He scored 58 goals in 68 games last season, and he’s now got one in 2024-25. Yes, it was an empty net goal, but for Anthony Romani, getting that first one was not only the 90th goal of his career, but it was the one that finally allowed the Battalion to breath after 60 hard fought minutes against the Barrie Colts. Romani’s goal at 19:13 made it 3-1, while Lirim Amidovski (2) added an extra empty net goal at 19:35 to secure a 4-1 win at the Sadlon Arena over their division rivals.
“You always love the empty netters,” says Romani. “It was basically a free goal and I’ll take those any time I can.”
The Battalion improve to 2-0-0 on the young season, getting a victory against a team that is expected to be a strong playoff contender this year.
“It’s always a big game for us when we go into Barrie, we have a big rivalry with them. We battled it out and got the two points,” says Romani.
The Battalion improve to 2-0-0 on the young season and paving the way for the victory was Charlie Larocque who made 23 saves in net picking up his first career OHL win.
“Even though I wasn’t with the team last year, it was nice to spoil [Barrie’s] home opener this year,” Larocque said to Rogers TV after the win, acknowledging the 4-3 loss the Troops suffered at the hands of the Colts to kick off the 2023-24 campaign.
Larocque, who played for the Carleton Place Jr. Canadians of the EOJHL Junior B league last season talked about some of the adjustments he has had to make with the jump to major junior.
“It’s faster, and the players are smarter,” he says.
The win also would not have been possible if not for Amidovski, who not only scored on the empty net, but he picked up the game winning goal with just under five minutes to play in the third period. Amidovski, from nearby Alliston, Ontario, scored 11 goals and 20 points for the Barrie Colts U16 team in 2021-2022 and netted his first-two goals of the season against the Colts on Saturday evening.
After the Colts tied the game early in the third period, the Battalion regained the lead on Amidovski’s rush into the zone. He entered on the far side boards then cut across the left side face-off circle, getting around the pressure from the Barrie defense and snapped a shot that beat Sam Hillbrandt (1-1-0) on the glove side at 15:03. Brayden Turley picked up his first assist of the season on the play.
The Colts didn’t have some big names in their lineup, including their captain Beau Jelsma (out with a shoulder injury until November) and Utah Hockey Club prospect Cole Beaudoin, who got an extended stay at the NHL teams training camp. Beaudoin and Jelsma were two of the teams top three scorers last season with a combined 65 goals and 103 points.
Regardless, the Colts who were there, were not going to give up anything easy and they tested Larocque early and often. Making his OHL debut, Larocque stopped two good shots within the first minutes, including a chance at 41 seconds when Dallas Stars prospect Emil Hemming (1st round 2024, #29 overall) came into the zone just ahead of a Battalion defender and laid in a snapshot from above the circle which Larocque mad a right pad save on.
Both teams were winners in their respective season openers, North Bay 4-0 over Peterborough and Barrie 3-1 over the Wolves in Sudbury. Both teams were perfect on the penalty kill and each team scored one power play goal, but those penalty kills wouldn’t stay perfect two games into the season, with both teams getting plenty of chances on the man advantage.
In Friday’s game against Peterborough, the Battalion found themselves short handed for most of the game when Jacob Therrien was sent off with a game misconduct less than 10 minutes into the first period. On Saturday evening, it was the Battalion on the other side of similar situation, when Vancouver Canucks 4th round draft pick (#125 overall in 2024) Riley Patterson was sent off for a match penalty for a slew foot. However, the Troops couldn’t do anything with the five-minute advantage, and in fact, ended the extended power play at 4-on-4 when Ethan Procyszyn was called for hooking at 5:44.
As the Patterson penalty expired, the Colts were about to have about a 40 second power play, but Brad Gardiner was called for hooking at 7:09, meaning the 4-on-4 action continued, until Procyszyn came out of the box, when he promptly scored his second goal of the season.
The power play marker at 8:03 was delivered after a play deep in the Colts zone where Owen Van Steensel found Romani behind the net, who then flipped it out front to Procyszyn who slipped it past the Barrie goaltender Hillebrandt for a 1-0 North Bay lead.
“It’s great to get those first couple of goals under your belt, it gives you a boost of confidence to keep going, and look to get a couple more,” Procyszyn told Rogers TV during the intermission after the first period.
Larocque made another solid save at 11:38 when Nolan Newton was wide open in the left side of the zone and the French River, Ontario product sent a shot low towards Larocque, but the Troops netminder trapped it perfectly, without giving up a rebound in the process.
The Colts had a 2-on-1 chance just over 14 minutes in, with Bode Stewart and Brad Gardiner moving into the zone, but Stewarts pass across to Gardiner was stopped by the lone defender on the back check, Bronson Ride. The 6’7” Ride laid his stick down, extending his reach to make sure Gardiner couldn’t receive any piece of the puck, allowing the Battalion to clear the zone.
A hit in the second period led to a fight between North Bay’s Nolan Laird and Barrie’s Evan Passmore, and the Troops forward and the Colts d-man went at it, throwing some hard punches that really connected. But the fight seemingly sparked the Colts who fires consecutive quality chances against Larocque, who once again turned them aside, keeping the score 1-0 for North Bay, despite being outshot 5-1 through the first eight minutes of the second period.
The rest of the period was played evenly, with teams trading chances, but no one able to find the scoreboard. In the last two minutes of the period the Troops were given a power play with the Colts Parker Vaughn sent to the box for checking from behind. But it lasted just under a minute when Jacob LeBlanc was penalized for interference. On the ensuing 4-on-4, the Colts got a great chance in the zone when Kashawn Aitcheson was wide open on the near side and blasted a low glove side shot toward Larocque, but the first-year netminder flashed the leather and snatched that puck out of the air, leaving Aitcheson looking up to the rafters in disbelief.
30 seconds into the third period, the Battalion had Wyatt Kennedy go off for four minutes, receiving a double minor for high sticking. He was pushed from behind in the Barrie zone, and as he turned around he was a little careless with his stick and it scraped across the face of a Barrie player, resulting in the call by the officials.
On the ensuing power play, the Colts finally beat Larocque, when Henning fed a pass across the slot to Aitchson (2) on the rush and Aitcheson put the pucks into Larocque’s pads, bounced off and slid behind Larocque to tie the game 1-1 at 2:34.
The Battalion were 1 for 5 on the power play and 6 for 7 on the penalty kill, outshooting the Colts 27-24.
You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season if you’re the Battalion, collecting all four points that were up for grabs. This game ends opening weekend for North Bay, who will play three games in three days next weekend with stops in Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa.
