The 2 and 1 North Bay Battalion is back on home ice tonight when they face off against the Mississauga Steelheads.
The Steelheads sport a 1-0 record and defeated the Kingston Frontenacs 7-2 last Saturday night.
“They’ve obviously been off to a really good start as well, beating a really good home club in Kingston,” said coach Ryan Oulahen of the Battalion.
North Bay downed the visiting Sudbury Wolves 3-2 Monday after splitting two games last week, winning 7-4 at home Thursday night over the Peterborough Petes before suffering a 4-1 road setback the next night to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
The Battalion top line of Kyle Jackson-Matey Petrov-Brandon Coe has been providing most of the offence early on.
Coe sits tied for second in points with 6, while Jackson also sports 6 points including 5 assists, and Petrov, who had a hat trick in his first OHL contest versus Peterborough, has four goals and one assist for five points.
Oulahen has been impressed on and off the ice by Petrov, a Russian who was the No. 1 selection in the 2020 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
“He’s got exceptional hockey IQ. Certainly, his skills and what he can do with the puck are self-explanatory,” he said during Wednesday's media conference.
“Overall, we’ve got some good play from top-end guys who got some timely goals, and our goaltending has been very strong as well,” added Oulahen, alluding to Joe Vrbetic, who backstopped the two wins, and Dom DiVincentiis.
The Battalion continue the homestand on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. as they host Connor Punnett and the Barrie Colts.
Tonight's puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
