It’s not how they wanted to head into the Christmas break, but the Barrie Colts aren’t about to let Saturday's 4-0 loss to the London Knights at Sadlon Arena take the shine off what has been a pretty good showing in the first half of this OHL regular season.
The Colts head into the festive season atop the Central Division standings with a 19-10-1-4 record, sitting five points ahead of the North Bay Battalion.
After struggling through a slow start with just three wins in their first 10 games, the Colts reeled off seven straight wins and went on an impressive 16-4-1-1 run to close out the pre-holiday schedule and put themselves among the contenders in the Eastern Conference standings.
“I never doubted this team. I knew we could do it,” said overage forward Calvin Crombie of competing for top spot in the division. “It’s just about finding what works and what clicks, who can play with who, and getting used to our structure. Some new guys and some new faces. Even some older guys, like me, are new faces.
“It was just about learning the new systems, and everyone gelling and clicking together. Once we did that, we always knew we were a good team. We started to gel together, and we took it from there.”
As a rookie head coach, Dylan Smoskowitz will happily accept where the Colts are at this point in the season.
“To be in first is a nice treat, but I think our [general manager] Marty Williamson, said it best,” explained Smoskowitz. “He talked to the guys before everyone took off on their holiday break, and he just said how proud he was of how hard they were working. They’ve represented the organization well, on the ice and in the community.
“At the halfway mark after tonight, after 34 games, to be sitting at the top of the division and to be having some guys have real breakout years, rookies really exposing themselves to us and letting us know what we have for the future, we feel like we’re in a great spot here.”
The Knights (20-12-3-0) grabbed control of this one midway through the opening period when Cohen Bidgood deflected a point shot by Caleb Mitchell past Ben Hrebik at 11:59 to open the scoring.
The Colts disputed the goal, protesting Hrebik was interfered with as Bidgood crossed the crease, but after a lengthy review it stood.
“It was a strange one,” Smoskowitz said of the contest. “Even the first (goal), they hit Ben’s glove, so maybe goalie interference. I understand the guy wasn’t on the blue paint, so it was ‘OK, we can live with that.’”
Rene Van Bommel doubled the lead with just 12 seconds remaining in the opening frame when he walked into the faceoff dot and wired a shot past Hrebik.
“It’s a killer,” the Colts head coach said of the late goal. “Our guy, Nicholas Desiderio, gets high-sticked and loses a couple of teeth, so he comes to the bench early, and they go up 2-0 there.
“Then good bounces for them, bad bounces for us. It might seem like a lopsided game, but we weren’t too unhappy with our performance. The bounces just weren’t in our favour tonight.”
There was certainly no shortage of chances for the Colts. They had a couple of really good ones by Carter Lowe, who rang the second from the slot off the far post.
Despite a strong start to the second by Barrie, it was London that once again provided the offence.
Caleb Mitchell and Ben Wilmott scored 1:26 apart midway through the frame to put the Colts in a deep hole.
With Cole Beaudoin, Kashawn Aitcheson and Emil Hemming away preparing for the World Junior Hockey Championship, the Colts, who lost 4-1 to Sudbury on Thursday night and grinded out a 1-0 shootout win in Brampton on Friday, struggled to score all weekend.
Barrie couldn’t seem to buy a goal.
“That’s been the story of our weekend,” said Crombie. “We struggled with scoring here and there. We just got to buy in, and all of us got to do our best to get shots on net and crash the net. We’re not going to do too much fancy stuff. We’re just going to crash and bang. That’s what works for us, and we got to stick to it.”
The Knights sat back and protected their lead in the third, and when they needed him, goaltender Sebastian Gatto was there with the big stop.
Gatto kicked aside all 33 shots to record his second shutout of the season.
“We had some good looks off the power play, and did some good stuff off the rush as well,” said Smoskowitz. “Their goalie played well. It was just one of those games where we wish we had a little more juice in the tank going into the third period.
“Maybe some more spark.”
The work ethic and the opportunities were there.
“We just didn’t capitalize on them,” added Smoskowitz. “So, maybe this break is exactly what these guys need. To go home fresh, clear their minds a bit. Be very proud of the first half we had here as an organization.
“We put ourselves in a great spot going into the second half, gearing up for the playoffs. Just go and clear your minds and come back ready to rock and roll.”
ICE CHIPS
Barrie’s first game back after the Christmas break is December 28 in North Bay.
The game featured a heavyweight tilt between six-foot-seven, 214-pound Barrie defenceman Gabriel Eliasson and six-foot-eight, 238-pound London defenceman Maksim Sokolovskii.
Shots were even at 31-31, while the Knights finished 0-for-3 on the power play and the Colts 0-for-2.
ADD. OHL
Ottawa 6 Brantford 0
Kingston 4 Brampton 2
Flint 5 Erie 2
Niagara 4 Sarnia 3 (OT)
Saginaw 6 Oshawa 4
