Troops Score 3 In The Second Period To Beat Sarnia 5-1
By Carl Chimenti
The North Bay Battalion (23-28-4-0) scored three times in the middle frame and that was more than enough as they beat the Sarnia Sting (19-26-4-7) 5-1 in front of a large gathering of 4,171 Sunday afternoon, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
Sarnia was better in every aspect except for the final score as they out-shot North Bay 34-30 and controlled the face-off circle 32-30. Daylen Moses scored the lone Sting goal shorthanded which also came in the second period with Jack O’Brien drawing the only assist.
It was the fourth shorthanded goal for Sarnia this season with Moses having scored two of the four, with the last one coming on January 11th in a 5-3 win over the Erie Otters on the road. Moses was named the third star of the game.
Former Sting Jacob LeBlanc was the first star with a goal and an assist. Ihnat Pazii also scored as part of a two point effort. The second star went to Nick Wellenreiter with a goal. Both goaltenders played well as Evan Maillet turned away 25 of 29 shots and his counterpart Mike McIvor stopped all but one of the 34 shots he faced. North Bay scored the only power-play goal on either side and it turned out to be the eventual game winner from another former Sting and brother of Jacob, Andrew LeBlanc. Sarnia went 0/4, the Battalion 1/3.
The first period saw Sarnia out-shoot North Bay 13-9, but the Battalion scored the only goal. Jacob LeBlanc scored an unassisted goal at 1:32. There was an early bout as Hughston Hurt and Nick Wellenreiter went at it, with Hurt landing a couple of blows before both players fell to the ice. Both teams failed to score on their only chance with the man-advantage.
North Bay struck for three goals in the second period with Sarnia getting one back to open up a 4-1 lead after forty minutes of play. Pazii scored the second Battalion goal from Brayden Turley and Lirim Amidovski at 12:27. North Bay scored again 67 seconds later on the first half of a five on three power-play as Andrew LeBlanc scored, with Jacob Therrien and Shamar Moses drawing the assists.
On the second half of that two man North Bay advantage, Sarnia scored a shorthanded goal at 15:09. O’Brien led the charge and fed a pass to Daylen Moses and he sent a wrist shot low, that beat goaltender McIvor on the glove side, just inside the post. Less than two minutes later North Bay scored again on a goal from Wellenreiter with Jacob LeBlanc and Pazii assisting. The Battalion put up 14 shots on goal, to the Sting’s 9.
