Dylan Smoskowitz didn’t mince words minutes after the Barrie Colts’ disappointing effort in a 4-1 loss to the Sudbury Wolves, Thursday night, at Sadlon Arena.
His team didn’t play well, and with a quick turnaround on tap tonight on the road against the Brampton Steelheads and then back at home Saturday against the London Knights, the Colts’ head coach knows they’ll need to shape up quickly.
“Not a 60-minutes to be proud of, but there’s a lot of learning that can be taken from this game,” said Smoskowitz, whose club generated little offence while being outshot 47-28. “We got to really check ourselves in at the door before we come in (Friday) and be on the bus to Brampton because they’re a hard-working team.
“If we don’t come with a more valiant effort, and a more consistent will to win and will to compete, we’re in for a long weekend.”
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The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Colts (18-9-1-4). It was just their third regulation loss in the last 20 games (15-3-1-1) dating back to Oct. 24, with all three of those losses coming to the Wolves, who have now won three straight.
Despite sitting last in the Central Division standings, Sudbury (12-19-1-0) and the division-leading Colts are tied at 3-3 in the season series.
“Obviously, every team in this league is good, and you have to play to a certain standard and bring that every night,” said Colts’ forward Alex Assadourian.
The Colts will definitely need to get off to a better start in Brampton than they did Thursday night against Sudbury. Alex Pharand scored a pair of goals less than three minutes apart midway through the first, and Barrie never recovered.
“The guys will want that as well,” Smoskowitz said of a better early effort. “I think the guys will get back to playing our game, our identity. We’re a hard team to play against. We’re a team that other teams don’t like to play. I don’t think that Sudbury really hated playing against us tonight. They enjoyed playing us, which is the opposite of what we want to hear from an opponent after a game.
“We’ll get back to our game. It’s our identity. The beauty of this league is that we got two more, and we get right back at it. So, there is not a lot of time to dwell on it. Enough time to learn from it and then move on.”
After a rough first period, Barrie appeared as though it was getting on track when a strong start was rewarded with Nichalas Desiderio’s fifth of the season just 59 seconds in to cut the lead to 2-1.
A strong forecheck led to a couple of other good chances on Sudbury goaltender Bjorn Bronas, but everything derailed when a slew of penalties killed Barrie’s momentum.
Five straight power plays, including a lengthy two-man advantage, would finally pay off for the Wolves in the second when Nathan Villeneuve wired a one-timer past Ben Hrebik to put the visitors back up by two goals.
“We really did not like our first period,” said Smoskowitz. “The guys came into the room, and they agreed with the coaching staff. They weren’t happy with the first 20 minutes. I thought the response was great, but the penalties took all the momentum away. You work hard to get the momentum back, work hard to find your game, and it seems you found it. Put some pressure on, and then the penalties.
“The four-minute (high-sticking penalty), the puck over the glass. I thought the cross-check from (Bodie) Stewart wasn’t a great penalty either. You take penalties like that, and you take away all the momentum you need for yourself, and you’re just not going to dig yourself out of that hole.”
Discipline has been a running issue for Barrie all season. Only the Owen Sound Attack has spent more time in the penalty box this season.
“We said it before the game, and Smoskowitz has been preaching it, that we got to stay out of the box,” said Assadourian, who drew an assist on Barrie’s lone goal. “If we get under three penalties a game, we’re pretty successful.
“Obviously, we didn’t let that happen, and it changed our momentum, and it was unfortunate.”
Winnipeg Jets prospect Kieron Walton would drive to the net and beat Hrebik 1:34 into the third frame to add to the lead, and it was pretty much lights out for Barrie.
Time and time again, during the Colts’ big run over the last couple of months, they would give up a goal only to come down the ice and get it back.
Not on this night.
“Momentum would swing in our direction, but everything that happened tonight went against us,” said Smoskowitz. “We have a slow start, and that goes against you. We (score) one, and now we get penalties. We come out in the third period, and we feel good about ourselves, and we’re going to mount a comeback. They score quickly, and it goes against you.
“A lot of negatives tonight in terms of timing of things, but it’s something to learn from. I know this group is going to be more motivated tomorrow night.”
The Colts have faced Brampton just once this season, dropping a 5-3 decision at home to their division rivals.
There’s nothing the Colts would love more than to be able to win these last two games of the weekend and head into the Christmas break on a good note.
“We just got to stick to our game tomorrow,” said Assadourian. “We got two more games, and we just got to forget about this one, and come and play harder (Friday) and Saturday.”
Game time tonight at the CAA Centre is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Alexander Sementsov, Barrie’s 18th overall pick in the 2025 OHL Priority Selection, has been called up from Newmarket (OJHL). The winger took pregame warmups, and though he didn’t play, he’s expected to make his OHL debut tonight in Brampton. . . Calvin Crombie, out with an unspecified injury since Nov. 22nd, made an early return to the lineup Thursday after missing six games. Crombie was expected to be out until sometime after the Christmas break. “It would have been easy for a 20-year-old guy to take this weekend off and then have the week break,” said Smoskowitz. “He was adamant, banging on my door that he wanted to play this weekend. He wanted to play all three games. We’ll see how he feels (Friday) morning and make sure he’s OK.” . . . Sam Black saw his first action for Barrie since Oct. 25. . . Sudbury was 1-for-6 on the power play, while Barrie was 0-for-1.
