Barrie Colts let Owen Sound hang around and pay the price in 3-2 loss

A power play goal in the third sealed their fate

An old friend returned to Sadlon Arena Thursday night to help cool off the streaking Barrie Colts.

Nicholas Porco, who was dealt away at the trade deadline, set up Deni Goure’s power-play winner a little past the midway point of the third period to help the Owen Sound Attack surprise the Colts, 3-2.

With the Colts needing to get down to the maximum three overagers permitted on the roster, the gritty winger was shipped earlier this month to Owen Sound for a pair of draft picks.

In his first game back in Barrie since the deal, the former Colt capped off a good night when he took a pass at the side of the net, spun, and backhanded a perfect cross-crease pass to Goure for the winner.

The goal came with Barrie’s Anthony Tabak in the penalty box for high sticking.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” said Colts head coach Marty Williamson, whose club couldn’t capitalize on numerous scoring chances in this one, especially early on. “I thought we had enough chances to win the game and we let them hang around. 

“We took two dumb penalties in the third and they made us pay on one of them.”

The loss was just the third for the Colts (17-9-3) in the last 12 games (9-2-1-0).

Beau Jelsma, midway through the first, and Declan McDonnell scored for Barrie, which held a 2-1 lead midway through the second period.

Declan McDonnell scored once and added an assist and now has two goals and six assists for eights points in five games with Barrie since coming over from Kitchener at the OHL trade deadline. TERRY WILSON/OHL IMAGES

Ethan Burroughs and Cedrick Guindon also scored for the Attack (14-13-1-2), who got a big 31-save effort in goal by rookie Corbin Votary.

(Votary) did a good job,” said Williamson, who also gave a nod to his rookie goalie Matteo Lalama. “I thought both goalies made a couple of big saves, but (Votary) definitely made some huge saves right at the end for sure.”

The Colts had difficulties hitting the target on several good scoring chances and when they did get it on net, Votary was there.

“Yeah, we had a couple of empty nets and a couple of good looks,” Williamson said. “You play a lot of games and those are the kind of games that are going to creep in every once in a while where things aren’t quite clicking.

“I thought our work ethic was pretty good. I thought we carried the play for most of the game and just didn’t find a way. A couple of games we were scoring seven and eight and this one we couldn’t get over the two mark.”

Owen Sound specialty units have struggled all season and were coming off a rough weekend in a pair of losses to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds where they gave up five power-play goals and two shorthanded markers.

Thanks to Porco, Owen Sound’s power-play came through in the clutch in this one. Williamson says the Colts have nobody to blame but themselves for giving them two big opportunities at a key time of the game.

“They could make a good play or the puck just bounces off somebody, that’s why discipline is so important in a 2-2 game going into the third,” he said.

“They work hard, but I don’t think they outworked us,” Williamson added. “I thought we matched that. That was one of our challenges to match their work ethic, but the fact that we couldn’t score tonight allowed them to hang around.

“You take two dumb penalties and you give a team like that an opportunity, that’s what happens.”

The Colts will get a day before continuing their busy home stretch when they host the North Bay Battalion on Saturday afternoon and then the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday night.

The Battalion moved five points ahead of Barrie for second spot in the Central Division with a 4-1 win at home over Sudbury last night.

The Colts, though, still hold six games in hand.

“You got to chalk it up to things that happened and get a little bit better with a couple of things and learn a lesson,” Williamson said of the loss. “Get rested and get ready for North Bay. They played a good game tonight, so we need to get those games in hand. It’d be nice to play well against them, that’s for sure.”

Game time Saturday at Sadlon Arena is 4 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Thursday’s loss could be a costly one for Colts after forward Jacob Frasca was helped off the ice after a collision in the Attack end. The Barrie forward tried to jump over a low hit and would crash down heavily. “The ambulance is here and he’s going to get checked out,” Williamson said. “I’m not a doctor, so I really don’t want to say, but he’s in a lot of pain.” . . . The Colts were also without veteran defenceman Ian Lemieux after he took a knee-on-knee hit in the win over Sudbury on Tuesday. “He’s banged up and we had to get him rested for the weekend,” Williamson said. “We thought this was the opportunity. He took that hit from behind, knee on knee, and he was pretty sore, so a couple of extra days hopefully he’ll be 100 per cent for Saturday.” . . McDonnell had an assist to go along with his goal and now has a pair of goals and eight points in five games since being acquired from Kitchener. The gritty forward has also continued to deliver a couple of big hits in each game as well. . . Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play. . .Barrie outshot Owen Sound 33-25. . . Ethan Cardwell drew an assist to run his point streak to five games (4-5-9).   

feature image: Nicholas Porco, left, with former teammate Nathan Allensen – BARRIE COLTS PHOTO

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