On too many nights this season, the Barrie Colts have put themselves into an early hole and then dug out of it, only to fall agonizingly short.
Not Wednesday night in Owen Sound.
Sebastian Mogull scored at 3:52 of overtime to help the Colts rally from a 3-0 first-period deficit and defeat the host Attack 4-3 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
“Not this time,” said Colts head coach Dylan Smoskowitz. “Before I left for the (World Under-17s), we’d actually liked our starts and kind of fallen off later in games. But tonight, we didn’t like our start, and we got much better. We had a good chat between the first and second, and had a heart-to-heart with these guys that (the effort) was just not good enough right now.
“We came out and had a really strong second period. Obviously, we got that quick goal in the third, and it gave our bench a lot of life. I thought at times we were kind of holding on for dear life in the third, but not in a scrambly way. I was pretty happy with the two points.”
Too often of late, Barrie (4-13-3-0) has displayed impressive resilience to claw their way back into games, only to come up empty-handed in the third period. The Colts found themselves in a similar scenario against their Highway 26 rivals, but this time they penned a much more rewarding ending.
Carter Lowe and Jonah McCormick cut the lead to one in the middle frame. Just 3:29 into the third, Eamon Edgar picked off a pass by Julian Brown along the boards in the corner and found Lowe in front, who slid it past the right pad of Ryerson Leenders to tie the game.
The overtime winner came off a two-on-one after Michael Tang won a battle for a loose puck in his own end, raced down the left side, and slid a cross-ice pass to Mogull, who beat Leenders short-side past the left pad.
The win snapped Barrie’s four-game losing skid, but more importantly, it provided a massive boost for a young Colts team that couldn’t seem to catch a break in a series of close losses.
“That’s the big thing,” said Smoskowitz, whose club was 0-8-1 when trailing after the first period coming into Wednesday night. “You go down by three and no one’s happy, and you go in there (the dressing room) and blast the guys a little bit. I got a little bit animated, but at the same time, it’s about them sticking together.
“Even if you come back to tie it 3-3 and still fall short, or end up losing in overtime or a shootout, it’s just really nice for these guys to get the two points and get rewarded. I’m really happy for them, and they deserve it.”
Mogull’s winner came just seconds after he had drilled a shot off the post. The Attack (6-10-4-0), looking to snap their own four-game slide, stormed back up the ice with Lucian Bernat and Harry Nansi executing a two-on-one. However, Matvei Nikonovich made a pad stop on Bernat’s shot. Tang then beat Nansi to the loose puck, and the Colts were off to the races, securing just their second road win of the season.
“I was terrified after the post,” admitted Smoskowitz. “I was like, ‘No, not this way! I don’t want to lose this way, man.’ You’re so close. You play so hard. It still would have been a moral victory if you got to overtime and lost, but for these guys, it’s a completely different feeling when you actually win the game.
“We’re sick of moral victories, so for these guys to get the two points... We’ll have a fun bus ride back to Barrie. Just the way the guys stepped up and stuck with it tonight, it was a really, really fun game to be a part of.”
Coming off a poor defensive effort in a 6-3 loss Sunday in Sudbury, the Colts weren’t much better in the opening 20 minutes last night. Brown, Jeremy Freeman, playing his first game since being acquired from Brantford, and Nansi scored 5:29 apart to give Owen Sound early control.
Barrie, which was outshot 14-6 in the first period, has given up the game’s first goal in 11 of its last 13 contests.
“It really wasn’t great,” Smoskowitz said of the start. “I thought the first goal kind of deflated us, and it’s always a challenge for a young team when things are going well the first five or six minutes, a goal goes in, and then boom, a quick second one, and boom, a quick third one. With a young team, when you’re fragile, it could turn into 6-0 or 7-0. But again, I’m really, really proud of how the guys came back, and we pushed back right at the start of the second period.”
The first thing his team did, said Smoskowitz, was dig in. They got the ball rolling when Desiderio danced between Owen Sound defenders Cameron Merrick and Caden Bell and was stopped by Leenders, but McCormick followed up to pound the rebound home.
The Colts didn’t crumble after the early deficit, showing a mental toughness they’ll look to maintain moving forward.
“I like the way we rebounded,” said Smoskowitz. “We’ll adjust our message, so we don’t come out that flat again on Friday in Kitchener.”
Friday night’s contest at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium marks the first time the two teams will meet since the Rangers swept the Colts in last year’s OHL Finals. Kitchener has been a tough stop for Barrie over the last few years.
“It’s funny, because we have our (Eastern Conference championship) banner-raising ceremony the next night at home against Brampton, so I’m just hoping Kitchener isn’t raising their banner when we go back there,” quipped Smoskowitz. “I think it’s already up in the rafters, so it might be a little painful to look at, but at least we don’t have to sit there on the blue line watching that ceremony.”
Game time is 7 p.m.
Babin, Olkhovic Make Debuts for Colts
The newest additions to the Barrie roster made their debuts Wednesday night in Owen Sound.
Patrick Babin, acquired from Guelph in the Evan Passmore trade, notched an assist and logged heavy minutes on the blue line alongside rookie Declan McNally.
“He looked like a kid who just wanted to play hockey,” said Smoskowitz. “He looked like a kid who hadn’t played hockey in a while and was kind of all over the place, but with lots of energy and always in the mix. I’m sure our defence coach, Patrick Sexton, is going to have some good clips for him and do some good teaching tomorrow, but he just looked like a kid who’s so happy to be here and so happy to get this opportunity.”
Russian import winger Gleb Olkhovic, picked up on waivers from the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes, played the left side alongside McCormick and Tang.
Smoskowitz noted that Olkhovic will be brought along slowly as he continues adjusting to a new language and culture.
“Obviously, with Gleb, we didn’t want to overwhelm him too much by giving him too much ice time,” said the head coach. “It’s more of a slow burn with him. As he gets more comfortable with his surroundings, the new team, the language, and our systems, I’m sure his best hockey has yet to come.”
Colts in No Rush to Name Captain
With former captain Passmore dealt to Guelph on Monday, Smoskowitz said the team will stick with its current leadership group, which includes assistant captains Dylan Tsherna, Schneid, Lowe, and Edgar.
“We’re not going to rush into naming a new captain. It might be something that happens later on during the season,” he said. “Maybe we will wait until next season. We’re going to see how things develop here, but I’m in no rush to slap a ‘C’ on anyone’s jersey.
“We have been very happy with our current leadership group, and we’re just going to continue with the status quo.”
ICE CHIPS: Owen Sound outshot Barrie 33-23… The Colts went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Attack went 0-for-1… Mogull recorded three points (1G, 2A), and Edgar added an assist, bringing his totals to 2 goals and 9 assists over his last nine games… Ben Lombardi (illness) returned after missing the previous two games, while Maxim Shirochenkov, Ryan Yurkiw, and Tsherna remain out with injuries.
