On a night where they probably didn’t deserve better, the Barrie Colts received a stellar performance in goal from Ben Hrebik to at least come away with something from their visit to Brantford on Friday night.
Hrebik made 39 saves, several of which were the impressive variety, to help the Colts grab a point in a listless 2-1 loss to the Bulldogs at the Brantford Civic Centre.
Kashawn Aitcheson scored with 1:56 remaining to send it to overtime, but Brantford’s Patrick Thomas wired a perfect setup from Nick Lardis just 30 seconds in to beat Hrebik and snap Barrie’s (20-8-1) four-game win streak.
“It all goes to Ben Hrebik,” Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson said. “We don’t get a point without him.”
While a third-period push helped get them into the extra frame, it was Hrebik’s stellar performance that gave Barrie any kind of chance in this one.
“It was almost like a little justice,” said Williamson of Thomas’ game-winner. “I don’t think we deserved to win the game. We get a point, and we’ll get out of here. We only played one period of hockey. We were pretty average in the first two periods.
“We had a good goaltender performance other than that. It was a pretty pedestrian first two periods, which is being kind to our guys. In the third period, we were fortunate to get that one in there. We’ll take a point and move on.”
Brantford (15-12-3-0), which earned its first win over Barrie this season in three tries, held a 36-19 advantage in shot over an opening two periods where the visitors did little offensively.
“The boys helped me out too,” said Hrebik on another strong effort between the pipes. “All I had to do was make the first save and our team got it out or it was the forwards coming back.”
Williamson certainly knew who the star on his team on this night was.
“He sure hasn’t let us down,” the bench boss said of Hrebik, who has posted an 8-1-1 record to go along with a 1.94 goals against average and .939 save percentage in 11 games this season. “Every game he plays, he’s been rock solid and I thought he made a lot of big saves there late. We really didn’t deserve to have a chance in that third period, and he gave us that. “We actually played one good period and got ourselves to overtime. Nothing he could do on that goal. Just a breakdown by us, and a good play by (Lardis). He’s got a lot of speed, and we needed to recognize it a bit earlier, but again Benny did a great job.”
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Thomas’ overtime winner was his second of the week after notching the decision-maker in Wednesday night’s 6-5 win in Brampton.
Nick Lardis, who gave Brantford a 1-0 lead late in the second period, raced down the left wing and slid it across the top of the slot to the Washington Capitals’ prospect who cut into the middle and fired it past the glove hand of Hrebik.
“He’s a pretty shooter,” Hrebik said of Thomas.
The Colts pushed for the equalizer in the third period, outshooting the Bulldogs 13-4. Zach Wigle, Beau Jelsma and Carter Lowe all had great chances in front, but Ryerson Leenders, who stopped 31 shots on the night, stood tall.
That was until Tristan Bertucci, who was behind the Brantford net, slid it back to Dalyn Wakely who then slid it across to Aitcheson for a one-timer that squeezed through the pads of Leenders for the 10th of the season.
“We came into intermission and said we really had to push it,” Hrebik said of pushing to tie it. “We just gave it our all in the third and we got the point in overtime, but didn’t get the outcome we wanted.”
Hrebik will take over net duties when starter Sam Hillebrandt heads off to the world junior hockey championships with the U.S. national team in the next few days.
The young goaltender has shown he can handle a larger role, earning the trust of Williamson and the Colts staff. He has started three of Barrie’s last four games.
“Each game I play, I build more confidence in myself and confidence with the team,” the 18-year-old said. “We’re gelling good together.”
Williamson was happy to see his team make a push in the third period. He hopes that will carry into their home game Saturday night against the Ottawa 67’s.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy, and our legs weren’t good,” he said. “Then, all of a sudden in the third, we were winning some races, got a little more physical, and won some battles and got some scoring chances off it.
“We got to play tomorrow night against Ottawa and they’re a team that puts up volume. They had 47 shots tonight (in a 3-2 overtime at home versus Peterborough). If you don’t work against them, you’re playing against the odds if you can’t balance that.”
Game time Saturday night at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS
Aitcheson now has 10 goals in 26 games, including four in his last five, surpassing his career high of eight in 64 games last season. . . With Cole Beaudoin and Beau Akey away with Canada’s national junior team (see accompanying story), first-round pick Parker Vaughan was moved to the top line with Wakely and Jelsma, while Justin Handsor slotted into the blueline for Akey. . . St. Louis Blues first-rounder Adam Jiricek returned after being out since Nov. 6 with an injury and recorded an assist. . . Barrie dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 35 to Brantford’s 22 draws.
