Parker Vaughan played the hero of the night, but it was Ethan Procyszyn who put the team on his back, propelling the North Bay Battalion to a 6-5 overtime win over the Brampton Steelheads on Saturday evening.
Vaughan’s goal at 4:48 of the OT period came after North Bay goaltender Jack Lisson made a huge stop on Brampton’s Porter Martone, allowing the Battalion to counter attack on a three-on-one. Jacob LeBlanc carried the puck down the left side of the zone and set up Vaughan with a wide-open pass in the slot, beating Jack Invankovic on the glove side for his fifth of the season (and first in a Battalion uniform), getting North Bay their second win of the New Year and snapping a two-game slide.
It’s the first time the Battalion have scored six goals in a game since a 6-5 overtime win over the Sudbury Wolves on November 17, and in the 17 games in between, the Battalion have scored more than three goals just three times.
The offense was due for a big performance and it was Procyszyn who led that charge, scoring his first career hat-trick. After being named the 10th captain in North Bay Battalion history on Thursday, Procyszyn put an early stamp on his leadership tenure with a goal in each period of regulation, beginning with the game's opening tally at 12:27 of the first.
Procyszyn (22) picked up the puck in the slot coming off a big rebound from a Jacob LeBlanc shot. Procyszyn then moved over to the right-side circle and shot across his body to cross up Steelheads starting goaltender Brayden Gillespie and get the puck under the goaltender's arm for a 1-0 North Bay lead.
Jacob LeBlanc, who set a new career high with five points in the game (1-4-5) also got into the goal column in the first when his shot from the right-side circle produced the same result, going under the blocker side arm of Gillespie for his 6th of the season, giving the Battalion a 2-1 lead at the time.
Goals by Angus MacDonell (13) and Parker Von Richter (5) at 15:34 and 19:58 evened things up for the Steelheads, erasing two separate one goal Battalion leads.
The game was physical from the get go and when Brampton’s Reed Gee threw a big hit on Stepan Chukharev behind the net, Briir Long took exception and dropped the gloves with Gee. The two combatants connected with several right hands before the officials jumped in and broke up the fight. It was one of three fights that took place throughout the night, with Gee stepping back into the ring to take on Chukharev in the second period. Zach Wilson and Gabriel Chiarot would go toe-to-toe late in the second as well.
Near the end of the first period the two benches were jawing at each other and Martone was giving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, resulting in a North Bay power play to begin the second period.
During the intermission, Jacob LeBlanc spoke to the OHL tonight broadcast and said, “I thought we had a really good first period. We came out strong on the forecheck, working them in their end. We have to keep that up in the second.”
LeBlanc was also asked about the late penalty assessed to the Steelheads and said, “We have to keep up the pressure, get more pucks to the net. We’ve got the power play to start the period and so we need to get on them early.”
Like a premonition, Procyszyn promptly put the Battalion back in front 3-2 on the power play marker, scoring his second of the game just seconds into the second period giving the Battalion their third lead of the night. Getting a stretch pass from LeBlanc, he broke away from a defender and buried a shot (again from the right side) for his 23rd of the year, nine seconds into the period.
The Troops then got their only two-goal lead of the night when the second LeBlanc twin got onto the score sheet. Zach Wigle brought the puck into the Steelheads zone and drew two defenders over to him, allowing Wigle to drop the puck back to Andrew LeBlanc in (once again) the right-side circle where he ripped a shot high glove side to beat Gillespie for his 7th of the season. It put the Battalion up 4-2 at 11:47 and it ended the night for Gillespie as he would be brought to the bench in favour of Ivankovic.
Gillespie was playing in his second game with Brampton. He was 9-15-1-0 with a 4.24 GAA and 0.869 save percentage in 27 games with Guelph. He made 26 saves in a 3-1 win in his debut with the Steelheads against Ottawa on Wednesday.
Ivankovic, the Steelheads first round pick (#7 overall in 2023) is still expected to be the number one netminder for the remainder of the season and both guys are going to have to be better down the stretch if the Steelheads want to make a run up the standings. The Steelheads sit seventh in the Eastern Conference but could be a lot higher if they shore up their defensive issues.
Brampton are the fifth highest scoring team in the league with 166 goals scored going into the game, but they’ve allowed 155 goals against, which is the fourth highest mark in the league, ten more than the Battalion had allowed coming into the game.
And the Trout proved once again that scoring goals isn’t the issue with their club as they promptly erased the two-goal deficit.
Chiarot (10) got the Steelheads back to within a goal at 14:40. Martone (22) tied the game at 2:01 in the third period, making it 4-4.
Procyszyn (24) gave the Battalion their fourth lead of the night when he secured his first career OHL hat-trick with a power play marker at 8:20. He went one-on-one into the zone and snapped a shot that Ivankovic made a half-hearted swipe at before it sailed by him for a 5-4 North Bay lead.
A lead that was once again erased by Brampton just over a minute later.
MacDonnell (14) tied the game at 9:35. He got a pass below the goal line and he skated out in front and fed it past Lisson on the backhand, banking it off the far side post and in.
Lisson (1-1-0-0) playing in his second career OHL Game and picked up his first career win, making 33 saves. His previous start was on January 3, when he made 22 saves in a loss to Sudbury.
After a trade deadline that saw the Battalion ship out some long-time Troops, the Battalion have entered a youth movement and these are the kinds of games that bring teams together. It’s these victories that shows them how the hard work can pay off, if you keep battling and never give in.
“We have a young team, but there’s a lot of belief in our room that we can still be a great team,” says LeBlanc. “We just have to tell the young guys to have fun and enjoy the game.”
And judging by the reaction on the ice after the OT winner by Vaughan, there didn’t appear to be anyone in a Troops uniform who didn’t enjoy that outcome.
The Battalion went 2 for 5 on the power play and 3 for 6 on the penalty kill. They are next on the ice when they host Barrie Thursday at Memorial Gardens.
