Jake O’Brien wants to be a top dog in the Eastern Conference Final against the Barrie Colts, and the Brantford Bulldogs captain certainly lived up to that in Wednesday night’s series opener.
The Seattle Kraken's top prospect scored twice and added an assist, including firing home the game-winner with just 1:35 remaining, to lead the host Bulldogs to a 4-3 win over the Colts at TD Civic Centre.
O’Brien and the Bulldogs can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup when they host the Colts Friday night back in Brantford. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
“It feels good,” said O’Brien, of the winner. “Obviously, I want to be a big player in the series, and I want to lead the right way. So, tonight, that feels good for me.”
O’Brien’s decisive marker was a tough pill to swallow for the Colts after battling back from a 3-1 deficit on goals by Cole Beaudoin, on the power play, and Kashawn Aitcheson just 2:19 apart past the midway point of the third.
The Colts continued to ride the momentum and pushed hard over the final five minutes, before the Bulldogs’ all-time leading scorer struck the decisive blow.
“I was pretty confident going into the third,” said Colts’ winger Carter Lowe, who had a goal and an assist on the night. “The score doesn’t always reflect the game. I knew we had more, and it kind of paid off. We clawed our way back, and, unfortunately, they got a luckier bounce at the end there to seal it.
“But nothing changes.”
Tied 3-3, Adam Jiricek, from inside his blue line, found O’Brien on a long pass down the middle of the ice, and Seattle’s eighth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft walked in and cut to the right faceoff circle before wiring over the right shoulder of Barrie goaltender Ben Hrebik.
“I just tried my best shot at the net, and luckily it went in there,” said O’Brien, who was easily Brantford’s best player on the night.
The captain coming up big in key moments is nothing new for Brantford head coach Jay McKee.
“I’ve seen them (moments) for three years now,” said McKee. “He’s a special player. There’s a reason he’s our captain. He does a lot of things, on and off the ice, that help lead to success for this hockey club, and that moment there was another example.
“We’re fortunate to have a player like him, and that was obviously a big goal for the series.”
For Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz, there are several good teaching points his team can get from game video of the opener heading into Game 2 on Friday.
Clips that he says will reiterate to his team how they want to play, how hard they want to play, and how difficult they can make it on their opponents.
“I thought they took it to us when we allowed them to, but when we really got our feet moving, and our forecheck engaged, and we imposed our size with good stick detail and quick shifts, it’s going to be tough on anybody,” said Smoskowitz.
“I thought we made it more difficult on Brantford that third period, and that’s something that we will build off.”
The Colts were without one of their top forwards for Game 1. Ben Wilmott, who has eight goals and 13 points in 10 playoff games, was scratched from the lineup with an illness.
“The kid was begging me to play,” said Smoskowitz. “He was clawing and scratching at my door to let him on the bus today, but I didn’t want to risk the other guys getting sick, and of course, I don’t want to put Ben in a tough spot either.
“We got him some good meds. We got the best doctors up in Barrie, so hopefully we see him on Friday.”
The Colts outshot Brantford 13-7 in a scoreless first, but the Bulldogs, as their top-ranked power play has done all year, would capitalize on a man advantage at 1:35 of the second when O’Brien’s first shot hit a man in front, before then jumping on the rebound to fire it past Hrebik, who was down.
Lowe would even things up less than two minutes later when he jumped on a loose puck in the faceoff circle, spun around, and fired it over the right pad of Brantford goalie Ryerson Leenders.
Top NHL prospect Caleb Malhotra, with his first of two goals, would put the Bulldogs back on top just 27 seconds later when he buried a fortunate bounce of the backboards.
Malhotra and the Brantford power play would strike again 1:35 into the third to make it 3-1 when O’Brien bounced one off the rookie’s leg and in.
Brantford finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
“They’re pretty good at it,” said Smoskowitz of his opponent’s power play. “It’s been like that all year, but I thought our (PK) penalty kill did a lot of good things. We had a couple of big kills there, and even their first goal with 29 seconds left, we did a pretty good job of killing off the meat of it.
“The more times we get to play against them, and the more times we get to see their power play, the more we learn. It’s something that we felt pretty good about our PK coming in. I still feel pretty good about our PK, but I guarantee I’ll feel better about it come Friday.”
Lowe appeared to have cut the lead to 3-2 under nine minutes into the third, but the goal was immediately waived off by the official.
“It was a delayed penalty, and the explanation that we got was, when the goalie touched it, that was deemed possession,” explained Smoskowitz. “As soon as possession was called, on the way the whistle was up to his mouth, the puck went in, but it wasn’t about a late whistle. It was about the goalie touching the puck, which engaged the penalty.”
The Colts, though, wouldn’t roll over. Beaudoin’s long shot through traffic made it 3-2, and then Aitcheson wired one far-side past Leenders to tie it.
“I was pretty confident going into the third,” said Lowe. “The score doesn’t always reflect the game. I knew we had more, and it kind of paid off. We clawed our way back, and, unfortunately, they got a luckier bounce at the end there to seal it, but nothing changes.”
The Colts outshot the Bulldogs 18-7 in the third and 37-35 overall.
“The third period, I thought we started out OK, and then there was a momentum swing when they scored their power-play goal,” said McKee of Barrie’s hard push in the final frame. “We were on our heels a little bit, so to pull it off late, obviously, is a good feeling.”
The Colts remain confident heading into Game 2.
“Nothing changes, ” said Lowe. “We have faith we can win.
“We believe we’re going to win. It’s just a bump on the road.”
COLTS DOMINATE IN FACEOFF CIRCLE
Barrie dominated on draws all night, nearly doubling up Brantford on faceoffs won, 38-22.
“They’ve been a strong team all season long on faceoffs. They have some strong centres,” McKee said of Barrie. “We have video on them. Our centres have worked hard with different people. Even outside of our organization on certain aspects of faceoffs.
“Some guys are stronger at it than others. Some have fast-twitch muscles that can pick up the draws a little bit quicker. (It’s) something that takes a lot of experience and reps at it, so we’ll certainly look at it. Talk about it. Our centres will be focused on it, as they always are.”
ICE CHIPS: The series moves to Barrie for Game 3 on Sunday at 6 p.m. . . . Jonah McCormick took Wilmott’s spot on a line with Brad Gardiner and Joe Salandra. Eamon Edgar joined the fourth line with Jaiden Newton and Nicholas Desiderio. . . Bulldogs backup goalie David Egorov was named as a finalist for the OHL’s Dan Snyder Memorial Award as the league’s Humanitarian of the Year. Other nominees include Tristen Trevino of the Erie Otters, Thanasi Marentette of the Peterborough Petes, Beckham Edwards of the Sarnia Sting and Carson Woodall of the Windsor Spitfires.
