Battalion overcomes early deficit to win third straight game

Ethan Procyszyn seems to enjoy playing against the Petes. In four games last season the Battalion’s 2022 first round draft pick (#20 overall) had two goals and three points in four games against the Petes and he’s matched that total through two games against Peteborough this season, with both goals coming in the third period of the game. The first came late in a game the Troops were already winning 3-0, but the latest broke a 3-3 deadlock at 7:56, standing as the game winner in a 5-3 victory for North Bay (3-0-0-0), giving them their first three game win streak to start a season since 2017-18 when they beat Barrie and Sudbury twice, before losing their next eight contests.

Procyszyn, who scored 15 goals, and 36 points last season was drafted in the third round (#68 overall) by the Anaheim Ducks in the June NHL entry draft and Ducks management must be happy with the work he’s put in over the summer as it’s paying off for the Troops in the early going. One thing scouts said about Procyszyn going into the draft was, “Procyszyn plays with a high motor, making it difficult for attackers to gain ice or position. He plays with a sense of disruption, pressuring the puck and forcing poor decisions from puck-carriers.”

The Hockey News must feel that description was accurate on Thursday evening when he scored his third of the season as he forced Peterborough to make a poor decision leading to his goal. With the Petes backing up into their own zone, they tried a cross zone pass that was a little to soft for the home side, but for Procyszyn it was just the right speed for him to jump up in between the Petes, steal the puck and get a chance all alone on the Peterborough netminder, a chance which Procyszyn did not miss, sending the puck into the net on the glove side for a 4-3 North Bay lead.

With three goals in three games to start the season, Procyszyn is fitting in nicely on that top line with Owen Van Steensel and Anthony Romani, both of whom found their names on the scoresheet as well, with Romani getting his second goal of the year, finding the empty net at 19:55, and Van Steensel assisting on North Bay’s second goal of the game.

It was a rematch of the season opener from just seven days prior when the Battalion shut out Peterborough 4-0 and as the Battalion paid a visit to the Electric City, they had a string of recent success on their side. They haven’t lost to the Petes in Peterborough (0-3-0-0) in the regular season since November 25, 2021. In the four games since then, the Battalion had won all four by a combined score of 20-8. Overall, North Bay was 11-1-1 against the Petes going back to October 7, 2021.

When they met in North Bay to begin the 2024-25 season it took almost 11 minutes for the first goal to be scored, but this rematch started fast and furious on Thursday night when the Petes went up 3-0 before the game was even nine minutes old.

Colin Fitzgerald (2024 1st round, 3rd overall OHL Priority selection) started things off when he put his hometown team on the board early. The Peterborough product finished off a passing play which started with Blake Gowan getting the puck into the neutral zone to Ryder McIntyre who passed it to the top of the slot to Fitzgerald who ripped the one-timer by North Bay goaltender Mike McIvor (2-0-0-0), the first goal allowed by the Battalion netminder this season. It was also the first career goal for Fitzgerald, a nice moment for him in front of friends and family.

The Battalion got into penalty trouble shortly after giving up the opening goal. Brayden Turley was called for roughing at 2:17. Zach Wilson received a double minor for high sticking at 4:32 and during the first half of the double minor, the Petes potted in their second goal, courtesy of Quinton Pagé (1) at 6:28.

During the second half of the double minor, Natan Teshome was called for tripping at 7:20. The Battalion killed off over a minute of 5-on-3, but at 8:49 the Petes made it 3-0 on the scoreboard when Fitzgerald (2) got a rebound off a shot from Chase Lefebvre and spun around and sent the puck past McIvor.

After a timeout called by Head Coach Ryan Oulahen, the Battalion (who were playing 5-on-5 for the first time in over five minutes) responded with a goal of their own. Kent Greer locked down his first career goal. The 2024 second round pick (#29 overall) pounced all over a rebound off a shot from Ihnat Pazii. Greer was pinching in behind the play and was wide open between the hashmarks after Pazii’s shot hit the Pete’s netminder and bounced right onto the stick of Greer who cut the deficit to 3-1 at 9:10.

The Battalion quickly made it 3-2 when Jacob LeBlanc (1) blasted a shot from the left side circle which Zach Bowen (0-3-0-0) had no chance on. The Petes netminder was looking to his glove side as the Troops entered the zone, but as the captain Van Steensel slid the puck across the zone, Bowen tried to get over to his blocker side, but LeBlanc’s shot went back across the body and hit top shelf on the far side post.

“This is just two teams playing hard,” Van Steensel told the OHL Tonight following the first twenty minutes. “That’s what everyone wants, they want to play a good game, so we’re working hard out there.”

It was the first regular season goal for LeBlanc in a Battalion uniform. He had 13 points, all assists, in 31 games after a trade brought him in from Sarnia at the deadline last year. He had a goal and five assists in 16 playoff games for North Bay. He’s the eighth different goal scorer for North Bay this season, three of them are blue liners, joining Greer and Wyatt Kennedy who scored in the season opener on September 27.

Even with back-to-back four goal performances in their first two games (4-0 win over Peterborough, 4-1 win over Barrie), Van Steensel says the team still has some work to do on the offensive side. “We were really good on the defensive end, but I think we need to find a way to sharpen up in the o-zone a little bit.”

The Battalion heeded Van Steensel’s words in the second period as they outshot the Petes 17-7 and managed to tie the game at 6:48. Lirim Amidovski (3) cut through the middle of the zone towards the far side circle and using a Petes defender as a screen, he lifted a shot that sent the puck over the shoulder of Bowen to tie the game 3-3.

It was as if the netminders reset themselves after allowing three goals as they put on a goaltender’s clinic the rest of the way in the second period.

Reyth Smith almost gave the Battalion the lead with under eight minutes to play, when he forced a turnover in the Petes zone that allowed him to be all alone in front of Bowen, but he couldn’t beat the Kanata, Ontario product on the blocker side.

Bowen then made a spectacular save as Amidovski and Andrew LeBlanc went in on a 2-on-1. Amidovski fed the puck through the slot to a wide-open LeBlanc who shot quickly to Bowen’s glove side, but Bowen went post to post, throwing his body across the blue paint to rob LeBlanc of what looked like a sure goal.

Moments later, two foes from the NOJHL met one on one when McIvor (Powassan Voodoos) stopped Lefebvre (French River Rapids) on a break away, when Lefebvre tried to go glove side.

Bowen robbed the Troops again 18:04 when Van Steensel shot into what appeared to be a wide-open net, but at the last second, Bowen through out his glove to snatch the puck out of the air, just before it crossed the goal line.

On the ensuing face-off the Petes got into the zone on a 2-on-1 but McIvor stopped Pagé in tight.

The Battalion went 1 for 4 on the power play and 5 for 7 on the penalty kill in front of 3730 fans at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. The Battalion will head to Kingston for their first meeting of the season against the Frontenacs who are 1-2-0-0 through their first three games.

Meantime, North Bay Battalion Head Coach Ryan Oulahen was named an Assistant Coach for the 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge on Wednesday. He will join the coaching staff of Kris Mallette and Gordie Dwyer for this new event which will feature first-year NHL Draft-eligible prospects from the CHL face off against USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP) Under-18 Team in a two-game series on November 26 in London, Ont., and November 27 in Oshawa, Ont. All three coaches recently helped Team Canada to a third consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this past August, and they will reprise the roles they served in Edmonton. Oulahen has also represented Canada on the national stage at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2014 (assistant coach, Canada Red), 2015 (assistant coach, Canada Black), and 2017 (head coach, Canada White). He also served as an assistant at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, winning gold.