IceDogs lose to Battalion, Otters (updated)
Not much went right for the Niagara IceDogs Saturday night.
Coming off a convincing 5-1 victory over the Erie Otters Thursday to snap a 10-game losing streak, the IceDogs were hoping to build off that win but the North Bay Battalion had other ideas.
The Battalion, who are playing some of their best hockey of the season, continued their winning ways with an 8-2 victory in Ontario Hockey League action at the Meridian Centre.
The Battalion improved to 32-11-1-1 and are now tied with the Ottawa 67’s for top spot in the Eastern Conference with 66 points.
The IceDogs fell to 9-26-6-1 and remain in last place overall.
“It’s tough,” IceDogs coach Ryan Kuwabara said. “You have a good game Thursday and I thought the first period we played really well. We contained them as much as we could. We had a couple of bad bounces there in the second and third and it got away from us.
“We have to learn to battle through that adversity. It’s tough to play. It is what it is. Sometimes when you’re younger it’s tough to process that and you start worrying about things that aren’t important.”
The IceDogs permitted a pair of power-play goals, gave up another on what appeared to be goaltender interference on Josh Rosenzswag, as well as a short-handed marker when a pass skipped over Kevin He’s stick at the blueline which led to a breakaway goal by Josh Bloom in the second period.
“I thought we lost our composure a little bit when some of the goals might have been questionable,” Kuwabara said. “They’re young and emotional sometimes and they get off track a little bit.”
Kuwabara’s calm demeanour came in handy.
“Just keep them dialled in on the process,” he said. “You can’t control what the refs are going to call, bad bounces, any of that stuff. You can just control what you’re going to do your next shift. Just reset and get ready to play.”
The Battalion led 2-1 after one and 6-2 after two before giving up a pair in the third period.
One bright spot for the IceDogs was centre Daniel Michaud who netted both their goals and now has 17 goals and 31 points in 38 games. Michaud had 12 goals and 37 points all of last season split between the IceDogs and Oshawa.
“He’s a big body,” Kuwabara said. “He skates well and moves pucks well. When he gets in that front area he’s tough to contain. He’s a key for us, for sure.
“That’s why he plays so many minutes.”
Michaud was acquired from the Generals for a third-round pick in 2025 and a sixth-round pick in 2023.
The IceDogs travelled to Erie Sunday afternoon and dropped a 6-2 decision to the Otters.
Each team scored in the first period before the Otters netted three in the second to take control of the game.
Andrew LeBlanc and Declan Waddick scored for Niagara.
Rookie goaltender Charlie Burns, celebrating his 17th birthday, got his second career start and took the loss kicking out 34 shots.
Liam Gilmartin paced the Otters with a pair of goals while Noah Sedore, Malcolm Spence, Arytom Kulakov and Kaleb Smith added singles. Former IceDog Pano Fimis collected an assist.
Nolan Lalonde made 29 saves in net for Erie.
Niagara dropped to 9-27-6-1.
STATS PACK
Battalion 8 IceDogs 2
Niagara’s Daniel Michaud and North Bay’s Pasquale Zito.
Niagara IceDogs: Daniel Michaud 2 (16,17).
North Bay Battalion: Kyle Jackson 2 (26, 27); Kyle McDonald 2 (20, 21); Josh Bloom (23); Ty Nelson (16); Nikita Tarasevich (12); Ethan Procyszyn (5).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Dom DiVencentiis (32), by North Bay on Josh Rosenzwieg (39); Power plays: Niagara 1/4, North Bay 2/4; Penalty minutes: Niagara 8, North Bay 8.
Attendance: 4,503.
Next up: The IceDogs are in Peterborough Thursday, Hamilton Friday and home to Kitchener Saturday.
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