OHL Roundup: Second half officially kicks off

The second half of the Ontario Hockey League season kicked off on Saturday night with seven games on the schedule.

Saturday was the first set of league games following a seven-day layoff around Christmas.

In Sudbury. Nathan Pancel scored a pair of goals to lead the Sudbury Wolves to a 4-2 win over the North Bay Battalion. Mathew Campagna set up three goals in the win while Nicolas Baptiste set up two goals for the Wolves. Nathan Cull and Connor Crisp also scored for Sudbury in the win while goaltender Franky Palazzese stopped 28 shots as the Wolves won their ninth straight game. Jamie Lewis and Barclay Goodrow scored for North Bay in the loss. The win improves the Wolves record to 19-9-3-3 while North Bay falls to 18-16-2-0.

In Belleville, Philippe Trudeau stopped 41 shots as the Ottawa 67’s blanked the Belleville Bulls 5-0. Connor Brown scored twice for Ottawa in the win while Joseph Blandisi and Jacob Middleton added two assists each. Sam Studnicka had a goal and an assist for the 67’s. Dante Salituro and Ryan Van Stralen also scored for Ottawa, who improved to 12-19-1-2 with the win. Charlie Graham made 32 saves for Belleville (9-22-2-2).

In Peterborough, Brandon Devlin scored a pair of goals as the Peterborough Petes doubled up the Oshawa Generals 4-2. Goaltender Andrew D’Agostini stopped 31 shots for the Petes (14-19-0-4). Nick Ritchie and Stephen Nosad also scored for Peterborough. Daniel Altshuller made 28 saves for Oshawa (24-10-0-3).  Matt Hore and Michael Dal Colle scored for the Generals in the loss.

In Windsor, Dalen Kuchemy stopped 33 shots as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Saginaw spirit 4-1. Brady Vail had a goal and an assist for Windsor (22-12-1-2). Nikita Yazkov, Steven Janes and Remy Giftopoulos also scored for the Spitfires in the win. Justin Kea had the lone goal for Saginaw (16-15-4-1). Nikita Serebryakov stopped 33 shots for the Spirit.

In Barrie, Brett Foy scored a pair of goals to lead the Mississauga Steelheads to a 4-3 win over the Barrie Colts. Goaltender Spencer Martin stopped 35 shots for the Steelheads (15-18-1-3). Bryson Cianfrone had a goal and two assists in the win while Trevor Carrick also scored for Mississauga. Andrew Mangiapane, Justin Scott and Tyson Fawcett scored for Barrie (18-14-1-2).

In Kitchener, Brandon Robinson scored three goals as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Erie Otters 6-2. Justin Bailey added a pair of goals for Kitchener (13-21-0-1). Mason Kohn also scored for the Rangers while goaltender Jordan DeKort stopped 31 shots in the win. Devin Williams stopped 35 shots for Erie (29-6-1-0). Brendan Gaunce scored both goals for Erie in the loss.

In Owen Sound, Gemel Smith had two goals and two assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Niagara IceDogs 6-2. Kurtis Gabriel, Tyler MacArthur and Gilbert Gabor added a goal and an assist each for Owen Sound (18-12-3-3). Jeffrey Gilligan set up a pair of goals for the Attack while Kurtis MacDermid also scored in the win. Brent Moran made 34 saves for the IceDogs (11-21-2-2). Alexander Protapovich and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Niagara in the loss.

The second half of the season continues on Sunday with eight more games, including a pair of outdoor contests at Comerica Park in Detroit as part of the NHL’s Winter Classic. The Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires face off at 1:30 p.m. while Plymouth and London face off at Comerica at 5:00 p.m.

Among other games on Sunday is the Soo Greyhounds first post-Christmas game as they host the Sudbury Wolves in a 2:00 p.m. start at the Essar Centre.