With a nearly sold-out Sadlon Arena all set to ring in the New Year on Wednesday night, the Barrie Colts made certain to give their fans something a little extra to celebrate and get the party started heading into 2026.
Brad Gardiner had a shorthanded goal and an assist, and Ethan Armstrong added two assists as the Colts closed out 2025 with a dominating 4-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves before 4,158 party goers in the traditional New Year’s Eve classic.
Sporting tuxedo-like jerseys, the Colts did this one up in style, outshooting the Wolves 42-27.
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
Eamon Edgar, Calvin Crombie, and Alex Assdourian also scored for Barrie (21-10-1-4), which snapped Sudbury’s (14-20-1-0) five-game win streak and has now won eight of its last 10 games to move nine points up on the North Bay Battalion atop the Central Division standings.
“We talked about taking a lot of pride in these games,” Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz said of the annual New Year’s Eve contest the franchise has hosted since joining the OHL in 1994. “The fans come out, it’s crappy weather, and they decide to spend their New Year’s watching our guys, and we owe them a show.
“I think the guys gave them a really good showing tonight, so everyone was happy about that.”
After Edgar and Sudbury’s Alex Pharand traded goals a little more than a minute apart early in the first period, the Colts ramped things up in a big way, outshooting their opponents 31-15 over the final two periods.
“We knew that they had played last night, and they had a long drive down in crappy weather,” said Smoskowitz. “I thought our start, even though it was maybe a little bit slow, was pretty structured. It was pretty hard. We were laying the body and making the investment.
“We made the investment for the first 10 or 20 minutes, and as the game went on, you could see them wearing down, and then we capitalized on our chances.”
With NHL prospects Cole Beaudoin, Kashawn Aitcheson, and Emil Hemming all away at the World Junior Hockey Championships over the Christmas break, their absence not only allows the remaining Colts an opportunity to play bigger roles, but it also allows them to show there’s more to their success than just their trio of stars.
“We’re very proud of our guys for not only showing the outside world, or even the guys in the room, that we’re not a one-horse show, or not a three-player team,” said Smoskowitz, whose club is 3-2 since all three players left for national team camps. “We’re a solid team with 25 guys, and whoever’s number gets called that given night, they’re going to jump on the opportunity and make the most of it.
“We’ve been really happy with the depth and how we’ve showed so far through this Christmas break.”
Crombie’s eighth of the season at 16:50 of the second period would prove to be the game-winner. Gardiner stole the puck from the skates of Brayden Bennett in front and slid a backhand to Crombie, who fired it over the left pad of Bjorn Bronas.
Assadourian and Gardiner, with Sudbury on the power play, would score a little less than three minutes apart midway through the third to put this one on ice.
Smoskowitz praised the play of his penalty kill, which held Sudbury scoreless on four chances with the man advantage. Once dead last in the OHL earlier this season, the PK now sits ninth overall.
“The only way we were going to give this team a chance was to take these penalties and let this team back in the game on the power play, but if you look at our penalty kill tonight, even if you take away the shorthanded goal, just the solid effort and keeping them to the outside,” said the Colts’ bench boss.
“They got some pretty good shooters on that side and are really decent on the power play. It was good against us in the past, but tonight I just couldn’t be prouder of the PK and the job they did. They came out prepared, and they came out hard, and then for them to get rewarded with a shorthanded goal – Gardiner what a great move – it was icing on the cake.”
Barrie will look to keep things rolling on Friday night when they hit the road to take on the Kitchener Rangers.
Though visits to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium have been anything but pleasant for the Colts, who are winless in five games over the last five seasons there.
It hasn’t even been close. On home ice, the Rangers outscored the Colts 18-4.
Still, Smoskowitz believes his club is up for the challenge in a lively building that holds up to 7,777.
“It’s a cool building to play in. Guys get up for these types of games,” he said. “It’s hard to build much of a rivalry with a team you only see a couple of times a year, but any time you get to go to Kitchener on a Friday night to a place they call the cathedral of junior hockey, our guys will be ready to roll.”
Game time in Kitchener is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Ben Hrebik made 26 saves to pick up his 14th win of the season. . . Nolan Newton, a fifth-round pick of Barrie in 2022, played in his second straight game since being called up from the Greater Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, which is on a Holiday Break until Jan. 5. He earned an assist on Wednesday. “We know his team will want him back very soon, but we’ll just take it day-by-day and see how things go through the trade deadline,” said Smoskowitz. . . Edgar’s goal was his fourth and his second in back-to-back games. “Eamon has just come to work every day with a phenomenal attitude,” said Smoskowitz. “He makes the most of every second he gets on the ice. He’s always working on his craft. Always asking for video. The kid just really wants to get better.” Nathan Villeneuve, who has been rumoured to be on the move ahead of the Jan. 9 trade deadline, did not dress for Sudbury last night.
