the host Sudbury Wolves in the fourth-game finale of a conference semifinal series on April 18, 2024.<\/p>\n
Petes goaltender Easton Rye, also making his first OHL postseason appearance, faced 30 shots before 2,702 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.<\/p>\n
The second game is scheduled on the same ice at 7:05 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a tight hockey game it feels like it\u2019s going to take a bounce like it did there for a goal to go in to be the difference maker,\u201d said Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen, who celebrated his 41st birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the guys, obviously a good start. We know, if we\u2019re going to have success in the series, we had to get at least one here in this building, but it\u2019s just a start. We\u2019re going to have to regroup and get right back at it here tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amidovski scored at 15:43 of the second period when his screened wrister from the blue line hit the crossbar, deflected off Rye\u2019s back and rolled into the net. Nolan Laird drew the sole assist on Amidovski\u2019s fifth career playoff goal.<\/p>\n
Fifth-place North Bay, which had a 14-13 edge in shots in the frame, was shorthanded for six minutes early in the period after Nick Wellenreiter received a double minor for high-sticking and the Troops were assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice, but the fourth-place Petes failed to create any offence.<\/p>\n
The Battalion\u2019s best chance during its lone power play came in the eighth minute when Kaden Pitre drilled the puck off the post.<\/p>\n
The Battalion outshot the Petes 7-4 in the third period. The hosts\u2019 best chance came in the sixth minute when Grayden Strohack fired a shot from the blue line off the crossbar, and Adam Novotny threatened in tight in the 17th minute.<\/p>\n
Sebastien Gervais broke alone toward Rye in the 15th minute, but the pursuing Garrett Frazer foiled the play with a poke of his stick.<\/p>\n
Good work by the Troops in the Peterborough end kept Rye in the net until there were 47 seconds left to play, and the Petes were unable to generate a solid scoring chance with the extra skater.<\/p>\n
The first period saw tight checking, with each team recording nine shots. North Bay\u2019s best chance came early in the period when Rye sprawled to deny Cam Warren at the left side with the rebound of a right-wing drive by Amidovski. The Petes, who enjoyed two power plays in the period, tested Lisson with the man advantage in the sixth minute when Brayden McCallum took a long pass from Rye and broke in off the right wing.<\/p>\n
Bronson Ride and Strohack tangled in a spirited fight in the eighth minute, with Ride rallying from a slip to get the takedown.<\/p>\n
Game 2 can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.<\/p>\n
BATTALION BULLETS: Adam Dennis, Battalion president and director of hockey operations, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Jim Aspin Memorial Award as Executive of the Year by the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame. The award will be presented at the 45th annual induction and awards dinner May 2 at the Davedi Club … Rye played 95 regular-season games before his playoff debut, while Lisson played 52 … Amidovski and Ethan Procyszyn topped the Troops with five shots on goal apiece, and Novotny paced Peterborough with five … McCallum was credited with 11 faceoff wins in 12 attempts as the Petes were deemed to win 45 of 72 draws overall … The Battalion went 0-for-1 on the power play. Peterborough was 0-for-5 … Opening lines featured Procyszyn centring left winger Pitre and right winger Wellenreiter, Ryder Cali pivoting left winger Gervais and right winger Amidovski and Warren centring left winger Laird and right winger Parker Vaughan. Evgeny Dubrovtsev centred left winger Arseny Pronin and right winger Ryder Carey … Defence pairings were Ride with Hayden Barch, Aaron Enright with Kent Greer and Carter Kunopaski with Adrian Manzo … McIvor backed up Lisson … The Battalion was without Jonathan Kapageridis, Brandt Harper, Alexander Karmanov and Shamar Moses … Among the missing for Peterborough were Kaden McGregor and, as he has been all season, Lucas Karmiris … Brendan Kane and Sean Reid were the referees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. \u2014 Goaltender Jack Lisson made 26 saves for the shutout in his Ontario Hockey League playoff debut as the North Bay Battalion defeated the Peterborough Petes 1-0 Thursday night in the opener of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":173640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/03\/26214955\/LissonShutsDoor.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":173592,"date":"2026-03-25T14:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/?p=173592"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:47:47","slug":"troops-petes-set-to-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/article\/troops-petes-set-to-open","title":{"rendered":"Troops, Petes set to open"},"content":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The Ontario Hockey League\u2019s first-round playoff series between the North Bay Battalion and the Peterborough Petes, a virtual certainty long before becoming reality last Friday night, gets under way in the Lift Lock City at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n
