Get knocked down, you get right back up.
All season long, the Barrie Colts have bounced back from tough losses, and they did it again Saturday night.
A couple of days after a tough 5-3 loss to Brantford, the Colts picked themselves right back up with a solid 5-2 win over the North Bay Battalion in front of another sold-out crowd of 4,283 at Sadlon Arena.
William Schneid and Carter Lowe each had a goal and assist, and Arvin Jaswal turned aside 30 of 32 shots to pick up his 13th straight win between the pipes and move Barrie (43-13-2-4) back to within three points of Brantford atop the Eastern Conference standings.
When it comes to rebounding from a loss, few teams have been better this season than the Colts. Since an early season six-game losing streak ended on October 25, they have posted a 9-0-1 record coming off a defeat.
“We have a pretty resilient group, and we do a good job of flipping the page,” said Schneid of Barrie’s ability to put aside a loss. “We don’t get too down after losses. We watch the film, and we learn from it and our mistakes, and then we just try to be better the next night.”
The last time the Colts suffered a back-to-back loss was a 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of Saginaw on November 13.
That resiliency will be important come playoff time.
“In this league, you’re not going to see a team go 16-0 in the playoffs,” said Colts’ forward Mason Zebeski, who scored his 19th of the season and now has two goals and four points in his last two games. “Eventually, every team is going to lose, so the big thing for us is to try and not make that a habit of losing, and if you do lose, bounce back the next night.
“Especially in the playoffs, you can’t lose games in a row. You want to be able to bounce back, because some games are the next night or the day after, and you want to be able to respond right away.”
Cole Beaudoin, with his 30th of the season, and Eamon Edgar also scored for Barrie, which took advantage of North Bay (34-25-2-1) mistakes all evening.
Turnovers proved to be a key.
Just 2:07 into the game, Battalion blueliner Adrian Manzo coughed the puck up to Lowe. He then slid it into the slot for a charging Schneid, who beat Jack Lisson off the post and in.
A power-play marker midway through the first period by Nick Wellenreiter tied it up, but another costly turnover a little more than two minutes later put Barrie back on top when Cam Warren fanned on a pass in his own end.
The puck rolled right to Schneid, who returned the favour and set up Lowe in the slot.
Zebeski capitalized on another North Bay turnover late in the second to make it 4-2. Lirim Amidovski gave away the puck to Brad Gardiner along the boards in his own end, and the Barrie overager fed it to Gabriel Eliasson at the point. The import fired the puck toward the net, and it was redirected in front by Zebeski.
The giveaways continued into the third period when Ryder Cali had it roll off his stick to Edgar. The Barrie rookie walked in on Lesson and faked a deke to his backhand before sliding it around the goaltender on his forehand at 11:48 to make it 5-2 and complete the scoring.
All night, the Colts applied pressure up front and made the Battalion pay for its mistakes.
“I think the big thing for us is patience on the forecheck,” said Zebeski. “It’s not a pretty game, and it’s wave after wave mentality, but through the course of the game, you get to break down defencemen, and it’s frustrating for them to make plays in the defensive zone.
“That’s when we pounce on them and create opportunities off our forecheck. If we stay consistent and patient with that throughout the playoffs as well, it will work in our favour.”
Schneid says the Colts take pride in their forecheck.
We take pride in being heavy and hard and getting our stamps,” he said. “We think if we can just play physical and make the other team’s defence make plays faster than they want to, then it will play to our advantage.”
Barrie held a 34-16 edge in shots over a dominant first 40 minutes, but it was the North Bay power-play that allowed its Central Division rivals to hang around in this one.
Ethan Procyszyn, on the power-play, tied the contest 2-2 early in the second, but the Colts picked things back up in the second half of the frame and never really looked back.
North Bay finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage. The penalty kill is one area Smoskowitz believes his team will have to shore up coming out of tonight.
“Obviously, you want to avoid the penalties,” said the Colts’ bench boss. “You want to avoid these breakdowns on the penalty kill. That is something to work on for sure. Again, you look at the Brantford game, you take one penalty against a team with a high-voltage power-play, and we’re pretty proud about that. We just lost our way a little bit tonight.
“The penalty kill, whether you take one (penalty), two or 10, you want to have faith in your guys, and I think we just have to clean up the PK a little bit.”
Despite having 16 shots in the third, the Battalion, which entered the frame down 4-2, had few good scoring chances.
Barrie’s depth proved key in the win, especially in the third. Smoskowitz rolled all four lines and the bottom six of Jaiden Newton, Lowe and Schneid, along with Edgar between Jonah McCormick and Nicholas Desiderio were strong all night.
When you have 12 strong going, you can stay fresh and stay active, and the bench is energized,” said Smoskowitz. “It really doesn’t allow a ton of openings for your opposition. Those guys, whether they’ve been playing a bunch of minutes, or limited minutes, or even out of the lineup tonight, they’ve always given their best effort in practice, in the gym.
“They’ve always taken pride in winning the day, so when they get thrust into a position like this, they’re more than prepared, and it showed tonight.”
UP NEXT
The Colts return to action next Thursday night when they host Ottawa.
Meanwhile, North Bay hosts Sudbury on Sunday afternoon.
ICE CHIPS
The Colts sported special red jerseys designed by five-year-old fan Lila Clarkson in the CHL Jersey Contest. The annual fundraiser, which sees the jerseys auctioned off online, has raised over $864,900 to help feed over a million children through school food programs.
Edgar’s goal was the highlight of the night. The deke drew a big roar from the sellout crowd. “He’s been coming on,” Smoskowitz said of the rookie centre. “He’s been putting in the work and shows up every day. He’s so hungry to improve, and so hungry to get better. He wants to be around guys like Emil Hemming and Cole Beaudoin. He wants to understand what they’re doing and why they’re successful, to speed up his learning curve as fast as he can.”
Beaudoin’s goal marked the first time in his junior career he has hit the 30-goal mark.
Barrie held a special ceremony before the game for team billet families.
Battalion forward and former Colt Shamar Moses was reportedly sent home by the team for disciplinary reasons.
ADD. OHL
Brampton 2 Ottawa 1 (OT)
Soo 2 Guelph 0
London 3 Erie 1
Flint 4 Windsor 2
Owen Sound 5 Sarnia 4 (OT)
