‘Rollercoaster’ ride continues for Colts after loss to rival Steelheads

With the hopes of catching the Brantford Bulldogs for first place in the Eastern Conference likely all but gone now, the Barrie Colts have something much more urgent to focus on over the final two weekends of the OHL regular season.

Like, where has their scoring gone? Where has their game disappeared to? Where is the consistent, determined team that rocketed them to the top of the conference in the first half of the season?

The inconsistent play continued Friday night in Brampton as the Colts (39-21-2-2) put up another disappointing effort in a 4-1 loss to the host Steelheads at the CAA Centre.

Coupled with Brantford’s 5-1 win in Sudbury last night, Barrie now trails the Bulldogs by seven points with just four games remaining.         

“We got to get playing good hockey,” said Colts’ general manager and head coach Marty Williamson, whose team now appears locked into second place heading into the playoffs. “We get a bit of a boost tomorrow. (Tristan) Bertucci comes back into our lineup tomorrow, so that will be a positive for us. Another puck mover who can take a little stress off.

“But this forward group has got to get their act together and get line after line, after line, after line (going). This is what we believe we had with this team when we put it together and we just don’t have it.”

Only bottom feeders North Bay (176), Ottawa (190), and Peterborough (166) have scored fewer goals than Barrie (232) this season in the conference.  

“We have way too many dead shifts and lost battles and that kind of stuff,” added Williamson. “That breeds inconsistency and that breeds frustration, and those are never good signs.”

The Colts generated a mere 22 shots on goal, while giving up 51. Despite the lopsided totals, thanks to a heroic performance from goalie Ben Hrebik they only trailed 2-1 heading into the third period.

That was until Jack Van Volsen capitalized on a bad giveaway and Angus MacDonnell added another just 1:01 later midway through the third period to turn the lights out for Barrie.

“The shot totals aren’t where they need to be, but you got to try and stay positive,” said overage forward Owen Van Steensel, who had the lone goal for the Colts. “There were good pockets to that game that we know we can play good hockey and there is good chemistry.

“It’s not all bad. There were good pockets here, we just got to be consistent.”

Lucas Karmiris scored the lone goal of the opening period, but Van Steensel’s 20^th of the season off a nice three-way passing play along with Dalyn Wakely and Anthony Romani tied the contest at 1-1 just past the midway point of the second and led to a little momentum over the next couple of shits.

But that would be short-lived. Porter Martone would put the Steelheads (32-22-10-0) back on top just four minutes later.

“Benny did his job,” said Williamson. “Our forwards just didn’t generate enough. It’s like we look slow. We didn’t look fast in our forward group and there was really nobody that was generating (offence).

“There was a couple of (chances) sprinkled in each period, but as far as consistency to get to a 35 or 40 shot game it just wasn’t there.”

Barrie had pretty much no kind of sustained pressure, let alone second or third scoring chances.

“Second effort, third effort, good reads,” said Williamson reeling off the list of what his team didn’t have. “There were a few times we had windows to make plays out there and we just didn’t make them. Our heads are down. We’re not communicating enough.

“Those are the ones that can get teams on their heels a little bit when you’re making plays. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

Despite a roster that includes nine NHL draft picks, Barrie’s offence has been sputtering. The Colts put little pressure up front with the exceptions of captain Beau Jelsma and Cole Beaudoin.

“It’s not always pretty,” said Van Steensel of scoring goals. “We just got to get back to hard work and doing the right things, like getting to the net and hopefully we’ll be rewarded for it.”

Barrie isn’t building any kind of momentum offensively. After finishing 13 games above the .500 mark in the first half, they are 14-14 since.

“It’s kind of been the story of this whole second half of the season,” said Williamson. “I thought we were a much more consistent team the first half. In the second half, we’re a very inconsistent team.

“We show signs of good things, but nothing is sustained for 60 minutes or two or three games in a row. It’s a rollercoaster ride.”

Defensively, things weren’t much better with Barrie giving up 51 shots, including 18 in each of the final two periods.

“Outstanding,” Williamson said of Hrebik’s play in goal. “You can’t say anything else. Unfortunately, that last one squeaked through him and I know he’d like to have that back.

“But you can’t play Benny. He gave us every opportunity to be in this game.”

The Colts return home Saturday night to face a Sarnia Sting club fighting for its playoff life. The Sting are one point behind the Soo Greyhounds for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“Our goalie tandem has been really good,” said Van Steensel. “We just got to start helping them out a little more.”

Game time at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.

ICE CHIPS:

Barrie wraps up a busy three-in-three weekend on Sunday afternoon in North Bay. The puck drop is 2 p.m. . . .  The Colts will be sporting their special St. Patrick’s Day jerseys tonight. . . Bertucci (mono), who had an ultrasound earlier this week clearing his return, has been out of the lineup since Feb. 1. . .  The Niagara IceDogs are shaping up to be Barrie’s likely first-round playoff opponent. . . Brampton was 0-for-4 on the power play, while Barrie was 0-for-1. . . Romani’s assist gives him points in seven of his last eight games. . . Kashawn Aitcheson had a couple of good scoring chances, but he is still looking for his 24^th of the season which would break the franchise’s single-season scoring record by a defenceman. . . Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was in the stands.