It wasn't a perfect weekend, but the Barrie Colts will gladly take it.
For the second time in less than 24 hours the Colts rallied in the third period, only this time they couldn't complete the comeback and fell 5-4 in overtime to the Battalion, Sunday afternoon, at North Bay Memorial Gardens.
Fresh off a late four-goal rally Saturday on home ice to upend the Mississauga Steelheads 6-5, the Colts battled back twice from deficits to force overtime only to have Liam Arnsby spoil this comeback when he fired in the winner just 32 seconds into the extra frame.
"We're happy with the (three) points, and we would have been even happier if we got the win (Sunday)," said Colts forward Roenick Jodoin who sent the game into overtime when he pounced on a rebound in front with 1:48 remaining and shovelled it past North Bay goaltender Dom DiVincenttiis.
Barrie looked like it was set to pull off a second-straight come-from-behind win against a Central Division rival when Ethan Cardwell and Beau Jelsma raced in on a two-on-one, but Cardwell couldn't connect on Jelsma's cross-crease feed.
Instead, the Battalion grabbed the loose puck and raced down the other way with Arnsby crossing the slot and firing a shot past the outstretched glove and pad of Anson Thornton for the winner.
"You see that an awful lot," said Colts head coach Marty Williamson said of the one chance at one end, immediately followed by a chance at the other. "I'm happy we got the two-on-one and the goal wasn't a mistake. It was a one-on-one and they shot and scored. It wasn't like we gave up an odd-man rush the other way, we actually played it well.
"Unfortunately their guy scored and we didn't."
Ian Lemieux and Callum Chisholm also scored for the Colts (5-2-1-0), who had their three-game win streak snapped.
Nic Sima, Dalyn Wakely, Ethan Procyszyn, and Matvey Petrov had the other Battalion (5-3) goals.
Even at 2-2 heading into the third, a Grayson Tiller turnover behind the net led to Procyszyn's first OHL goal and a North Bay lead at 9:05.
Jodoin would help the Colts get even just 1:12 later when he fed Chisholm on a two-on-one, but Petrov put the Troops back on top just 14 seconds later.
The Colts though, led by the second-year winger, didn't roll over and found a way to get the game into overtime.
"Marty has been nagging us to never give up," said Jodoin. "We're just a team that is not going to give up, even when there's two minutes left in a game.
"We're going to keep working hard, and good things will happen."
Williamson was happy with how his team battled all weekend against two tough division opponents.
"I think it was a very good weekend," he said. "I love the battle in our team. I love the physical nature of the game. This team is better than last year's team as far as the way those kinds of games go. We were not good in them last year and this team is battling well.
"There's a lot of good signs, we just need to get a little cleaner. The faceoff we lost (on Petrov's goal), the power play didn't do anything for us. It's those kinds of things we just got to clean up a little bit."
Another good sign was the play of Jodoin this weekend. The second-year winger had a combined goal and three points in both games and was a force nearly every time he stepped on the ice.
"JR had a tough start to the season and we weren't real happy with his game," said Williamson, who is pleased to see the way the forward has responded. "First of all, his practice habits this week. I commended him on putting him into the lineup and then giving me two solid games like he did.
"That's just the nature of our team this year. They want to do the right things and they want to battle, so that's a good sign."
Jodoin says it's been a work in progress.
"I'm still finding my game here at the start of the season," said the 18-year-old. "I'm figuring some stuff out and I'm going to keep working hard, and hopefully good things will come."
The Colts' blueline took another blow Sunday. Already without Artur Cholach, Lemieux was forced to miss part of the game and the overager could miss more time.
"Lemieux's back kind of seized on him, so that kind of hurt us a little bit," said Williamson. "We were kind of makeshift a little bit on that back end with Cholach out and Lemieux not able to go 100 per cent. Our guys battled well. I'll take three out of four points and learn the lessons we learned and move on."
With the injuries to Cholach and Lemieux and the likelihood that the Los Angeles Kings will keep Brandt Clarke, the Colts' need on the point grows.
Williamson has inquired about the possibility of adding a defenceman through a trade.
"It's a tough market looking at the defencemen right now," he said. "We've talked and there's a lot of teams looking for a defenceman. The teams that have them are going to charge a price through the roof.
"Injuries have caught up to us. We're going to see how long Cholach is going to be, whether we got to get through one more weekend or if it's going to be multiple weekends. We'll see if Lemieux is back, whether it's a serious injury or not."
Williamson says they have to stay patient.
"I think it will benefit us to get the right guy we want to get and to find out (a definite decision) on Brandt," he added. "See if I can try to get a hold of LA and see if I can get an answer. It's still a wait-and-see type of thing."
The Colts return to action Thursday night when they host their Highway 26 rivals, the Owen Sound Attack. Game time at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: It was another dismal game for the Barrie power play which went scoreless on four chances. They sit 18th overall with a 13.8 efficiency. . . North Bay outshot Barrie 34-27. . . Cardwell added another assist and now has a goal and six points in three games since returning from AHL camp. . . Evan Vierling sat his second-straight game as the extra overager.
banner image: Terry Wilson/OHL Images
