The North Bay Battalion is preparing for an elimination game. While today is a new day, the Battalion head coach finds it difficult not to continue to look back at an amazing 6-5 overtime comeback win that gives the Battalion a 3-0 series lead over the Sudbury Wolves with game 4 Thursday night in Sudbury.
Dalyn Wakely scored his second goal of the game at 12:17 of overtime Tuesday night to give the visiting Battalion a stranglehold in the OHL Eastern Conference semifinal.
The win came after the Troops trailed 5-2 after two periods and 5-3 with less than four minutes left in the third.
“That was a wild ending to that game, and luckily we came out on the good side of it,” said coach Ryan Oulahen, whose charges visit Sudbury at 7:05 p.m. Thursday with a chance to end the series.
North Bay led 2-0 early on goals by Ihnat Pazii and Wakely before Sudbury answered with three first-period tallies, including two by Nathan Villeneuve, and added two more in the second frame, when the Battalion was outshot 12-0.
“I wasn’t too concerned about the result,” said Oulahen. “I just wanted our team to get back to playing the game, so we’d get back to it and start doing some good things, and we did that. Our third and our overtime were very, very good.”
North Bay, which held a 15-8 edge in third-period shots, outshot Sudbury 12-11 in overtime. The Wolves forged a game-long advantage of 46-34.
“I just love the group, the resiliency in this group,” said Oulahen. “It is almost like a superpower with these guys, the coachability and the belief that they have in themselves. I think that’s because they’ve been together for so long. But, in saying that, we’ve learned a lot from that game, because you got to see what a talented team the Sudbury Wolves can be.”
With Dom DiVincentiis still out with his lower body injury, rookie Mike McIvor is hoping to continue his playoff magic.
The former U18 Trappers goalie sports a 6-1 won-lost record since relieving the injured Dom DiVincentiis in Game 2 of a five-game ouster of the Kingston Frontenacs in a conference quarterfinal, is third in postseason wins behind the seven posted by Michael Simpson of the London Knights and Oshawa’s Jacob Oster.
McIvor ranks fifth in the league with a 2.61 goals-against average and fourth with a .910 save percentage.
“We knew he was going to be ready if his time came,” noted Oulahen.
“Again, it’s the confidence that I talk about. Now you’re in a rhythm. Now you’ve got that confidence going. I don’t know much about goaltending, but he’s obviously feeling good about himself and, again, we have that confidence in him.”
Game 4 can be seen live in North Bay on YourTV Channels 12 and 700. A fifth game, if necessary, would be played at Memorial Gardens on Saturday night.
