It was rivalry day in the Bay Sunday as the North Bay Battalion welcomed their Highway 17 foes, the Sudbury Wolves, to Memorial Gardens. After dropping the first two games against the Wolves this year, the Troops were victorious on Sunday 6-5 in overtime thanks to a two goal effort by Owen Van Steensel.
“Lots of offence and an entertaining game for the fans,” explained head coach Ryan Oulahen. “The building was unbelievable today. There was a lot of interesting events throughout the game that got the building going a bit.
“Good outcome for our guys. I really liked our third period, got out to a lead and their high powered offence push us back. I thought we settled down after our timeout and tie it up, and Owen Van Steensel getting the game winner, I thought he deserved that for sure.
The Battalion broke the ice early in the first, 1:59 in, in fact. Van Steensel (8) was the beneficiary of a tic-tac-toe play in which Ethan Procyszyn carried the puck into Wolves territory, fed Shamar Moses with a pass, who feathered it to Van Steensel who was moving into the middle. His shot beat an outstretched Nate Krawchuk for the goal.
After some penalty trouble late in the first, a team finally broke through on special teams, except it was a shorthanded goal…and it was Sudbury. Troops netminder Mike McIvor had made some ten bell saves, but eventually a puck was redirected off of Blake Clayton (2) and into the net.
The score after the first was 1-1.
In the second, Sudbury was buzzing. Again shorthanded, the Wolves had many chances. After killing off the penalty, San Jose Sharks prospect Quentin Musty (5) deked in and around McIvor, giving Sudbury the lead.
Reyth Smith (3) tied things back up moments later as Jacob LeBlanc fired the puck on Krawchuk who made the save, and Johnny on the spot was Reyth to tap the rebound home.
Only 34 seconds into the third period, Van Steensel barrelled in on the Wolves zone, only to be taken down and be awarded a penalty shot. On the penalty shot, Van Steensel worked his way in, made a move, but couldn’t beat the glove of Krawchuk.
Keeping up the early momentum was the Battalion, however. Procyszyn (15) picked up a rebound from a Van Steensel shot, sliding it under Krawchuk to give North Bay a 3-2 lead.
A few minutes later, Stephan Chukharev (2) roofed the puck over Krawchuk. The puck was in and out of the net so quick that the officials had to review it to make sure the goal counted.
Not to be outdone though, 21 seconds after Kocha Delic (4) was the trailer on a Musty breakaway. McIvor made the save, but no one was there to clear the puck out of harms way, and Delic popped it over McIvor.
Keeping up the momentum, the Wolves tied the game back up at 4-4. Rowan Henderson (2) beat McIvor over his blocker hand to tie it. On the next shift, Henderson (3) scored again, beating McIvor through the legs, to give Sudbury the lead. The goal came 25 seconds after the tying goal.
North Bay pressed the attack late, and were eventually rewarded for it. With 55.5 seconds left on the game clock, and McIvor out of his net, Jacob LeBlanc (4) received the puck in the slot and tied the game up at 5-5.
Just over halfway through the overtime frame, Van Steensel (9) was sprung on a mini breakaway by Procyszyn, leading to a slick goal between Krawchuk’s legs to give North Bay the win.
“These guys don’t quit, ever,” assessed Oulahen on the pushback shown in the third. “It’s a good strength of ours. There’s probably one game that got out of hand and that was in Kingston, other than that, even when we have gotten down, they bounce back.
“That’s a fragile moment right there, when they were not only able to tie it but take the lead on us, woah. You’re not sure where that’s going to go, but we were able to settle down, make our push, maybe even got a little bit better because of it and tie it up. So some good signs from the guys.”
Special teams ended the day as 4/5 on the penalty kill, and 0/5 on the Powerplay for North Bay. However, Sudbury had a shorthanded goal and some good looks with their penalty kill. Oulahen says that was to be expected.
“It’s something we talked about in the pre scout. They’re extremely aggressive, they put out their high end offensive players while they’re killing and sometimes those guys play freer. It’s been a strength of Sudbury is their penalty killing.
“I thought we struggled a bit with what we call the heat out there, but Mike made some massive saves out there. We’re not in the game in the first half without Mike.”
North Bay is back in action Thursday when they welcome the Guelph Storm to town. Puck drop from Memorial Gardens is at 7 p.m.
