North Bay embarked on their final away game of the regular season to take on an Eastern Conference rival in the Niagara IceDogs at the Meridian Centre Friday night. The Battalion bested the IceDogs in a tight 5-4 victory.
Mike McIvor was outstanding in net tonight stopping 28 of 32 shots tonight, keeping his team in it, especially during the second period.
“He’s been one of the best guys in the league all season, he’s a big guy back there for us,” said Battalion Captain Ethan Procyszyn on his teammate’s play on The OHL Tonight.
“The saves he makes every single game is kind of crazy to see.”
Adrian Manzo also had three assists on the night and the line of Ihnat Pazii, Lirim Amidovski and Nick Wellenreiter all had a goal tonight.
Both teams were coming off a back-to-back, each playing a game Thursday night. North Bay bested the Oshawa Generals in a commanding 5-1 victory and gained a crucial two points. Meanwhile, the IceDogs fell in a close battle 2-1 with the Troops closest competition in the standings, the Ottawa 67’s.
With the victory tonight North Bay has guaranteed at least one extra tie-breaker game on Tuesday, March 25 if they end up tying Ottawa in points. But North Bay will advance to the playoffs if Ottawa loses any of their next two games, Saturday against Erie or Sunday against Brantford in any fashion. North Bay can also clinch a playoff spot if they win on Sunday against the Sudbury Wolves.
“For us, the message is it’s up to us, we’ve got to do our job here. We have full belief that we can do it, just got to stick to our game plan. Focus on our next games, not really focus on what Ottawa is doing,” said Assistant Captain Jacob LeBlanc when asked on The OHL Tonight about what the Battalion game plan was going into the final games of the season.
The puck was dropped in the opening period and seconds later the Troops were given a power play opportunity as Lirim Amidovski was tripped up as he rushed the Niagara net. The man advantage bore no fruit, maybe because it had a different look as Jacob Therrien sat out of the lineup for an undisclosed reason.
Despite not converting on the power play North Bay soon found the scoreboard. Ihnat Pazii (10) rushed up the ice with Adrian Manzo leading the way and making space at the blue line. Pazii got to the slot, picked his spot and beat netminder Owen Flores cleanly to put the Battalion up 1-0 early.
North Bay would get their second chance at the man advantage, followed shortly thereafter by the IceDogs first. Neither team would be able to score in those moments.
The final 8 minutes of the first frame saw Niagara start to find their game, dominating zone time and exhausting the defence of the Battalion. Ultimately this heavy play would result in Sean Doherty finding Ivan Galiyanov (11) uncontested in the slot, who quickly ripped a shot into the corner of the Troops net and tying the game at 1-1.
The physical game intensified into the second stanza, Kevin He and Mike Levin led the charge for the IceDogs physical battles, while former IceDog defenseman Bronson Ride played hard along the boards for the Battalion.
This strong board play by Ride led to a play behind the Niagara net, winning the puck to Nick Wellenreiter who took a handful of strides along the goal line and backhand passed to Captain Ethan Procyszyn (33) who slammed home the go-ahead-goal, 2-1 Troops.
Ride however would soon find himself in the penalty box for roughing, giving the IceDogs their second power play of the game. This time the home team would find the back of the net thanks to slick passes from Matthew Virgilio to Ethan Czata and across the slot to Ryan Roobroeck (41) to tie the game at two.
Minutes later some chaos ensued along the IceDogs blue line. As an IceDogs player tried to exit his zone Brayden Turley caught him up high with a hit and immediately had to answer the bell (albeit briefly) with Alex Assadourian. This would lead to Turley being ejected from the game and a brief period of four on four, then three minutes of the remainder of the five-minute major charged to Turley.
Neither team would score during this extended sequence of special teams due to incredible efforts from netminders Owen Flores and Mike McIvor. Both goalies made repeated highlight-worthy saves on multiple odd-man rushes keeping the game tied 2-2.
The final period kicked off with a bang as the IceDogs Kevin He (36) was able to wire in the 3-2 goal after receiving a quick cross-crease pass from Andrei Loshko as a carryover penalty from the end of the second period expired. This would be credited as an even strength goal as the penalty had finished just one second earlier.
It wouldn’t take long for North Bay to strike back.
Lirim Amidovski in on the forecheck turned behind Niagara’s net and slid a perfect pass past three IceDogs to the stick of Nick Wellenreiter (11) who quickly ripped the puck past Flores to tie the game at three.
Twenty seconds later Andrew LeBlanc (13) skated in with speed and sent a low shot in for the 4-3 goal.
Niagara would once again answer back off a point shot by Noah Van Vliet that went in just under the pad of McIvor. North Bay would challenge the goal for goaltender interference as a Battalion player was pushed into McIvor during the goal. The goal was deemed good.
Once again, a tie, this time at 4-4.
The final goal came from what the Battalion do best, forechecking. The Troops won many a board battle and dominated the open ice in the IceDogs zone. Ihnat Pazii skated circles around Niagara’s end, passed the puck to Adrian Manzo, got it back and sent it through bodies in front of the net to be tipped home by Lirim Amidovski (19).
Even though Niagara would put forth a valiant final push, North Bay would claim victory 5-4.
Final shots on goal were 30 for North Bay and 32 for Niagara.
North Bay plays their final, and most consequential game of the regular season on Sunday, March 23 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens against the Sudbury Wolves.
Puck drop is 2 p.m.