Beau Jelsma slammed his stick off the backboards and then looked on in disbelief.
With the dying seconds winding down on the clock, the Barrie Colts captain had the possible tying goal on his stick and the opportunity to play the hero on the night of his return to the lineup.
Instead, the puck slid off Jelsma’s stick, and the Erie Otters would hang on for a 2-1 win Thursday night at Sadlon Arena.
After missing the opening nine games of the season with a shoulder injury, the overager was a force in his return, scoring Barrie’s lone goal, ringing a shot off a post and creating numerous other chances.
Still, Jelsma couldn’t hide his disappointment of being unable to send the game into overtime.
“It sucks. I didn’t get a good handle on it,” he said bluntly. “I can’t blame myself, but there’s always the next game. I’ll definitely be thinking about that one for a while.”
Colts assistant coach Dylan Smoskowitz was hardly surprised by the emotion shown by Jelsma.
“He’s such a gamer,” Smoskowitz said of the Barrie forward, who injured his shoulder at training camp with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins last month. “It doesn’t matter if he was playing the whole season or it was his first game back, as soon as he’s in the lineup he wanted to win. He would show the same frustration tonight as an injured player, as he did in his fully dressed game. It just killed him not to be out there with the guys.
“The fact that he was in tonight and able to contribute on the scoresheet. . . he just would have loved to have that last one. He would have loved his first game back to be a win, but he’s got another chance tomorrow.”
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If there was a hero on this night, he was dressed in blue and was sporting a goalie mask. Erie goaltender Noah Erliden stopped 41 of 42 shots and was spectacular all night.
The Swedish import stoned Cole Beaudoin on a first-period penalty shot, robbed Brad Gardiner on a one-timer off a two-on-one rush with Dalyn Wakely, and then held the fort while the Colts (6-4) pressed for the equalizer late in the third.
Sometimes you have to give credit to the guy in the other crease, and that was certainly the case on this night.
“You definitely do. He played well,” said Smoskowitz. “He was aggressive all night. We did a pre-scout on him, so we kind of knew that was going to be his game plan. We tried to make some adjustments to it, but we’ll give him credit.
“He made the saves he had to make. We had a lot of good looks. We almost outshot them 2-1. Sometimes you got to give credit, and he played well tonight.”
Erie (6-3-0-1) also received a huge boost to the lineup Thursday night with the return of top NHL prospect Matthew Schaefer. The 2023 first-overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection didn’t wait long to make an impact, wiring a shot from the point with the Otters on the power play at 11:29.
The goal would stand for a while before Malcolm Spence finished off a two-on-one with Pano Fimis 1:14 into the third to give the Otters a 2-0 lead.
Jelsma would finally solve Erliden a little over three minutes later when a puck bounced off the skate of Zach Wigle to him. The Barrie captain walked over the blue line and wired one far side over the glove of the Erie goaltender.
“I had (Erliden) similar to when I hit the post in the second period,” said Jelsma. “I knew I had to bury this one and shorten the lead, but in the end, it didn’t work out.
“There’s always tomorrow night.”
Barrie had plenty of scoring chances.
“We had our looks,” said Jelsma. “We gave up some goals and I think we were a little sloppy tonight, especially the first period we weren’t on top of our game. We can be better. There’s a lot more in that room than what we had tonight.
“We’re going to go through these things, and I think we have a bright future. It’s just going to take some time.”
Jelsma saw plenty of ice time in his return to the lineup and he’ll see plenty more with the Colts facing their first three-in-three weekend. Barrie hits the road Friday night to face the Brampton Steelheads, before returning home Saturday to host the Guelph Storm.
“I’m pumped to be back. I felt pretty good out there,” said Jelsma. “The first period, the lungs were just getting back into game shape. Overall, I think I had a decent game and there’s always room to improve for (Friday) night and Saturday.”
Friday’s contest will already be the third time the Colts and Steelheads faceoff this season. The two teams split games in Barrie.
It will also mark Barrie’s first trip to the city since the Battalion moved up the highway to North Bay to begin the 2013-2014 season.
“I’m excited,” said Jelsma, facing the team many considered to be the favourites to win it all heading into this year. “I haven’t played against them this year. I was here when we played them a couple of weeks ago and it seems like it was a pretty hard-hitting game, but I’m ready for it.
“I think we’re ready for it. We’re going into their barn and we have to respond.”
Game time is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The contest featured three of the top prospects for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Barrie’s Kashawn Aitcheson and Erie’s Malcolm Spence and Schaefer were all rated first-round picks in this week’s NHL Central Scouting rankings. . . Sam Hillebrandt stopped 22 of 24 shots in goal for Barrie. . . The Colts have now been outscored 6-1 in the opening period in 10 games this season. . . Game time Saturday versus Guelph is 7:30 p.m. . . Before the game, the Colts paid tribute to the Barrie Baycats, who won their eighth Intercounty Baseball League championship this past summer.
