It took the North Bay Battalion six games to dispose of the Steelheads in the opening round of last year's post-season and after 67 games in this year's regular season, the Battalion has stepped ahead of not only Mississauga, but every other division rival and have claimed their third straight Central Division championship after a 5-4 win on the road on Friday evening.
Since moving to North Bay, the Battalion now has four division titles, and its the first time they have taken that banner in three straight years.
Even if Sudbury ties the Battalion in points, the Troops hold the tiebreaker with more regulation wins.
It was the penultimate game of the year for North Bay and the regular season finale for the Steelheads who entered the contest with a one-point lead in the division race, after coming from behind in a 3-1 win over Niagara on Thursday. The IceDogs led 1-0 for much of the game, before the Steelheads rallied for three late goals to make Fridays affair a showdown for Central Division crown.
North Bay came into the game having won four of the five head-to-head matchups this season, dropping the first meeting on October 19th 7-6, but following that up with four straight victories and outscoring the Steelheads 16-8.
Anthony Romani, who has been the man of moment all season long added another accolade to his impressive season by scoring his fourth hat-trick of the year, his third of the game coming in a big moment at 10:09 of the third period. The fish fryer himself has been a menace against the Trout all year with 10 goals and 13 points in six games against Mississauga. His third of the evening and 56th of the season came in a crucial moment as the Steelheads brought the game to within a goal at 9:08 on a Finn Harding (10) power play marker to make it 3-2.
The Troops quickly found themselves on their own man advantage and took advantage, cycling the puck around the perimeter of the zone, before Justin Ertel set up Romani at the top of the right-side circle and he sent his shot in to regain the two-goal advantage at the time.
The Steelheads got back to within a goal a minute later at 11:16, but a Dalyn Wakely (38) empty net goal put the Troops ahead 5-3 and it would be just enough to hold off the Steelheads who added another late goal at 19:23 to round out the scoring.
It continues an impressive streak for the Troops this season who are now 31-2-0-1 when they lead after the second period.
Romani opened the scoring at 8:58. While notable for being his 54th goal of the season, it also meant Wakely, who picked up an assist on the play, has now eclipsed the century mark.
It has been impressive to watch the rise of The Port Hope, Ontario born Wakely who gives the Battalion two 100-point scorers this year, joining Romani who broke that barrier two weeks ago.
He’s just the fourth member of the 100-point club since the Troops moved to North Bay and it marks the first time that two players have accomplished the feat within the same season. The others were Justin Brazeau who finished his 2018-19 season with 63 goals and 113 points and Brandon Coe who netted 101 points in 2021-22.
Wakely also assisted on the Romani goal in the third period, giving him 64 assists this season, fourth in the OHL in that category.
It also puts him three behind the 67 Coe had in 2021-22 which is the franchise record in North Bay. Wakely’s three points moves him to 102 on the year, one ahead of Coe for third place on the single season point scorers.
His empty net goal was the 88th of his career which ties Brett McKenzie for second in career goals, behind Brazeau’s North Bay Battalion record of 128. Wakely is also sitting at 185 career points which is 11th in the teams total franchise history.
The highest scorer since the team moved to North Bay was Brazeau with 238 career points and combined with their years in Brampton, its Wojtek Wolski who leads the list at 328, Cody Hodgson is second at 243 and its not unrealistic to think that should Wakely return for his overage season next year, he could be chasing down almost everyone on the list outside of Wolski as he is sitting less than 60 points behind Hodgson right now.
After that opening goal, the Steelheads were playing catchup almost the entire night. They managed to tie the game at 12:47 on a shorthanded goal from Angus MacDonell (32) but Romani and the Troops regained the lead at 14:58. Romani forced a turnover at the Steelheads blue line and went right toward the net, lifting a shot glove side which Steelheads goaltender Jack Ivankovic could barely react to, giving Romani his 55th of the year and sent the Troops to the locker room with a 2-1 lead.
The Steelheads were relentless on the attack out of the gates in the second period with several attempts ending with the puck underneath a sprawling Dom DiVincentiis or with chances hitting the iron, including a shot that hit the corner of the crossbar and had to be reviewed to make sure it didn’t cross the line.
Shortly after the review, the Captain Liam Arnsby (11) walked into the slot and lifted a backhand over the goaltender to put the Troops ahead 3-1 for the lone goal of the middle frame.
The Battalion went ¼ on the power play and ½ on the penalty kill, whle being outshot by the Steelheads 41-29, including 27-16 over the last two periods. DiVincentiis made 37 saves on the evening to improve his record to 25-9-4-1 on the year. It’s just the third time since February 23rd that DiVincentiis has allowed more than three goals in a game. He had a six game stretch during that frame where he only allowed two goals per game, and he hasn’t recorded a regulation loss since February 18th.
The Battalion will finish out the year with a game against the Peterborough Petes on Sunday, still not knowing exactly where they sit in the standings as an Oshawa win over Kitchener has clinched the Eastern Division for the Generals, but a loss to the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday would open up the door for the Battalion to take their first conference title if they can beat the Petes either in regulation or overtime as the Battalion would hold the tiebreaker against the Generals which is Regulation and Overtime Wins.
