The Barrie Colts found themselves in yet another tight contest heading into the third period Sunday night in Erie, only to watch it slip away late.
The slumping Colts battled back to tie the game early in the third, but Luca Arkko replied with his second of the night shortly after to lead the host Otters to a 3-2 win at Erie Insurance Arena.
Barrie (1-7-1-0) has proven competitive nearly every night. With the exception of a 6-0 loss to Sudbury and a 5-3 win over Sarnia, the Colts have been tied or within a single goal in every game this season heading into the final frame.
“I think the Sudbury 6-0 game is the only game besides our win that we haven’t pulled the goalie yet,” said head coach Dylan Smoskowitz. “We’re getting a lot of good reps with the goalie out. I thought today was our best one, but being in these games is a positive.
“It’s nice that we’re not getting blown out, but, eventually, you’ve got to find ways to limit the mistakes that are resulting in goals against, and kind of end up stealing our fate in third periods or find ways to push back and score one ourselves.”
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The trip to Erie (5-3-1-0) presented immediate hurdles. Following a 4-2 loss to the Niagara IceDogs in St. Catharines the night before - where the team struggled to generate offense late - the Colts faced a gruelling border crossing. A closed bus lane created a massive backlog of cars, adding roughly two hours to their travel schedule and leading to a 3 a.m. arrival at the hotel.
“I didn’t like our first. You know, bus legs and the travel, and going over the border took a really long time for us last night,” Smoskowitz said. “We talked a lot about that this morning, how we’re not going to make excuses for ourselves... I thought we found our legs as the game went on.”
That sluggish start manifested early on the ice, as goals from Michael Dec and Arkko staked the Otters to a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Barrie righted the ship in a much better second period, navigating Erie’s high-flying, track-meet style of play.
“That’s the thing. They have a certain style that they like to play. They’re a high-flying team. They kind of like that track meet style, and it’s not really how we’re built,” said Smoskowitz. “We kind of let them play to their brand of hockey in the first, and then we settled it down nicely in the second. They still probably gave up a couple too many chances against, but the boys, for the travel and kind of the first road trip of the year for some of the young guys getting used to it, I commend them on their effort and the way they stuck with it tonight.”
A little more than seven minutes into the middle frame, Nicholas Desiderio and Evan Passmore broke in on a 2-on-1 rush. The Barrie captain ripped a cross-slot feed from Desiderio over the blocker of Erie goaltender David Egorov to cut the deficit in half.
The momentum carried into the third. Just 1:51 into the period, Wil Schneid netted his second goal of the year to tie the game 2-2, injecting life into the bench.
“The (Schneid) goal sparked us, and we had a couple of good shifts after that, as well,” Smoskowitz noted. “Halfway through the game, midway through that second period, it became more of an even game, that’s for sure.
“When you get an even game like that, it’s really who is going to flinch first, and a quick turnover and a counter, for them, ends up in the back of our net, and we just couldn’t find that second equalizer.”
That swift counter came just 3:23 after the tying goal, when Arkko struck for his second of the game to put Erie back on top.
Undeterred, the Colts pushed hard in the dying minutes. With goalie Hagan Bach pulled for the extra attacker, Lucas Matheson hammered a shot off the post with 4:12 remaining, and Barrie sustained heavy pressure around the Erie net. It was a vastly improved finish compared to the previous night’s loss in St. Catharines.
“Our last four minutes there, we had them on their heels a little bit,” Smoskowitz said. “We end up with a 6-on-5 and end up with a good look there and hit the post. Then set up some face-off plays, and we had looks there with the extra man, which I liked.
“They blocked a couple of shots, but we had bodies at the net and almost got a lucky one when their goalie kind of played it off their own guy.”
Goaltender Hagan Bach served as a steady anchor throughout the night, stopping 47 of 50 shots to rebound strongly from a rough 7-4 home loss to Kingston earlier in the week.
“Bach definitely didn’t like his last game on Thursday against Kingston,” Smoskowitz said. “Just the way that kid is kind of wired, he is the first guy out to practice the next day. He’s on one knee waiting for the Zamboni to finish its laps, and he’s the first guy out there...
“He gave us every chance possible to win this game today, so kudos to him for a great effort, and, again, he works for everything he gets, so we’re really lucky to have him as part of our team.”
Proud of his young group’s resilience, Smoskowitz emphasized staying the course.
“Even today, I was pretty proud of the guys and their effort sticking with it,” he said. “So, I actually thought our second half of today’s game, and the intensity and the pushback that we showed, is something that we haven’t really seen before from our group to date. That’s a really good sign for us.”
Following a day off on Monday to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Colts will return to practice on Tuesday to prepare for the final leg of their road trip, visiting the Brantford Bulldogs on Friday night before taking on the Peterborough Petes on Saturday night.
Game time at the TD Civic Centre on Friday is 7 p.m.
“The guys will have a day off tomorrow, enjoy some turkey, spend some time with their billets, and right back to work on Tuesday morning,” Smoskowitz said.
Perspective Amid Tragedy in Erie
The weekend games in Erie took place just two nights after a devastating mass shooting shook the local community, resulting in nine deaths — including eight family members of the gunman and an unborn baby. The tragedy cast a heavy shadow over the sports weekend, serving as a sobering reminder of perspective for the players and coaching staff visiting the area.
“It’s awful,” Smoskowitz said of the shooting. “It definitely made the news and made its rounds around our team, so everyone was aware of it. They just feel so bad for all the victims, and it’s just something that, again, if you think of tragedies like that, anything about losing a hockey game — even a game that’s played for fun and just kind of enjoy being with your buddies and your friends — everyone’s kind of happy to be playing the game that they love and able to be playing and everyone’s healthy.
“So, really, when you look at the grand scheme of things, in the big picture, hockey is hockey, and whether you lose or you win, I don’t think it really matters when you’ve got tragedies like that happening right in your backyard here in Erie. So, definitely thinking about them right now and just hope that stuff like that stops happening.”
ICE CHIPS: Erie outshot Barrie 50-21, including 19-3 in the third period… The Colts were 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Otters finished 0-for-3… The goal was Passmore’s second in nine games and is just one off his career-high of three recorded in the two previous seasons.
