Second-period surge leads Sudbury past Colts 6-0

Barrie, Ont. — OHL Saturday night:
First Period
     1. Sudbury, P. Ula. 1 (Smith) 19:06
     Penalties — G. Ula Sud (fighting), Figliomeni Bar (instigating, fighting, misconduct) 5:00, Adams Sud (roughing) Gauvreau Bar (roughing) 14:39.
Second Period
     2. Sudbury, Adams 2 (Harris, Kwajah) 1:22
     3. Sudbury, Clayton 1 (Henderson, Provorov) 4:40
     4. Sudbury, Bennett 1 (Clayton, Walker) 13:20 (pp)
     5. Sudbury, G. Ula 1 (Harris, Provorov) 18:27 (pp)
     Penalties — Lowe Bar (fighting, game misconduct) 8:21, Adams Sud, McNally Bar (misconduct), Passmore Bar (roughing) 17:44, G. Ula Sud (misconduct) 18:27.
Third Period
     6. Sudbury, Blonda 1 (Greene, Walker) 2:51
     Penalties — Tsherna Bar (goaltender interference) 10:34, P. Ula Sud (tripping) 13:09, Ladds Sud (slashing) 14:51, Figliomeni Bar (slashing, misconduct) 17:47.

Shots on goal by
Sudbury 9 25 8—42
Barrie 7 7 17—31
     Goal — Sudbury: Frasca (1-0-0-0); Barrie: Bach (0-2-0-0).
     Power plays (goals-chances) — Sudbury: 2-5; Barrie: 0-2.
     Referees — Darcy Burchell, David Elford. Linesmen — Spencer Knox, Gage Argue.
     Attendance — 3,755 (4,195)

OTHER SCORES
Brantford 6 Guelph 0
Niagara 4 Brampton 1
Kitchener 4 Owen Sound 1
Flint 5 Saginaw 4
London 6 Windsor 2
Sarnia 4 Soo 3

With a young hockey club, you expect there to be some tough nights.

Saturday was one of those nights for the Barrie Colts.

The young club held its own in the first period, only to take it on the chin in the second as the visiting Sudbury Wolves exploded for four goals en route to spoiling the Colts’ home opener with a 6-0 shutout in front of 3,775 fans at Sadlon Arena.

Head coach Dylan Smoskowitz knows nights like this are to be expected with a rebuilding team. The key — as he was advised during offseason discussions with veteran coaches who have been around the block a time or two, such as current general manager and former head coach Marty Williamson — is to nip mistakes in the bud before they turn into an avalanche.

The Colts didn’t and paid a price for it.

“The big thing that we talked about was the ‘snowball effect,’” the second-year Barrie coach explained. “About how one bad thing could go on, and you just can’t let it snowball. And tonight it did.”

Smoskowitz liked his team’s play in the game’s opening 19 minutes. He liked the energy and atmosphere they created in their home arena, but that all changed when Patrick Ula broke a scoreless draw with 54 seconds remaining in the first period.

“That goal goes in off an unfortunate play, and it snowballs,” he said. “Then there’s an early one in the second. Then another one in the second, and then we get into penalty trouble. So, the snowball that we did not want to let happen happened tonight.”

Tanner Adams scored one minute, 22 seconds into the middle frame, followed by Blake Clayton’s first of the season a little more than three minutes later, putting the Wolves up 3-0 and in firm control.

Power-play goals from Brayden Bennett and Genc Ula, a little over five minutes apart later in the period, put the game virtually out of reach for Barrie (0-2). The Colts peppered Sudbury’s goal in the final frame, outshooting the visitors 18-7, but Luca Blonda added one more for Sudbury to complete the scoring.

Sudbury goaltender Paolo Frasca turned aside all 31 shots he faced to record his first OHL shutout.

“Honestly, I think we got away from ourselves for a period there in the second,” Colts forward Dylan Tsherna said. “It got pretty ugly, but the message in the room was just to have a positive period in the third period, and I thought we came out and did that. We didn’t break the ice, but we did have a positive period.

“We thought we had outworked them and outchanced them in the third period. So, we can bring that next [Friday in Sudbury].”

Less than 24 hours after a hard-fought 2-1 loss in North Bay to open the season, the young Colts looked solid early on. The coaching staff plans to review game film on Sunday and go over it with the players when they return to practice on Monday.

“We’re going to show these guys some of our shifts in that first period, the first 15 or 18 minutes. We did some really good things,” said Smoskowitz. “We look like a fast, physical hockey team. Structured. We just can’t let one bad shift kind of dictate the rest of the game. That’s a learning curve. Our vets did a pretty good job tonight of trying to right the ship, and sometimes it’s just not meant to be.

“Tonight wasn’t our night, and it’s unfortunate because there’s a lot of excitement in the building, and you’re back at home, and the fans are here nice and early to support the team. So we’re looking forward to next Saturday to hopefully put on a better show for them.”

Defensive breakdowns certainly didn’t help Barrie. Too often, an attacker was left wide open in front of the net, and Sudbury capitalized on the high-danger opportunities.

“I don’t think you can fault (goaltender) Hagan Bach with any of the goals tonight,” said Smoskowitz. “Then, again, talking with my (Director of Goaltending) Frankie Palazzese in the room, he just kept saying how happy he was with Hagan throughout the entire night, and the most impressive part for me was how he battled.

“You know, 5-0 going to the third, and that guy never gave up. He battled, and he made some killer saves. He was very impressive to watch.”

UP NEXT

The Colts won’t have to wait long for an opportunity to avenge the loss. The two Central Division rivals will meet in each team's next game on Friday at Sudbury Community Arena.

“Yeah, 100 per cent,” Tsherna said of looking for a little payback. “We’re excited for the opportunity, and we’ll remember this.”

Good teams learn to get right back up after taking one on the chin, and that’s the mindset the Barrie head coach wants to instill.

“We can use this as momentum or as motivation for sure, going into Friday and Saturday at home (against the Oshawa Generals),” Smoskowitz said. “It’s not too many times in a season where you get to play the same team back-to-back, but after a night like tonight, I told the guys afterwards, ‘Don’t forget this feeling. No one’s happy right now, and there’s a lot of frustration and a lot of pissed-off anger in that room, but that’s going to motivate us.’

“We’ve got to beat Sudbury on Monday. We’ve got to beat them on Tuesday, and have a better practice on Wednesday, so on Friday night we’ll be ready to rock.”

COLTS LOOKING TO BUILD CHEMISTRY

The Barrie Colts went with the same lineup Saturday as they had in North Bay. As for potential changes for next weekend, Smoskowitz said those decisions will come later in the week.

“We’re going to go throughout the week and see what happens,” said the head coach. “There’ll be some intense practices, and you never know with injury or illness, and stuff like that. So, on a Saturday night, to tell you what the Friday night lineup’s going to look like, there’s too much time in between.”

With 17 new faces on the roster, building chemistry between players remains a top priority.

“We still want to give our first-year players a chance, and you don’t want to be taking too many guys in and out of the lineup like that,” Smoskowitz added. “We do want to build some chemistry and have some continuity with the lineup, which is why we kept it the way it was from Friday to Saturday this week.

“So, we’ll see how this week goes in practice, and then we’ll make some adjustments.”

ICE CHIPS

Carter Lowe’s night came to an early end midway through the second period when he was assessed a fighting major and a game misconduct.

Tanner Adams, recently acquired by Sudbury from Brampton for 15 draft picks, continues to impress. The third-overall OHL selection scored for the second consecutive game. He was also handed a misconduct late in the middle frame after coming to the defense of a teammate following a hit from Colts captain Evan Passmore.