In a weeks-long battle for home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal, Peterborough prevailed with a won-lost-extended record of 40-24-4 for 84 points, third in the East Division and fourth in the conference. North Bay was 38-26-4 for 80 points, second in the Central Division and fifth in the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing is just our ability to get better as the season went on, not even so much the last few games but the chase down to try to get home ice was really helpful,\u201d Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we clinched a playoff spot, we had that in our sights, and I thought the guys responded really well. We had some really good streaks and some weekends that we can draw upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oulahen, whose charges will play the second game at Peterborough on Friday night, said the playoffs mean a different level of competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery shift matters. Every little play matters. The intensity, the compete level, it ramps up bigtime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dealing with all that, Oulahen suggested, will require discipline.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mostly just about keeping our emotions and keeping an even-keel approach. We\u2019re obviously starting on the road against a really good, complete Peterborough Petes team. This probably has the makings to be a really entertaining series so, saying that, we\u2019re going to have to keep our emotions and keep everything in check.\u201d<\/p>\n
Battalion players have plenty of playoff history, whether acquired with the Troops or, in the cases of Sebastien Gervais and Kaden Pitre, with the Memorial Cup-winning Saginaw Spirit and Flint Firebirds respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some guys in our locker room with experience, but other guys are going to have to learn along the way, and we need our leadership group to handle that in the right way as well. But that\u2019s going to be the biggest thing for us going into these first couple of games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oulahen declined to say whether any of the Battalion injured might return for the opener. Shamar Moses, Aaron Enright and Brandt Harper all have sat out the last three games and in the case of Harper six before that.<\/p>\n
The Troops rested several regulars in the season finale Sunday, a 4-2 win over the visiting Sudbury Wolves. Jax Pereira, Lincoln Edwards, Devran Brown and Declan Gallivan, called up for that game, returned to their junior A clubs after it.<\/p>\n
Adam Novotny paced the Peterborough offence this season with a team-leading 34 goals and 31 assists for 65 points in 58 games. Aiden Young had 23 goals and a team-high 35 assists for 58 points in 62 games, and Matthew Soto produced 19 goals and 32 assists for 51 points in 68 games.<\/p>\n
The most prolific of the Petes, however, was Kieron Walton, who scored 16 goals and added 20 assists for 36 points in 29 games after a trade from Sudbury.<\/p>\n
Ethan Procyszyn topped the Troops with a team-leading 31 goals and 28 assists for 59 points in 65 games, and Nick Wellenreiter had 23 goals and a team-best 33 assists for 56 points in 68 games. Lirim Amidovski scored 25 goals and earned 23 assists for 48 points in 65 games, while Evgeny Dubrovtsev had 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points in 68 games.<\/p>\n
Peterborough\u2019s Easton Rye was the OHL\u2019s workhorse among goaltenders, leading the league in games played with 57 while compiling a record of 38-16-3 with a 2.78 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage and three shutouts. His wins total was a league high.<\/p>\n
In 40 games, Battalion goaltender Jack Lisson went 24-11-3 with a 2.59 GAA, a .913 save percentage and one shutout. Partner Mike McIvor, who had an extended injury absence dating from early January, was 10-13-1 with a 3.40 GAA, an .884 save percentage and one shutout in 25 games.<\/p>\n
The series opener can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH BAY, Ont. \u2014 The Ontario Hockey League\u2019s first-round playoff series between the North Bay Battalion and the Peterborough Petes, a virtual certainty long before becoming reality last Friday night, gets under way in the Lift Lock City at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":92606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[694],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-173592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-694","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/cdn.ontariohockeyleague.com\/uploads\/north-bay_battalion\/2022\/10\/05134401\/OulahenEdited1.png",1600,900,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-battalion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]