‘We’re generating a ton of plays in the offensive zone, we’re just not getting those second and third chances and we’re not bearing down’
Some teams just seem to have your number. In spite of their best efforts, the North Bay Battalion just can’t seem to solve the Kitchener Rangers, and it’s been that way for a while. Going into Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve game at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens, the Battalion had not beaten the Rangers since 2019 – and it stayed that way with a 4-2 Rangers win.
“I think we struggled a little bit reacting to their speed,” says Head Coach Ryan Oulahen following the Troops second straight loss. The first back-to-back regulation losses since Oct. 26-30. “There are a fast team and I think we made an adjustment in between the first and second period which, I think helped improve our play in the neutral zone and allowed us to play a bit more in the offensive zone.”
That adjustment was necessary given that the Battalion trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes and while they did get more chances as the game went on, out shooting Kitchener 30-28 overall, they didn’t get the goal they were looking for, especially in crucial moments such as a four-minute power play in the second period.
“We had some good looks, we got some pucks to the net but once again we weren’t able to find that key goal. Not scoring on that power play was probably the turning point. If we could have gotten one there that could have been the difference in coming back,” says Oulahen.
Kitchener took a 3-1 lead on a power play goal at 13:13 of the second period on a call that was border line at best. Shamar Moses was standing at the blue line and a Rangers player skated into him. The Rangers player fell down, and Moses did not and that constituted the Battalion forward sitting for two minutes for tripping. The Battalion almost killed off the advantage, but with about 10 seconds remaining, Luca Romano dropped the puck to Jack Pridham (23) after crossing the blue line and Pridham pinched into the high slot before releasing the shot that beat the Battalion netminder.
The Battalion staved off another penalty immediately after when Alexander Karmanov was called for slashing, which could also have been a big turning point in the game as it kept the Rangers lead to just a two-goal advantage.
North Bay then went to work on the power play Oulahen was addressing after Pridham was assessed a double minor for high sticking at 16:04. For much of the four minutes the Battalion cycled the puck well in the offensive zone. They made Kitchener goaltender Jason Schaubel move around quite a bit and they did a good job finding some loose pucks off of rebounds, but they weren’t able to make a dent into the score and went to the locker room trailing 3-1.
It had a similar sense of déjà vu for the Battalion, coming off a 3-1 loss to the Barrie Colts at home on Sunday. A game in which the Battalion dominated for long stretches but just couldn’t bury the puck.
“Much like that game, you come into it thinking that they are a high flying offensive team with the skills that they have, but it’s not the case,” says Oulahen. “They (Kitchener and Barrie) win games because of how good they defend. So I think that’s the case right there.”
It’s been an unfortunate trend over the last month. In five of North Bay’s eight games in December, they had scored two goals or less and were 3-3-1-0 overall going into Wednesday’s game. Compared to November, the Battalion had just one game where they scored less than three goals, that was a 4-0 shutout at the hands of the Oshawa Generals. In seven of their 11 games in November, North Bay scored four goals or more, while playing to a 7-3-1-0 record.
“What I’m seeing is, if we can find something early in the game, we seem to not grip the stick as tight. I think if we can generate that a little bit more, it seems to help our style of play. I also think there were some timing issues today with some guys coming back into the lineup where I felt our execution was just a tad off.”
As the Battalion look for more consistency in the goal scoring department, they are getting guys back into the lineup who contributed to putting numbers on the score sheet in the early part of the season. 2025 first-round pick Cam Warren is one of those guys. He had four goals and 14 points before an injury held him out of five games. The game on Wednesday against Kitchener was just his second game back and he says, “I’m feeling fine. But we’ve got to find a way to bear down and get some wins here.”
Warren added, “We’re generating a ton of plays in the offensive zone, we’re just not getting those second and third chances and we’re not bearing down.”
It is something the Battalion just haven’t been able to do against the Rangers for quite some time. It was the third game of the season, a Thursday in North Bay on the night of Sept. 26, 2019. The Battalion played host to the Rangers and jumped out to a two-goal lead midway through the second period. It was 2-2 after 40 minutes and remained that way through the third. In overtime, former captain Brad Chenier scored the game winner on a power play, set up from Brandon Coe for a 3-2 Troops OT victory. That was the last time the Battalion beat North Bay, when their starting goaltender, Jack Lisson, was just 13 years old.
Lisson (10-3-1-0) made 24 saves on 27 shots in a game where he had to make a number of high danger saves to keep his team within striking distance. Unfortunately, there were two instances where a broken play turned into a goal, and it was all the Rangers would need.
“We knew they were an off the rush team and we made two errors on pick ups which is not something we are accustomed to doing to be honest with you. That right there was not us and we need to clean that up and make that adjustment,” says Oulahen.
One of those goals came in the first period when Kitchener took the lead at 15:34 when Haeden Ellis (6) managed to chip the puck over the glove of Lisson. Ellis brought the puck into the zone down the middle and fired it off the end boards. It bounced toward Weston Cameron who fanned on the shot but got enough of it to slide it back over to Ellis in the slot. With Lisson committed to his left side to block Cameron, he wasn’t able to fully bounce back to his ride side, leaving that part of the net open, while a wide open Ellis pounced on the opportunity to make it 2-1.
This followed the Battalion opening the scoring at 9:42 of the first period. Nick Wellenreiter fed a perfect pass to the top of the zone to Brandt Harper and the Tampa, Florida native fired a one-timer from the right-side circle for his fourth goal of the season to give the Battalion a 1-0 lead.
Kitchener responded with Avery Anstis (6) skating by two players through the neutral zone, then ripping a shot across his body that beat Lisson on the glove side, tying the game 1-1 at 12:45.
Needing a couple of goals in the final frame, the Battalion came out of the gate getting their chances but still Schaubel managed to stop them at every turn. It wasn’t until late in the period when the captain Ethan Procyszyn managed to get the game to within a goal. Procyszyn got control of the puck on the right-side hash marks and redirected it back toward the net, catching Schaubel slightly out of position to get the home side to within a goal.
“We had a good push in the third period but came up just a little bit short against a good team,” says Oulahen. “I had a really good feeling when Pro scored that goal. I though for sure that this is a night where we are going to come back because that goal came off a really good four minute stretch where you almost felt like there was one coming. But we just couldn’t close that out. You can’t play perfect hockey in junior and so you have to find ways to score more goals and then you’re able to loosen up a bit.”
The Battalion (18-16-2-0) will look for an opportunity to turn things around on Friday when they head to Sudbury to play the Wolves for the third time this season. The Battalion have taken both of the previous contests, which were both in Sudbury. They beat the Wolves 4-3 in OT on Sept. 19 and then picked up a 3-1 win on Oct. 3.
