Colts play ‘worst game’ in loss to Owen Sound

Asked about a disappointing 5-2 loss in Owen Sound on Wednesday night, Beau Jelsma was in no mood to sugarcoat things.

“To be honest, we shit the bed. That wasn’t a good game by us,” said the Barrie Colts captain bluntly after the loss to the Attack at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

Just three days after Barrie had pulled off a blockbuster deal with the North Bay Battalion to acquire top forwards Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel in a clear message of its intentions to take a serious run at an OHL championship this season, they responded with a poor effort.

“That was the worst game our team has ever played tonight,” said Jelsma. “We were just terrible throughout the lineup. We’ve got to be better if we want to do something this year. We have to put in a better effort than we did tonight because you can’t be losing these games like that.”

The Colts (24-11-1-1) got off to another slow start, not registering a shot in the opening 14 minutes and managing just six shots in the opening frame.

Things didn’t get much better after that.

They trailed 3-0 midway through the second and showed little, if any, kind of life.

“Not a good game tonight,” said Colts’ general manager and head coach Marty Williamson. “Not much you can chalk it up to. It was just not a good effort tonight. Things didn’t go our way.”

The Colts had been off for nearly a week after having Saturday’s home game against the Kingston Frontenacs postponed due to bad weather on top of the big deal Sunday that saw the team move Parker Vaughan and Zach Wigle to North Bay.

Whatever the reason, Williamson was none too happy.

“Players coming in, players leaving. We were just disjointed on the ice tonight and couldn’t get a lot going,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Attack (11-22-2-3), which currently sits out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference, was busy making two big deals earlier in the day with an eye to the future.

Whether the Colts believed they would roll over a rebuilding Owen Sound team or not, they simply weren’t good enough.

“I’m not sure what was in their heads,” Williamson said of his team. “It was slow from the beginning, and it didn’t get a lot better as the game went on. Usually, we have an ability to step up and realize how we’re playing and tonight it just didn’t seem that way.”

Mason Wray, on the power play, scored his first of two on the night midway through the opening period to give Owen Sound a 1-0 lead.

Landen Hookey and Harry Nansi added to the lead early in the second, before Bode Stewart made it 3-1. Still, the Colts couldn’t build on that.

Barrie dodged some early penalty trouble in the third, including a lengthy two-man Owen Sound advantage, and had a chance to get back in the game, but there would be no momentum on this night.

“Our power play is struggling right now,” said Jelsma, who along with his teammates went 1-for-3 on the night and failed to score on a key three-minute advantage late in the second. “We got to go back to the drawing board there and kind of figure it out. We don’t blame anyone but the players on the ice.

“We all have to be better at those situations and every time it’s a power play it’s an opportunity for us and it comes down to the players getting it done, and we’re not right now.”

Declan Waddick, on a penalty shot, and Wray’s second a little more than a minute later made it 5-1. Hemming, back from helping Finland win a bronze medal at the world junior hockey championships, scored a power-play marker, but it was too little, too late.

Not even a lengthy three-minute power play could get things going.

“There weren’t any sparks anywhere,” said Williamson.

The Colts find themselves in a battle atop the Central Division and Eastern Conference standings and losses like this could prove costly in the fight for home ice advantage in the playoffs.

“It was terrible. It’s just not a good look for us,” said Jelsma of Wednesday’s effort. “We’ve got this team and we’ve shown we can play at a really high level and then we drop the ball. It’s down to consistency with our team. It feels like we go good for three games and then we drop the ball.

“It’s an issue with our team right now and we have to figure it out.”

The Colts are right back at it on the road Thursday night when they take on the Peterborough Petes.

Like the Attack, the Petes also find themselves out of a playoff spot, but Jelsma knows he and his teammates can ill afford to overlook the Petes.

That lesson should be clear.

“We can’t take them lightly,” said Jelsma. “Peterborough, they’re a good team. They work hard for a young team. We got to go in there with a purpose. If we play like we did tonight, things aren’t going to go well.

“We’ll kind of look at each other here and go back to the drawing board, talk it out, and come back tomorrow and just have a really good game. Work hard throughout the lineup and get back in the win column.”

Game time Thursday night at the Peterborough Memorial Centre is 7:05 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Van Steensel made his Barrie debut playing on the left side with Dalyn Wakely and Ryan Patterson. The overager had five shots, including a prime scoring chance in front that Owen Sound goalie Carter George made a good glove save on. . . Cole Beaudoin was scratched and is out week-to-week after returning from world juniors with a lower-body injury. “The swelling has to go down,” said Williamson. “We’ll just let the doctors tell us and we’ll know when he’ll be ready.” . . . Ben Hrebik got the start for Barrie, stopping 34 of 39 shots. . . Attack blueliner David Bedkowski was tossed from the game in the second period after a checking to the head major on Jelsma. . .  The Attack held a special ceremony before the game to honour world junior players. Akey and Beaudoin (Canada), Hemming (Finland) and Sam Hillebrandt (U.S.) were honoured from the Colts. . . Barrie native Cole Zurawski, who was acquired earlier in the day from Flint, made his debut with Owen Sound. . . Romani is expected to make his debut with the Colts next week.