The struggling Barrie Colts kicked aside a four-game losing streak Friday night and they did it in impressive fashion against the OHL’s top team.
Beau Jelsma scored twice and added an assist and goaltender Sam Hillebrandt made 34 saves, including a pair of highlight-reel stops late in the first period, to lead the Colts to a much-needed 6-1 win over the Mississauga Steelheads at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
In a game that featured two Central Division rivals heading in different directions, the Colts (5-6) came up with their best effort of the season to hand the OHL leading Steelheads (9-3) their first loss of the season on home ice.
After dropping all three games last weekend and kicking off this weekend’s action with a disappointing 4-2 loss at home Thursday night to Erie, the Colts had every reason to feel good after this one.
“For sure. The room was (feeling) pretty rough,” said Jelsma, who snapped a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals three minutes apart midway through the second. “The boys didn’t feel so good about how we were playing the last four games. We got some young guys and us older guys have been through this, and we were just trying to help them through this.
“I thought the boys played great tonight. Coming into this barn tonight and they’re undefeated at home, it was just a really good effort by all the boys.”
After four straight dismal losses, the Colts looked like a completely different team on this night.
“They hadn’t lost a game in this building. They were 5-0,” Colts head coach Marty Williamson said of the Steelheads. “I thought our guys came in with real purpose in the beginning, had a couple of bobbles and Hillebrandt was outstanding in that first period.
“Then I thought we played well in the second and third.”
After Porter Martone tied things up for Mississauga halfway through the game, it was one of Barrie’s heart and soul players who stepped up in a big way.
Determined to put the skid behind them, Jelsma took a pass from Eduard Sale from behind the net and moved across the crease before backhanding into the top left corner over the glove of Steelheads goalie Ryerson Leenders for what proved to be the winner a little more than two minutes later.
Jelsma then added some important insurance when his blast from the point found its way past Leenders.
“I haven’t scored in a handful of games, and I was getting the chances, so it kind of feels a little bit like the monkey off the back,” said Jelsma, who was scoreless in his last six games. “I’m just happy I could contribute to the team tonight.”
Williamson knows he can always count on his veteran centre to lead the way.
“He’s outstanding,” the Colts coach said of Jelsma. “He’s already one of the best players in the league. His work ethic and desire to carry a team and lead a team and do such positive things on the ice is really infectious.”
A fragile Colts team received a much-needed boost early when Cole Beaudoin scored first and then Hillebrandt made big save after big save to give Barrie its first lead heading into the first intermission in five games.
Beaudoin continued his hot, scoring for the sixth time in the last six games when he drove around the outside of defenceman Stevie Leskovar and cut in front of the net before sliding it around Leenders at 11:56 of the first period.
“You lost four in a row, and you get scored on first again, and everybody starts thinking not positive things,” said Williamson. “To get that first goal, even though they tied it, we were never behind so it was so much more positive. That’s what young teams got to work through, and it was extremely important for our confidence to get out of that period 1-0.”
Hillebrandt, who got into just three games last season, continued to shine. The rookie has a 3-2 record and a sparkling 2.44 goals against average with a .915 save percentage.
The Florida native came across his crease to stone Finn Harding on a two-on-one late in the first and then robbed Mason Zebeski and Luke Misa when they walked in alone just 40 seconds later.
“He really is,” said Williamson of Hillebrandt growing into a good OHL goalie. “Other than that one five-goal game (5-3 loss to Sudbury), he’s been pretty damn good in there and really given us a chance.
We’re going to run him (Saturday) again and see how he does in a back-to-back game.”
Goals by Bode Stewart, his first with Barrie, and Sale eight seconds apart a little more than two minutes into the final frame gave the Colts some important insurance against one of the OHL’s top-scoring teams.
Carter Lowe iced it on the power play late when he tipped a Connor Punnett shot from the point with Barrie on the power play.
“It’s huge in a lot of ways,” Williamson said of the two quick goals in the third. “We threw pucks to the net and scored that way, then we made plays and scored, and that’s the important balance we want with this team. Just to get it to a comfortable game and not a nailbiter is a real good thing.”
The Colts wrap up their second consecutive three-in-three weekend Saturday night when they host the Brantford Bulldogs.
They’ll head into the contest feeling much more confident and more like the team they believe they are.
“A hundred percent,” said Jelsma. “No doubt in my mind, we’re better than how we’re playing. Every team goes through it. I remember my first year we lost eight games in a row and every team goes through it.
“Last year, we needed half a year to get going. The main thing is to keep pushing, keep doing the little things right and I think we’ll have a great season as a team.”
Game time tonight at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Other than the change in goal, the Colts stayed with the same lineup. . . Jacob Frasca’s assist on Sale’s goal was the 100th point of his OHL career. . . Williamson noticed how good the ice was in Mississauga compared to Thursday’s game at home against Erie. An event at the Barrie rink this week resulted in the ice being covered for a couple of days. “You could actually make plays,” he said of the ice in Mississauga. “Hopefully the ice is good (Saturday), because I thought we used our speed (Friday). We had speed and made plays. We weren’t able to do that against Erie. It was more like we seemed to be skating in sand.” . . . Mississauga outshot Barrie 35-34. . . Barrie won the specialty teams battle, going 1-for-6 on the power play, while holding Mississauga scoreless on its three chances. “We starting to find our way,” said Jelsma.
Banner image via Sam Hossack/Barrie Colts - Beau Jelsma celebrates after scoring one of his two goals to snap his six-game scoreless streak.
