The hunt for that elusive first victory this season continues for the Barrie Colts after another heartbreaking finish on home ice.
Noah Read tied the game midway through the third period, before Layne Gallacher sniped home the winner with just 27 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Niagara IceDogs a 2-1 win and hand Barrie its fifth-straight loss in as many games, Thursday night, at Sadlon Arena.
While the Colts earned their first point of the OHL campaign, the outcome offered little consolation for a young squad playing noticeably better hockey each time out.
“It’s going to come. It’s going to come,” said Colts captain Evan Passmore of that elusive win. “No one should be hanging their heads. It’s small details. We’ve just got to keep building every day, and keep getting better every day, and we’ll be all right.”
The night came to a sudden halt in the dying seconds of the extra period. Justin Handsor lost his stick during a battle with Layne Gallacher in the corner, allowing Callum Cheynowski to keep the puck alive at the point. Cheynowski slid a pass to an open Gallacher in front, who ripped his second goal of the season past Barrie netminder Hagan Bach to lock up the win for Niagara (3-2).
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It was another heartbreaking defeat late in a game for the Colts. Last Saturday, they held a 2-1 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game, only to have the Oshawa Generals score three times in 55 seconds to rally for a 4-2 win.
Colts head coach Dylan Smoskowitz didn’t like losing another third period, but it was a much better effort from his club than the one against Oshawa. In that game, Barrie was outshot 22-4 and played much of the frame in its own end.
Against Niagara, the home side outshot their opponents 11-7.
“I thought we had some pretty good looks in the third. I don’t think we sat back,” said Smoskowitz. “They scored a nice goal. It is what it is. It happens. It’s hockey, and we were pretty happy with the way we limited their chances against, but we’d like to put a couple more on the board.”
Generating finish remains the biggest hurdle for the Colts, who have managed just six goals through their first five games. Barrie created plenty of prime scoring chances on Thursday but couldn’t convert. Ben Lombardi, who was dangerous all night, was denied on two separate breakaways, alongside another quality look right in front of the net.
Late in the second period, Carter Lowe looked poised to break the scoreless tie when he pounced on a loose puck, only for IceDogs goaltender Vladislav Yermolenko to extend his right pad for a dramatic save.
“That's the thing, and you have to believe the finishing is going to come,” said Smoskowitz, whose club will look to turn things around Saturday night when they host the Sarnia Sting. “Some guys will get off the schneid here and put some in the back of the net, but I thought that we created a lot more (offence) tonight than we did last week. I liked our week of practice.
“We were getting bodies to the net. We were focusing on getting pucks to the net and just making some more plays in the offensive zone. So, you take the positives with tonight’s game, and you keep building on that going to Saturday.”
The Colts remain confident, however, that their efforts will pay off in the win column soon if they stick to the process.
“Definitely,” Smoskowitz said. “I think it’s there (work ethic) in practice. We’ve definitely seen the team make strides from game to game to game. And, yeah, you’d love for guys to get rewarded, but they’re just going to have to understand that it takes time.
“It’s a process, and no one’s going to be too eager, too impatient, interested, about working hard. Working hard every single day, just getting that one per cent better. So, we’ve got to have a good day (Friday) and give ourselves a chance to have a good performance and get those two points against Sarnia on Saturday night.”
After a scoreless opening period, Barrie finally broke the ice with just over a minute left in the second frame on a fortunate bounce. Anthony Figliomeni tracked down a loose puck and fired a pass across the crease, aiming for Lombardi. The puck deflected off the skate of IceDogs forward Ivan Galiyanov and ricocheted past Yermolenko for the former Oshawa Generals winger’s first goal as a Colt.
Niagara answered back with 11 minutes left in the third period when Reyth Smyth collected a pass along the boards from Ryerson Edgar and executed a sleek touch pass behind him to Noah Read, who snapped the puck over Bach’s glove.
Despite the setback, the Colts’ penalty kill remained a massive strength. Ranked third in the OHL with an 88.9 per cent success rate, Barrie negated all five Niagara power plays, including two lengthy 5-on-3-man advantages in the second period.
The IceDogs’ top-rated penalty kill, which has yet to be scored on this season, held the Colts scoreless in their two chances.
“We’ve got a determined group of players, and everyone’s willing to block shots, and do what we have to do,” said Passmore. “We also owe it to the coaches, too. They give us a good game plan and teach us well to play the system they envision this team playing on the penalty kill.”
“Rock solid. Just rock solid,” said Smoskowitz of his team’s penalty kill. “(Assistant coach) Patty Sexton is doing a fantastic job with the penalty kill. We use so many guys on the kill, and they’re doing a great job.
“Passmore with a couple of big, blocked shots, and when the PK does break down once in a while, you’ve got Bach in there who’s standing on his head. So, the penalty kill definitely is a big bright spot for our team so far.”
Smoskowitz and his coaching staff plan to get in some video work on Friday to show his young team the things they did well on Thursday night and what they did to get more offensive zone time, as well as why they were producing more shots on net.
“I think we had 34 shots, and that’s a pretty good number for us,” he said. “So, if you continue to do that, and maybe a bounce here and there, stay out of the box a little bit and keep some guys a little more fresh, I like our chance of moving forward here to get that first win under our belt.”
Game time Saturday night against the Sting is 7:30 p.m.
Matousek Makes OHL Debut
Czechia import forward Elias Matousek made his official OHL debut on Thursday night, skating on a line alongside Wil Schneid and Anthony Figliomeni.
The 17-year-old had been waiting in the wings due to roster management, but the coaching staff was pleased with his first real game action.
“For Ellie to get in and give us a good effort tonight on a pretty good line, I was very happy for him,” said Smoskowitz. “Everything is new for him. So, I’m just really happy to get him out there tonight, get him some touches, get him some reps. He’s the kind of guy who’s willing to get better as time goes by.”
Rookie forward and White Plains, N.Y. native Phillip Shargorodsky also made his OHL debut, recording an assist.
McCormick Out for the Weekend
Winger Jonah McCormick missed Thursday’s contest after suffering a swollen ankle in what Smoskowitz said was a “weird” non-contact mishap where he landed on it awkwardly. During practice earlier in the week. Smoskowitz confirmed the second-year forward will remain sidelined for Saturday’s matchup against the Sarnia Sting as well.
“He won’t be back this weekend,” the Colts head coach said. “His ankle’s pretty swollen still from that weird play... We’ll keep monitoring him, but hopefully in a couple of weeks.”
