The number one team in the CHL rolled into North Bay Thursday night, and when it was all said and done, the London Knights rolled out with a 4-1 victory.
“Didn’t mind our game at all tonight, lots of positives,” Battalion head coach Ryan Oulahen said. “Holding the best team in Canada to low on the shot count, not a lot of major, major chances in continuous fashion. I thought we could have stayed out of the penalty box a little bit better at times, but ultimately we move past this one and look ahead to Sunday.”
It was North Bay who got the ice breaker, coming 4:35 into the first period. Kent Greer (3) found the puck in the high slot and he wired it past Knights netminder Austin Elliott. The goal came on the first shot of the game for either team.
London quickly responded, 36 seconds in fact. This time it was a couple of Team Canada World Junior teammates connecting as Oliver Bonk (7) took a pass from Easton Cowan and wired it on Mike McIvor. McIvor had the puck hit off him and floated into the back of the net. With the assist, Cowan, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, extends his impressive OHL point streak to 62 games.
Late in the first, with just over four minutes to go, London struck again. This time on a giveaway by Battalion overager Andrew LeBlanc, the Knights picked up the puck and feathered a cross ice pass resulting in a one timed attempt. McIvor made a remarkable save on that chance, but the rebound eventually found its way to Henry Brzustewicz (8), who wired it past McIvor.
After the first, London held the edge at 2-1.
The old adage is if you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned. That’s exactly what happened to the Troops in the second as starting with a Bronson Ride penalty at the 20 minute mark of the first period, the Battalion served up three straight powerplays to London. Halfway through the middle stanza, with Parker Vaughan serving a slashing penalty, San Jose Sharks prospect Sam Dickinson (18) almost uncontested, roofing the puck over McIvor for a 3-1 lead.
Late in the period tempers boiled over as former Powassan Voodoo superstar Reyth Smith and Brzustewicz dropped the gloves. The rookie Smith channelled his inner Darren McCarty and landed some big blows, eventually taking down Brzustewicz.
After 40 minutes of play, the Knights led 3-1.
With less than a minute in the game, and on their fourth try, London sealed the deal with a Denver Barkey (16) empty net goal to make the final 4-1.
McIvor made 32 saves in defeat, including some incredible ones that will make the highlight reels, while opposite of him, overager Austin Elliot made 31 saves, and improved his record with London to 19-0-0-0.
For Oulahen, even with the recent setbacks, he’s confident the results will start to come for North Bay.
“I think the message is ‘hey, we have been playing some really good and consistent hockey in the last little bit,' It happens that we’re playing some heavy hitters in the league and I really feel like there will be a point in our schedule where it’s going to go really well for us.
“We have a lot of hockey coming up, especially in February and there’s going to be an opportunity to grab some points. The team right ahead of us (Ottawa 67’s) is almost begging us to pass them and never look back, so that’s going to be the goal here.”
North Bay is back in action Sunday when they welcome their Highway 17 rival, the Sudbury Wolves, to town. Puck drop is at 2 p.m.
“We’ve played them a lot,” explained Oulahen. “They play a lot different than London, and we have two days to prepare for that. We’re going to have to make some changes like we have been when playing them.
“It seems to be better when we’re at home because then we can dictate the match ups.”
