Battalion Score Five Late Unanswered, Win 7-2
The Petes and Battalion continued their early-season rivalry on Friday night in snowy North Bay. Heading into the game, the season-series was split 1-1, with both games decided by one goal. This game appeared to be heading in the same direction as the Petes tied the game at 2-2 in the third period but the Battalion scored five straight in the final 11 minutes to win 7-2.
The Petes controlled play in the first half of the opening stanza, working an effective cycle to keep play in the North Bay end. True to form, though, no goals were scored in the opening minutes as Jake Smith and Matt Mancina stood their ground.
The play was back and forth as the minutes quickly ticked away in a mostly full North Bay Memorial Gardens. After pinning the Troops in their own zone for many of the waning moments of the first, the Battalion applied pressure of their own, but the period ended with the score still knotted at zeros. The teams entered the locker rooms with North Bay maintaining a 13-12 shot advantage.
The Battalion were the sharper of the two squads in the second period, piling shots on Mancina early. The Tecumseh-native stood his ground, but just seconds after the TV timeout rookie Zach Poirier fired a wrist-shot through a screen to open the scoring for North Bay from David Sherman.
The visiting Petes found some momentum toward the end of the period, but despite some sustained pressure, North Bay’s Alex Henriksson forced a turnover and walked into the Petes zone. The Swede found Mathew Santos, who roofed the puck to put the Battalion ahead 2-0 with just 44.8 seconds to play in the middle frame. This score would stick at the end of forty, with the Troops opening up a wide 31-20 shot margin.
The third period was all Petes to start as the visitors clearly found a spark in the intermission. Josh Maguire had a great shift early in the frame, working behind the net and findingAnthony Stefano out front to draw the Petes within one. Less than two minutes later, Steve Lorentz dangled his way through North Bay defenders below the goal line, and foundMichael Clarke with a great pass. The overager buried the puck to tie the game at 2-2, with Steve Varga adding an assist of his own on the play.
Brenden Miller got one back for North Bay at the 9:41 mark, though, tickling the twine with an unassisted slapper. With the Petes earning a late powerplay, things looked promising for the visitors to tie the game, but Hunter Garlent and Dominik Masin earned simultaneous tripping penalties. Kyle Wood capitalized on the ensuing 4-on-3 with just over five minutes to play to make it 4-2 Troops. The score jumped to 5-2 as the Petes gambled in the neutral zone and Mathew Santos scored from Ray Huether and Zach Bratina.
Poirier added his second of the night from Paul and McIvor at 18:23 to bring the score to 6-2. The Battalion weren’t done, though, adding another powerplay goal off the stick of Santos. 7-2 would be the final score of the game, as North Bay scored five straight in the final 11 minutes.
Mathew Santos, Zach Poirier, and Brenden Miller were the first, second and third stars of the game. Get your tickets to the Petes’ home game against the Niagara IceDogs and newly acquired Josh Ho-Sang on Saturday night.
