For the first time since the second round of the 2024 playoffs, the North Bay Battalion and Sudbury Wolves met on the ice as the Wolves travelled to the Gateway City for a match against the Troops. However, Sudbury had the last laugh as they took down North Bay 4-3 in overtime.
“It was an exciting one for the fans for sure, a lot of back and forth,” explained head coach Ryan Oulahen. “Disappointed to come out on the wrong end. When you get to overtime, you get a couple of chances go your way and if you don’t capitalize, you’re eventually going to give up chances the other way.
“They capitalized on their chances and got the extra point.”
“We did a good job of coming back,” added goaltender Mike McIvor. “Big goals by big players, but wasn’t enough to get the job done.
“We want to beat them really, really bad, so for them to beat us in overtime, we’ll remember that for next game.”
The first grade A scoring chance came just 15 seconds into the frame as on a giveaway Shamar Moses threw the puck wide of an empty net with Nate Krawchuk on the ice. Moments later, the Wolves nearly hit pay dirt, but they too put the puck wide of the Battalion net.
After a boarding and slew foot penalty was called against Sudbury’s Blake Clayton, the Troops got to work on a SEVEN minute powerplay. Almost allowing the penalty to expire fully, although with some good looks, Jacob Therrien (3) was able to solve Krawchuck to give the Battalion the ice breaker with just under four minutes left in the first period.
Just under two minutes later, Chase Coughlin (7) answered back, capitalizing on a rebound off of Mike McIvor to tie it 1-1 heading into the second period.
Just under 14 minutes into the second period, Sudbury broke the deadlock. On a couple of missed penalty calls in the neutral zone, the Wolves broke in on a two-on-one and Nathan Villeneuve (1) slapped in the one time shot over McIvor’s outstretched pad.
Late in the second with the Battalion killing another in a long list of penalties (a few were generous), McIvor made a 10 bell stop on Alex Pharand coming in a mini breakaway, stopping the shot with his left pad.
“The start of my season has been pretty good,” assessed McIvor on his play. “The team has gotten better and better every weekend. I can’t complain with my start, but I need to get better as well.”
Early in the third, 31 seconds to be exact, the Captain put his team on his back as Owen Van Steensel (2) received a slick pass from Shamar Moses and went bardown past Krawchuk, tying the game 2-2. Just over a minute later, the Battalion took the lead as a screened shot hit Nolan Laird (1) near the crease, fooling Krawchuk.
“When the pucks not going in, guys like that grip the stick a little more,” Oulahen said on Van Steensel. “It was a great shot, and he knows how to put the puck in the net. We’re looking forward to more offence from him”
Yet another minute later, Sudbury tied the game back up, as Kieron Walton (5) slide one under McIvor making the score 3-3. The first three minutes of the third period yielded three goals between the two teams.
Regulation couldn’t decide the game, so free hockey was on the docket.
Villeneuve had a few good chances early in the extra frame, but McIvor came up with massive stops. The LeBlanc twins tried to gain momentum back with a good shift spent mostly in Wolves territory.
However, 2:25 into overtime Walton (6) ended the game as he beat McIvor with a high shot over the blocker of the athletic netminder.
The Troops are back in action Thursday, October 24 when they welcome the Ottawa 67’s to town.
“We have had a bit of a grind of a schedule, so rest and recovery is on the menu,” Oulahen stated. “Not too much travel this weekend which is nice.
“From there, we’ll sharpen our game a bit. At times we are sound defensively, and other times we are running around a bit so we have to get back on track with that.”
“Not the best weekend, but we’re going to get better throughout the week, get back to business and have a better weekend here,” agreed McIvor.
