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IceDogs bounce Battalion in OT

Battalion net one point in visit to St. Catharines.
battalionamadiovsicedogsfeb2016
Josh Ho-Sang of the Niagara IceDogs and Mike Amadio of the North Bay Battalion battle for the puck in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night at St. Catharines. Photo by Sean Ryan.

Stephen Harper scored the game winner 57 seconds into overtime as the Niagara IceDogs came back to defeat the North Bay Battalion 3-2 Saturday night in St. Catharines.  

Despite a number of penalties and being outshot, the Troops took a 2-1 lead into the third period before Anthony DiFruscia evened the contest on a IceDogs power play to force the extra time.  

It was a fast paced start to the game. 

Early on Pavel Jenys fed Tyler Boston all alone at the side of the Battalion net on a 2 on 1 rush but Boston could not deflect the puck past the wide open net. 

However, moments later on a IceDogs 4 on 3 power play, Vince Dunn fed Stephen Harper for a beautiful one timer from the right wing past Jake Smith which gave the IceDogs a 1-0 lead at 7:01.  

The Battalion responded as Michael Amadio fed Mathew Santos who was the trailer on the play. The crafty overager walked in from the top of the circle into the slot and ripped a shot by Stephan Dhillon for his 18th of the campaign, which tied the game 1-1 at 9:34. 

Late in the period, a weird scrum took place at Mike Baird was pushed into the IceDogs bench and got into a scuffle literally on the bench with Ryan Mantha. In the bizarre incident, Anthony DiFruscia was handed an unsportsmanlike conduct which gave the Troops a late 1st period power play.  Baird and Mantha received roughing minors.  

The Troops got out of the first allowing only one goal against even though they served five first period penalties.  

“We were shorthanded a lot of that first period but I thought we played well on the PK and we got a pretty nice goal by Santos to tie it up,” Battalion defenceman Kyle Wood told the OHL Tonight during the first period intermission.  

The Battalion took the lead early in the second period on a nice give and go between Brett Hargrave and Kyle Wood.  

Hargrave came down the right wing into the IceDogs zone and fed Wood in the slot and he wired home a wrist shot past Stephen Dhillon on the Troops first shot of the second period at 5:55.  

Jake Smith was extremely sharp in that middle frame as he turned away all 18 shots he faced. 

Early third period, on another IceDogs power play, Harper again gets a quick shot away from the top of the circle on the right wing and Anthony DiFruscia tipped the shot past Smith to even things at 2-2 at 2:33 with Colella serving an early third period slashing infraction. 

The IceDogs sealed it in overtime as Stephen Harper got a feed again from Vince Dunn and cut in front of Jake Smith and ripped a low shot low blocker side to give the home side its first OT home win of the season.  

Jake Smith, who bounced back nicely after being pulled against the Greyhounds on Thursday night, was named the game’s third star of the game. 

The IceDogs win puts them one point ahead of the Battalion for third spot in the Eastern Conference with 58 points, while the Troops, with a game in hand sit one point behind with 57 points.  

The Troops are back on the ice Tuesday for a make-up game against the Ottawa 67’s in the Nation’s Capital.   


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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