Simply put, this wasn’t the Troops night. After overcoming a 3-0 deficit for a 5-3 win in Peterborough one night earlier, the Battalion found themselves in a similar situation on Friday evening in Kingston. The difference was, the hole just kept getting bigger and the Battalion couldn’t climb out of it, leading to a 9-0 victory for Kingston (2-2-0-0).
“We just came out flat tonight,” says overage forward Andrew LeBlanc.
“At the end of the day, these are games that are going to happen and we have to regroup and get ready for tomorrow.”
Tomorrow (Saturday) the Battalion will find themselves in the nations capital, when they take on the 67s in Ottawa, with a 3 p.m. puck drop.
“We have a chance to win two out of the three games on this road trip and that is huge for us,” says LeBlanc.
It’s the first loss of the year for North Bay (3-1-0-0) and the first time they had allowed nine goals in a game since a 9-1 loss to Ottawa on February 9, 2020. For several members of the Battalion this was their first time going through a game like this at the OHL level and LeBlanc says as a veteran, it’s part of his job to make sure the young guys learn from this experience and get ready for what’s coming next.
He says, “Some of the guys have never faced this kind of adversity at this level, especially starting the year with three straight wins. We need to use that as motivation, and the young guys need to know that this is not an easy league, and you’re going to have to fight and work hard for every win.”
Kingston got things started in the first period when they found themselves on the power play and promptly took advantage, winning the offensive zone draw, playing the puck to the point and using a screen in front of North Bay goaltender Mike McIvor (2-1-0-0) to beat him for the 1-0 lead at 9:04. Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Emily Pieniniemi (2023 3rd round, #91 overall) took the shot, recording his first career OHL goal. Pieniniemi was Kingston’s 1st round pick (#10 overall) in the CHL import draft in 2023 but played most of last season in his native country of Finland, before signing an OHL Scholarship and Development agreement with Kingston this past offseason.
Also getting his first as a member of the Fronts was Cedrick Guindon. The former Owen Sound Attack forward came into the zone, trailing Thomas Uronen who drove to the net, getting a shot in close on McIvor. McIvor made the initial stop, and a secondary save on the rebound, but that save produced another rebound that went right onto the stick of Guindon at the bottom of the right-side circle. The Montreal Canadiens prospect (2022 4th round, #127 overall) spun around and flipped the puck at the net, getting it by McIvor for the 2-0 lead at 10:54.
At 14:52, Tyler Hopkins (2) gave the Frontenacs a 3-0 lead, firing a one timer from the slot, off a pass from Uronen.
Just before the period ended Matthew Soto (3) added to the Frontenacs lead, taking a pass from Jacob Battaglia right across the crease and redirecting the puck into the net for a 4-0 Kingston advantage at 19:36.
The last time North Bay allowed four goals in a single period was on February 25, 2024 when the Sarnia Sting scored four in the third period of a 6-5 loss for the Troops.
“We need to play better defensively,” first year rear guard Kent Greer said to the OHL tonight following the first period. “We had a tough start yesterday when we were down by three and we came back. I think we’ve got some room for improvement.”
Unfortunately for the Battalion they weren’t able to make any major adjustments, and the Fronts made it 5-0 almost six minutes into the second period. Battaglia threw a puck in front of the net which Gage Heyes deflected and sent it towards the end boards. Luke McNamara (3) picked it up behind the net and went for the wrap around. McIvor was accidently pulled out of position by one of his own players who was trying to get behind the net, and that allowed McNamara to easily slide the puck in over the goal line.
At 7:32 Buffalo Sabres prospect (2023 4th round, #109 overall) Ethan Miedema (2) slapped home a rebounded shot that got under a sprawling McIvor who had made the initial save off a Guindon chance in close. That made it 6-0 for Kingston, and it would mark the end of the night for McIvor. The second year North Bay goaltender made 16 saves on 22 shots, the majority of which seemed like high percentage scoring chances as the North Bay defense gave the Frontenacs way too much room to maneuver in the Battalion zone and were making tape to tape passes seemingly at will. Charlie Larocque came in for just his second career OHL appearance after picking up his first win over Barrie last Saturday. Larocque would make 12 saves on 15 shots in relief.
The Frontenacs, who scored seven goals in their first game of the season, a 7-2 victory over Peterborough, matched that mark when Battaglia (4) beat Larocque at 15:08 of the second period. That was the third point of the game for Battaglia. He got his fourth point shortly after by setting up Soto (4) for the eighth goal of the evening at 17:43. Battaglia sent a pass from behind the North Bay blueline up to the far side boards, and Soto raced in and slapped the puck by Larocque for an 8-0 Kingston lead.
Ben Pickell (2) rounded out the scoring at 6:34 of the third, the only goal in the final 20 minutes.
An interesting note, last February, the Battalion beat up on the Kingston Frontenacs with a 9-0 thumping at Memorial Gardens, getting their 27th win of the season in that contest.
North Bay was 0 for 4 on the power play and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill and were outshot 37-21.
“Coming off a loss like this, I can speak for myself and the team, we are all super eager and super hungry to get right back at it,” says LeBlanc. “Nobody is happy with that outcome and the best way to turn this into a positive is to go out and dominate our next game and have better outcomes.”
After their game against Ottawa they will have one more weekend of road games to conclude a six-game road trip, but this next stretch might be even tougher. Next weekend, they will head south of the border to Erie on Friday, before playing Niagara on Saturday. They’ll also host Owen Sound on Thanksgiving Monday, October 14. They won’t have more than two days off between games from the October 11 visit to Erie and a home game against Sudbury on October 20. It’s a total of six games in ten days.
