Barrie wins via shootout
BARRIE, Ont. — If the curtain raiser was any indication, the 2023-24 Ontario Hockey League season will be a spellbinder.
Eduard Sale scored the only goal of a shootout to give the Barrie Colts a 4-3 victory Thursday night over the North Bay Battalion in a thrilling first game of the schedule for both teams. It opened a home-and-home series.
Beau Jelsma had one goal and one assist and Kashawn Aitcheson and Connor Punnett the other goals for Barrie. Goaltender Ben West made 36 saves through overtime, including on two penalty shots, one in the first period and one in the extra frame.
Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel each scored one goal and assisted on another for the Battalion, which also got a goal from Ihnat Pazii. Goaltender Charlie Robertson faced 30 shots through overtime in a stellar showing before 3,342 at the Sadlon Arena as the Troops opened their 10th-anniversary season representing North Bay.
Defenceman Punnett took a cross-ice pass from Czech import Sale and drilled the puck home from high in the right-wing circle at 19:32 of the third period to knot the score 3-3 and precipitate overtime. Endo Meier, a Swiss import, also assisted.
The Battalion led 2-1 through 40 minutes before Jelsma scored from the left circle on the power play at 6:00 of the third frame.
Ukrainian Pazii, North Bay’s first-round pick in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft in July, seized a puck bounding out of a scrum and wheeled to beat West below the blocker for a 3-2 lead at 15:50 as Punnett served an interference penalty.
An action-filled overtime period saw the Troops forge a 6-3 edge in shots, including a penalty shot by Tnias Mathurin after he was impeded when loose on a rush at 4:01. Brice Cooke, set up by Justin Ertel, had a solo chance against West in the third minute.
In the shootout, with Barrie going first, Jelsma shot wide and Riley Patterson was stopped before Sale hoisted a backhander into the net. West foiled Romani, Dalyn Wakely and Pazii, who lost control of the puck to end it.
The teams face off again at 7 p.m. Friday in the Battalion’s home opener. Battalion defenceman Ty Nelson, who returned overnight from the training camp of the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken, was in attendance and is expected to play in the rematch.
Aitcheson tied it 1-1 at 8:41 of the second period, taking a pass from Jelsma on the end boards and beating Robertson from the slot. Roenick Jodoin had the other assist.
Van Steensel restored the North Bay lead at 11:21, banking the puck off West from behind the goal line at the right post and slipping behind the net to tuck the disc home after it apparently slid through the crease to the opposite side.
Romani opened the scoring at 6:42 of the first period. Van Steensel, about to head behind the net from the right side, fed the puck to the goalmouth, and Romani quickly converted. It was one of numerous chances he enjoyed in the period.
Carter Kostuch, the Battalion’s first-rounder in the OHL Priority Selection in April, was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down on a solo break-in at 17:41, but West denied him.
North Bay’s home opener, at which the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School band will perform, is to be preceded by a patio gathering featuring refreshments outside Memorial Gardens starting at 5 p.m.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has an all-time won-lost-tied record of 8-16-1 in season openers. The club has a won-lost-extended record of 4-4-2 in such games since moving to North Bay. The Troops have won four of their last six season openers, the other loss coming to the visiting Colts by 3-0 on Sept. 20, 2019 … Opening line combinations featured Wakely centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Romani, Ethan Procyszyn pivoting left winger Cooke and right winger Ertel and Dylan Richter centring left winger Pazii and right winger Jacob Therrien. Brett Bouchard centred left winger Kostuch and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairings had Mathurin with Paul Christopoulos, Alex Cajkovic with Wyatt Kennedy and Tyson Rismond with Brayden Turley … Apart from Nelson, the Battalion was without Mike McIvor, Liam Arnsby, Nolan Laird, Zach Wilson, Pasquale Zito and Stef Forgione … Dom DiVincentiis, who returned to North Bay on Wednesday night from the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, backed up Robertson … Ertel also returned Wednesday night from the Dallas Stars, while Mathurin was back in North Bay on Tuesday from the Detroit Red Wings … Making their OHL regular-season debuts were Pazii, Kostuch and Cajkovic, a Slovakian import … The Battalion went 1-for-3 on the power play. Barrie was 1-for-4 … In the absence of Arnsby, Christopoulos and Wakely served as alternate captains … Among the missing for Barrie were Anson Thornton and Jacob Frasca.
