For a second straight night, the Barrie Colts battled back late to force overtime and earn a point.
More importantly for general manager and head coach Marty Williamson though, it was also a second-straight loss and “poor” hockey game by his club.
Caden Kelly scored twice and Alliston’s Nathan Amidovski scored the decisive shootout goal to help the Ottawa 67’s recover from a blown three-goal third-period lead and skate to a 5-4 win over Barrie, Saturday night, at Sadlon Arena.
It was pretty much a case of déjà vu for the Colts (20-8-1-1), who rallied late Friday night to draw even with the host Brantford Bulldogs only to lose in overtime.
“Just a poor hockey game. Just sloppy,” said Williamson of the loss to Ottawa. “Can’t make passes, just seemed like the puck was going the wrong way every time and our feet weren’t moving. Just bad reads.
“It’s two tough games. We have to shake this off quickly and in the next two get our order of how to play and close off ice. There was just a lot of ice to skate.”
Despite an early first-period Jaiden Newton goal, it was another poor start by the Colts who once again struggled through the first two periods.
Chris Barlas and Will Gerrior scored on the power play in the second period and then Kelly added his second of the game late in the same frame to put Ottawa (12-11-2-4) in control with a 4-1 lead heading to the third.
“We came out slow and that’s kind of an ongoing thing with this hockey team right now,” said Barrie captain Beau Jelsma, who assisted on two late goals to send the game into overtime. “We got to figure it out because we’re getting down in games.
“I know tonight it was (showing) character to come back like that, but we lost the game because we made a lot of mistakes.”
Barrie's News Delivered To Your Inbox
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Central Ontario Broadcasting, 431 Huronia Rd, Barrie, Ontario, CA, https://www.cobroadcasting.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
The third period was hardly better for the Colts who spent most of their time killing off four 67’s power plays.
A Dalyn Wakely power-play goal cut the lead to two just 6:45 in, before goals by Bode Stewart and Carter Lowe just 1:12 apart with a little more than three minutes remaining helped the Colts grab a point.
Both teams had chances in the overtime before Collin MacKenzie stopped all three Barrie shooters in the shootout to allow Kelly and Amidovski to nail down the Ottawa win.
“Yeah, we get a couple of late goals, but it’s a consolation prize as far as we want to play hockey games,” said Williamson, whose club remains atop the Eastern Conference standings. “Teams with their record that isn’t our record, if you don’t play three periods that’s how teams like that can win hockey games.
“They played well. They put 41 shots up and took everything we gave them.”
For a second straight night, the Colts played with little energy and paid the price.
“I think right now we’re doing a lot of standing around,” said Jelsma. “We’re hanging out at blue lines; we’re hanging out at red lines. We got to play with our speed. That’s who we are. We’re getting away from that right now.”
If anyone had reason to be lacking the jump, it was the 67’s who after topping the Peterborough Petes 3-1 in overtime in the Nation’s Capital, had to hop on a bus at 8 a.m. Saturday morning to make the long trek to Barrie.
“They were up at 8 a.m. this morning and they had good legs,” said Williamson. “They’re off to North Bay (Sunday morning) and they got to be happy with their road trip so far.”
Williamson tried to get his club going, switching up lines in the third.
“Then we kept taking penalties,” he said. “We had a couple of breakaways. It was a weird hockey game. Junior hockey at its best.”
The Colts wouldn’t quit though.
Jelsma cued the late comeback when he raced in and fired on MacKenzie with the rebound bouncing in front and off the skate of Stewart and in.
Lowe poked in the equalizer after a scramble in front with 2:01 remaining to send it to overtime.
“To come back like that tonight, it really tells a lot about this team,” said Jelsma. “Although it didn’t go our way, we didn’t win, it shows our character and it’s something to build on.”
Barrie wraps up its pre-holiday schedule on the road Wednesday night against the Owen Sound Attack and then back home Thursday night against the Niagara IceDogs.
“We got to go to Owen Sound and play three periods of hockey,” said Williamson. “That’s what I’m going to stress on Monday and Tuesday, that we practice hard and there’s no letups.”
Another two Colts will join Cole Beaudoin and Beau Akey at the world junior championships in Ottawa. Both Sam Hillebrandt (U.S.) and Emil Hemming (Finland) leave for their country’s respective camps over the next couple of days.
“We want to go out on a bang,” said Jelsma. “We’ll reassess here Monday and get back to work.”
Game time on Wednesday night at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS:
Hillebrandt will join the American squad in Plymouth on Sunday, while Hemming will fly to Montreal to join Finland ahead of the tournament. . . Hillebrandt stopped 37 shots for the Colts, who were outshot 41-31. . . Henry Mews, who barely left the ice for the shorthanded 67’s, had four assists. . . Newton’s goal was his first of the season and second of his career. . . Tristan Bertucci also had a pair of assists for Barrie. . . Ottawa’s top-ranked power play was 2-for-7, while Barrie was 1-for-4. . . Referee Ben Wilson got a stick in the eye and left the game for a short time before returning in the third period.
