Entering Thursday night, the Barrie Colts hadn’t won a hockey game at the WFCU Centre in Windsor since a 5-4 overtime decision on Thursday.
Thanks to a disappointing effort, the tough stretch continues for the Colts.
Playing what head coach Marty Williamson calls their “worst” five-on-five hockey game of this season, the Colts extended their skid in the Rose City to five games with a 2-1 loss to the Spitfires.
“The first two periods were the worst I’ve seen us play five-on-five,” said Williamson, whose club managed just 12 shots through the opening 40 periods and had few offensive chances. “We were just not moving our feet, and the puck was a nightmare.
“We were slow. It’s the slowest I’ve seen this team. Yet we’d go out there and work hard on the penalty kill. It was just a weird, weird hockey game. The only kid that showed up and played 60 minutes was our goalie.”
Sam Hillebrandt’s 29 saves and a penalty-killing unit that held Windsor scoreless on seven power plays were the lone bright spots over the opening 40 minutes.
“Night in and night out, Hilly always gives us a chance,” said Dalyn Wakely, who had Barrie’s lone goal. “We can’t ask for a much better performance from him, he stood on his head all night. We got to find a way to get pucks behind their goaltender. I think that a bit of myself too.
“I know I could be a lot better everywhere. We got to build off this tonight and be hungry the rest of the weekend here.”
Wakely buried a rebound in front 1:52 into the third period to cut the lead in half and give the Colts (13-7) some life, but a better final frame wasn’t enough against a good Spitfires (15-5-2-0) team that sits atop the West Division.
“We took a lot of penalties, and it set us on our heels for a big chunk of the game in the first two periods,” said Williamson. “We played a pretty good third period. They’re a good hockey team and we outshot them 11-6 and that’s the kind of period we need, but we need to play three of those and not one.
“So, that was our problem. We had two slow periods and took penalties and even worse to get any momentum going we only played six guys in the second period because of all the penalties. We found a little energy in the third, but close and no cigar.”
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Goals by Ethan Martin, early in the first, and Anthony Cristoforo, early in the second, provided all the offence Windsor would need.
“With our hockey team there’s a lot of skill, but we got to combat that with some effort too,” said Wakely. “I thought tonight we were a little slow off the jump and then being caught taking penalties that maybe we don’t normally take and you’re chasing the game a little bit.
“I think our effort could be a lot better for a full 60. I think the rest of our game kind of translates off our effort, just because there’s so much skill there. But we got to bring some effort too.”
Building any kind of momentum, especially offensively, isn’t easy when you’re spending most of the time shorthanded.
“We got some big kills all night long from our killers and were working against the momentum that they’re trying to build, which is great, but we’re lucky we didn’t get stung tonight,” said Wakely, who now has seven goals and 14 points in 12 games with Barrie since being acquired from North Bay.
“We gave them five or six looks, so for us, we got to stay five-on-five and play our game a little bit more. I think that’s where we’ll find some more success.”
It was another tough night for Barrie in the Windsor building. Former Spitfires forward Aaron Luchuk scored the overtime winner and finished with four points the last time the Colts got a win there.
“There’s a good crowd here and they got a good hockey team,” said Williamson. “It just wasn’t a good one for us.”
The Colts continued their weekend road trip south of the border Saturday night against the Flint Firebirds before wrapping it up against the Sting Sunday afternoon in Sarnia.
“We got to salvage this weekend with a couple of wins," said Williamson. “The first one is Flint. It’s going to be a miserable day for me (Friday), but, hopefully, we’re upset we played one period of hockey, and we go play six more periods.
“We’ll probably have a good outcome if we do that.”
For Wakely, he and his teammates will have to find a way to dig deep and make Flint play the way Barrie wants to play.
“A little team bonding and a reset is always great,” the Edmonton Oilers prospect said of the day off. “I know this group and we’re a pretty focused group, so it’ll give us a day to rest our legs a little bit and get after it Saturday.”
Game time at the Dort Financial Center is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Jaiden Newton has finished serving his two-game suspension and will return to the lineup Saturday in Flint. Evan Passmore (five games) and Bode Stewart (three games) will be eligible to return Sunday in Sarnia. . . Rookie goalie Arvin Jaswal was backing up Hillebrandt on Thursday. Ben Hrebik hurt himself in practice this week. Williamson believes the injury isn’t long term. “He’s probably out the weekend,” said the Colts head coach. “He’ll probably be OK for next weekend, we’re hoping.” . . . Windsor outshot Barrie 31-23.
