Sunday afternoons are normally a time to kick back and get some rest and relaxation, but the Barrie Colts had some work to attend to in the Scenic City.
This would be no off-day for the red-hot Colts, who got right down to business, getting a pair of goals each from Parker von Richter and Carter Lowe in what was an efficient, workman-like 5-1 win over the Owen Sound Attack.
The win for Barrie (28-10-2-4) was its sixth-straight, running its point streak to 10 games.
It was anything but a sleepy Sunday for the Colts, who carried the play from puck drop.
“The guys took that to heart, and I couldn’t be prouder of the group with the way they competed today, and they didn’t use that as an excuse,” said Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz of his team’s play in finishing off a busy weekend. “One through 20, we got good efforts from everybody, and it was just a really good team win.”
William Schneid, who finished with a goal and assist, opened the scoring just 2:06 into the game to help the Colts jump out to a 3-1 first-period lead and never look back against the slumping Attack (18-21-1-3), which has now lost five straight and has just one win in its last 13 games.
Strong starts have been the norm for the Colts over the last month. You have to go back to Dec. 20th and a 4-0 loss to the London Knights to find the last time they trailed a game after the opening 20 minutes.
In the 10 games since, Barrie has outscored its opponents 18-6 in the first frame.
“We like to put teams on their heels to start games,” said Smoskowitz, who credits a lot of that early success to the team’s depth in the lineup.
“We want to play to our pace,” he added. “Other teams, they can keep up to us, or they can try to rearrange their game plan, but we’re going to stick to what we know. That’s hard work and simple hockey. It’s efficient hockey. It’s physical hockey.
“We don’t want to be changing up systems, or strategies, or changing our identity. We want to stick to what we know. Think about what we want to work on and go from there.”
Mason Wray, with Owen Sound on the power play, would tie the game four minutes after Schneid scored, but it was all Barrie after that.
Lowe’s and von Richter’s first goals of the afternoon would put the Colts back on top, and Owen Sound could do little after that.
“We didn’t give a pretty good Owen Sound team much to talk about offensively,” said Smoskowitz. “We were physical, and we were efficient.”
Von Richter would score again with just seven seconds remaining in the second, before Lowe would ice the win with his second, into an empty net, with Barrie shorthanded late in the third.
Barrie’s depth came through on the scoresheet in this one.
“It’s really good to see,” said Smoskowitz. “If you’re going to play three games in four nights, you can’t just rely on two or three guys, and it hasn’t really been like that.
“We get really good efforts, and maybe it’s not from someone who ends up on the scoresheet. It can be a big save. It can be a big, blocked shot or a good backcheck.”
While it’s nice for the guys to get rewarded with goals and assists, Smoskowitz said cheers on the bench are even louder when someone lays a big hit or blocks a big shot.
“That’s one thing I truly love about this team,” he said. “They understand the little things it takes to win and how important those little things are to a team’s success.”
The acquisitions of Mason Zebeski, Ben Wilmott, and von Richter at the deadline have made the Colts a deeper team, and that added depth is also helping Barrie through its busiest month of the season with 13 games on the schedule.
That’s allowed Smoskowitz to move players in and out of the lineup when needed.
“It’s huge,” said Smoskowitz, who gave winger Joe Salandra both weekend games off to deal with an illness. “I think as a coaching staff, it’s a lot nicer not having to rely on one line or one pairing. Also, if someone is banged up or if someone is out of the lineup, you don’t have to force them to play through it.
“You can give them the proper time to rest and recover. We’re not a one-trick pony. We’re not a one-man show. We’re 24 deep, and we’re going to use all 24 guys.”
The Colts will have a day off on Monday before getting set for another busy weekend, which kicks off Thursday night on the road against the Niagara IceDogs.
They return home Saturday night to host the Brampton Steelheads, before wrapping up the stretch Sunday afternoon with a marquee matchup against the Brantford Bulldogs.
“For us right now, honestly, we’re not even focused on Thursday against Niagara. We’re focused on Tuesday’s practice,” said Smoskowitz. “We’re going to have a really hard-working day on Tuesday. . . worry about Wednesday and then worry about Thursday when it comes.”
Game time at the Meridian Centre on Thursday is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Ben Hrebik made 28 saves to pick up his 18th win of the season for Barrie. Trenton Bennett stopped 27 of 32 for Owen Sound. . . von Parker’s two goals were his first in a Barrie uniform. He also added an assist for a three-point night. . . Kashawn Aitcheson was handed 17 penalty minutes after an early fight with Wesley Royston. . . Rookie Luc Gauvreay received a match penalty for a fighting-major midway through the third. . . The Colts went 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Attack finished 1-for-6.
