Before Game 7 Battalion celebrate two weekly award winners
Two players whose Herculean efforts got the Battalion into Monday night's Game 7 with Oshawa were honoured by the OHL
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As the Battalion attempt to complete a comeback for the ages against Oshawa Monday night, they have players who were honoured for their roles in getting North Bay this far.
The Battalion’s Sandis Vilmanis is the Player of the Week and Mike McIvor the Goaltender of the Week for the period ended Sunday, the Ontario Hockey League announced Monday.
In four games, right winger Vilmanis scored four goals and earned five assists for nine points as North Bay battled back to force a deciding game in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Oshawa Generals after trailing 3-0 in games.
Vilmanis started the week with a goal in a 5-2 home-ice loss last Monday night. He recorded two goals, including the overtime winner, and two assists in a 5-4 victory at home Wednesday night before registering another assist in a 5-4 road win in double overtime Friday night. Vilmanis closed the week with a goal and two assists in an 8-1 home-ice decision Sunday which mandated Game 7 at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Oshawa.
A Latvian import acquired from the Sarnia Sting in a trade Jan. 6, Vilmanis led playoff scorers through Sunday with 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points in 15 games. A first-round pick by Sarnia, 12th overall, in the 2022 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, the six-foot-two, 192-pound Riga native, who turned 20 on Jan. 23, was a fifth-round selection of the Florida Panthers in the 2022 National Hockey League Draft and has a signed a three-year entry-level contract.
McIvor, who received the award for the second time in this postseason, had a 3-1 won-lost record with a 3.13 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage, making 129 saves in the four games.
McIvor stopped 26 of 31 shots in the Game 3 loss Monday night before backstopping the Battalion’s first win of the series in the fourth game, blocking 27 of 31 shots in the overtime victory. On Friday night, he turned aside 41 of 45 shots in the double overtime decision before ending the week with a 35-save performance Sunday.
In 14 games since taking over from Dom DiVincentiis, who left Game 2 of the Battalion’s first-round series against the Kingston Frontenacs with a first-period injury, rookie McIvor has a 2.58 GAA, a .917 save percentage, one shutout and a 10-4 record.
In 18 games during the regular season, he had a won-lost-extended record of 8-9-0 with a 3.78 GAA, an .876 save percentage and one shutout.
The Battalion chose the Warkworth, Ont., resident in the fourth round, 83rd overall, of the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from the Quinte Red Devils U16s. The six-foot, 165-pound McIvor turned 18 on March 22.
McIvor also won the award for the week of April 8-14 during the Battalion’s conference semifinal against the Sudbury Wolves, which the Troops swept in four games.
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