The Barrie Colts did it up big in ringing in the New Year in front of a sold-out crowd Tuesday night at Sadlon Arena.
Dalyn Wakely and Tristan Bertucci each had a goal and four points and Michael Derbidge and Riley Patterson each scored twice as the Colts celebrated the end of 2024 with a 7-4 defeat of the Oshawa Generals in a New Year’s Eve tilt between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
With the crowd ready to party, the Colts (24-9-1-1) delivered and kept their festive winning tradition rolling with their fifth straight New Year’s Eve win.
For them, it was nice to be able to send the fans home happy.
“Absolutely,” said Colts’ general manager and head coach Marty Williamson. “Lots of goals tonight. A couple more than we like. Five in a row on New Year’s, I wasn’t aware of it, but we kept the tradition going. It’s a good way to end the year and start next year.
“I just like how the guys are responding to guys being away and guys having to step up. My fourth line gave me energy again tonight. A lot of good signs.”
With regulars Cole Beaudoin, Beau Akey, Emil Hemming, and Sam Hillebrandt away at world juniors, several Colts have stepped up and one of those has been Derbidge.
With his two goals, the gritty forward now has four on the season. Three of those have come in the last three games.
“It feels really good,” said Derbidge of breaking out. “It helps I’m playing with (Beau) Jelsma and (Brad) Gardiner. They gave me a couple of gift-wrapped goals there and that helps a lot. If we can keep that going it’s going to be good for all of us, I think.”
More importantly for Derbidge and his teammates, it was a statement win for Barrie over the East Division-leading Generals (21-12-2-1).
“We knew coming into tonight it’s a big game, especially going into the second half of the year,” said Derbidge. “We wanted a win and that’s what we got, and we’re all really happy.”
Williamson feels the victory is similar to the one over Kingston (5-4 on Dec. 6) earlier in the season when the Frontenacs were on top in the Eastern Conference.
“I was happy. I thought it was a great team win,” said the coach, whose club won its third straight to remain alone atop the conference. “I know some guys had some big point nights and that, but I thought everybody really responded and played a good game for me. That’s a good team over there and we’re missing guys, and to come up with that kind of effort.
“To me, it was kind of a benchmark like the Kingston game where we went into Kingston and played so well. Tonight for me, it was that kind of game.”
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Jelsma also had a goal, and Gardiner added a pair of assists for Barrie, which got off to a rare, good start in the opening period, scoring twice on the power play to come away with a 4-2 lead.
“That was definitely our issue early on and we couldn’t get going in the first,” said Derbidge of the poor starts. “Our power play was really hot tonight in the first and that helped us, and we just kept the momentum going for the whole game.”
Harrison Franssen, Beckett Sennecke, Luke Torrance and Brooks Rogowski scored for the Generals, who have lost all three games to Barrie this season.
The Colts, though, once again had their hands full against the defending OHL Eastern Conference winning Generals. Oshawa held a 2-1 lead early and then twice got to within a goal of Barrie, once in the second and then late in the third.
A determined Colts team would respond right back each time.
Derbidge scored the game-winner late in the second after Torrance had cut the lead to 4-3 to give Barrie some breathing room head into the third.
Then Rogowski cut the lead to 5-4 when he raced down the right side and beat Ben Hrebik short side on a bad angle shot at 12:53 of the third period.
Derbidge got the back less than two minutes later when he grabbed a loose puck in front of the net and backhanded it over a sprawled-out Jacob Oester in the Oshawa goal.
Bertucci would seal the win on an empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining.
“That was a big one, for sure,” Derbidge said of his second goal. “When the game got close, we just stayed with our game. That’s what Marty preaches, take it shift by shift, and at the end of the day we did that. It helped us and we got the win.”
For Williamson, that ability to come right back are good signs the team is showing right now.
“Coming out of the penalty box (Rogowski), that was just a bad break,” he said. “Our power play was doing very well and then we gave up that goal. I know Hrebik would like to have that last one back, that kind of made it tight, but the good thing was there was no panic on the bench. Everyone responded well.
“We knew the next shift was going to be important and our guys did well.”
Barrie’s busy stretch of five games in seven days continues when the Sudbury Wolves roll into town on Thursday evening.
Game time at Sadlon Arena is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: As per New Year’s Eve tradition, fans were able to bring their skates and go for a skate on the ice after the game. . . The Colts dressed in style tonight, from Wakely’s white jacket and bow tie to Hrebik’s red jacket. . . Bertucci has points in nine of his last 11 games, wracking up an impressive four goals and 15 assists for 19 points. . . Oshawa outshot Barrie 41-39. . . Barrie went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Oshawa was 1-for-3. . . Hrebik has now made five straight starts with Hillebrandt at world juniors. . . Sennecke has been on a tear since not being named to the Canadian national junior team. He had a goal and assist and now has 24 goals and 52 points in just 30 games. Over his last eight games, Anaheim’s third overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft has nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points.
