The bigger end of the wishbone ended up with the North Bay Battalion in this turkey day battle.
Ethan Procyszyn scored on the power play 23 seconds into the third period, and Shamar Moses added a goal three minutes later as the Battalion broke open a 1-1 tie and held on to beat the Owen Sound Attack 4-2 in Ontario Hockey League action Thanksgiving Monday afternoon at the North Bay Memorial Gardens.
Ryder Carey and Jacob Therrien also scored for North Bay (5-3-0-0), which managed a pair of power play goals in the win.
Ben Cormier and Declan Waddick had the goals for Owen Sound (3-4-1-0), which had its three-game point streak come to an end. The Attack still have to be fairly satisfied with how their busy Thanksgiving weekend went, picking up four of a possible six points over a stretch of three games in four days.
It was 1-1 after two periods, and the Troops quickly took the lead in the third. They were on the power play and Carter George made the first save on a Jacob LeBlanc shot, but Procyszyn pounced on the rebound and tucked it under the Attack goaltender as he dived to his right. 2-1.
Moses made it a two goal game just over three minutes later. He picked up a rebound in front of George and deked to his right before putting the puck in, giving the Battalion a 3-1 advantage.
But the Attack answered quickly. With Procyszyn in the penalty box after a high sticking call, James Petrovski sent a long stretch pass from near his own net to Waddick. He had a partial lane to the goal, moving in on the right side and then putting the puck on his backend and trying to pass it out front. The puck caught the inside of Mike McIvor’s pad and bounced through his legs and into the back of the net. North Bay’s lead was cut to 3-2.
McIvor made a couple of big saves from there. Harry Nansi found Pierce Mbuyi open in slot – between the hash marks – and the Attack rookie tried a shot glove side, but was denied by North Bay’s netminder. Konnor Smith was stopped as well on a chance later in the period, when he tried to deke backhand and flip it in. McIvor stuck with him and made the save.
Carey scored on a breakaway with 2:23 remaining to restore North Bay’s two-goal lead, 4-2.
The second period had no goals, after the Attack and North Bay traded them in the first. Cormier made it 1-0 just two minutes after the opening faceoff. A pass attempt took a fortunate bounce for the Attack off a referee’s skate, and Rafik Varosyan swooped in to grab the puck behind the net. He found Cormier in front a couple steps outside the blue paint, and No. 8 put a high shot over McIvor’s glove to open the scoring.
Therrien hammered a one-timer home on the power play at 15:45 of the first period to tie the game 1-1.
McIvor made 25 saves in the win, while George stopped 21 taking the loss. Owen Sound outshot North Bay 27-25 while going 1 for 7 on the power play; the Battalion finished 2 for 6.
Next up for the Attack is a trip to Barrie on Thursday to take on the Colts. You can hear the game live on Kia of Owen Sound-Terry’s Trailer Service Bear Radio.
TROOPS BEAT BEARS, AGAIN
The Battalion have had the upper-hand in matchups with the Attack in recent seasons. Monday’s win was the fifth straight for North Bay over Attack teams. Owen Sound hasn’t beaten the Battalion since the 2019-20 campaign. The last win for Owen Sound over North Bay came on Dec. 15, 2019, a 3-1 win over the Troops at North Bay Memorial Gardens.
NO WIN IN WRAY’S RETURN
Owen Sound Attack head coach Scott Wray was given a warm welcome in his return to the North Bay Memorial Gardens. The Battalion prepared a tribute and the fans provided a standing ovation for Wray, who left the Battalion over the summer to become Owen Sound’s head coach after six seasons as an assistant in North Bay. Monday’s game was Wray’s first regular season contest back in North Bay as the coach of the Attack.