Fresh off a 3-2 win Friday night over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that the Barrie Colts had no business winning, Marty Williamson walked into his dressing room and had few words for his team.
The Colts’ general manager walked in and asked his team, “I got two words to say and what do you think they are?”
“They were quiet in the dressing room and I was waiting for one of our players to say, ‘good win,’ because I would have chewed his head off,” said Williamson. “I said the two words were ‘Ben Hrebik. That’s the only reason we’re coming out with two points tonight.’”
In a game the Soo dominated, the goaltender was simply outstanding. Barrie spent most of the contest in its own end and Hrebik was there to save the day, stopping 43 of 45 shots to help his team steal two points against a desperate Hounds team fighting for its playoff lives.
“Just like Marty said in the room. Two words and it was Ben Hrebik,” said Kashawn Aitcheson who scored his 23rd goal of the season (see side story) to tie Brandt Clarke, Aaron Ekblad, and Andrew Marshall for the franchise record for goals by a defenceman in a season. “He’s been our backbone all year.
“Obviously we have a great tandem, but he’s really stepped up and kept us in a lot of games. He’s a hell of a goaltender and I’m really happy he’s here.”
It was an important win for the Colts (38-19-2-2), who remain 10 points up on the Brampton Steelheads for first place in the Central Division standings after the rival Trout blanked the North Bay Battalion 2-0 on the same night.
With just seven games remaining in the regular season, Barrie also gained some ground in its battle atop the Eastern Conference standings.
While the Brantford Bulldogs doubled Flint to remain three points ahead of Barrie and the Oshawa Generals for first, both the Kingston Frontenacs (3-2 in London) and Generals (5-3 in Sudbury) lost last night.
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The Colts have a game in hand on both Brantford and Oshawa.
“We’ll take one step at a time, and we’d like to get the division done first and then we’ll worry about the conference,” said Williamson, whose club can wrap up the division with wins Sunday in Sudbury and Tuesday in St. Catharines against Niagara. “I’d like to get back to four lines and not maxing out my guys here in the last four weeks.
“It’d be nice to get a couple of wins and get this thing done as far as the division.”
The Colts took a slim 2-1 lead into the third period and, thanks in large part to the play of Hrebik, appeared like they would hang on, but Chase Reid, with his second of the game, finally broke through and tied the contest with 6:12 remaining.
Barrie showed little push offensively after the opening period, but the power play, though, would come through once again with its second goal of the game.
With a little over five minutes remaining, Cole Beaudoin fired it out from the corner in front to Emil Hemming, who swatted it past Soo goaltender Nolan Lalonde for the game-winner.
Besides Hrebik’s play, specialty teams were key for the Colts in the win. The power play finished 2-for-4, while the penalty kill held the Soo scoreless on four opportunities.
“We just didn’t have our legs five-on-five,” said Williamson. “Our penalty kill was outstanding, and Ben Hrebik was a big piece of that, and our power play scored two goals. So, it sure isn’t video that we’re going to enjoy watching.
“I don’t know if the travel got to us. They’re a hungry team and they’re fighting to get into the playoffs. It just takes a bit of imbalance where one team is hungrier than the other team and itching to win all the races and puck battles. We were hanging on for dear life.”
For the second straight night, the Colts jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Carter Lowe notched his 16th at 9:29 and then Aitcheson, with Barrie on the power play less than three minutes later, would hammer a shot from the high slot that squeezed through the pads of Lalonde.
Reid would cut the lead to one early in the second. The Hounds were pretty much all over Barrie after the first period.
“We couldn’t close things off and there was no anticipation,” said Williamson of his team’s play. “It’s always a combination of slow legs and slow head and we get both of them and it made it very difficult. The only thing we did was make it difficult for them to score in front of the net area.
“We had a lot of guys there for whatever reason and we made it difficult for them to score in that area and Ben took care of everything else from the outside.”
The Colts will continue their five-game road trip on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Sudbury.
“They must have played a heck of a game tonight to beat Oshawa 5-3, so it’s a good effort by them,” Williamson said of the rival Wolves. “It’s hard winning on the road. It’s a tough league. I felt we were out of sorts (tonight), but I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was tonight.”
Game time at the Sudbury Community Arena is 2:05 p.m.
ICE CHIPS:
Dalyn Wakely returned to the lineup after serving a five-game suspension. . . Tristan Bertucci’s is getting closer. The Dallas Stars’ prospect is practicing, but his return to the blueline will have to wait until his spleen returns to a safe size. “We had hopes for Tuesday (against Niagara), (now) we’re hoping for Friday,” said Williamson. “We’ll get ultrasounds done on Wednesday and Thursday. He’s really close, so we’re hoping good things will happen.” . . . Beaudoin, Aitcheson, and Hemming each had a goal and assist.
