GAME SUMMARY
Barrie, Ont. — OHL Saturday night:
First Period
1. North Bay, Pronin 6, 11:44
2. Barrie, Edgar 4 (Schneid, Testa) 16:41 (pp)
3. Barrie, Mogull 2 (Tsherna, McNally) 17:19
Penalties — Gauvreau Bar (roughing) 5:46, Moses NBB (slashing) 15:29, Van Bommel NBB (fighting), Gauvreau Bar (fighting) 17:52.
Second Period
4. North Bay, Carey 5 (Laird, Konobelj) 2:48
5. North Bay, Pereira 2 (Pronin, Karmanov) 5:14
6. North Bay, Dubrovtsev 10 (Vaughan, Warren) 7:11
7. Barrie, Lombardi 2 (Figliomeni, Tsherna) 15:09
Penalties — Daigneault NBB (tripping) 12:04, Edwards NBB (high-sticking) 17:10.
Third Period
8. North Bay, Vaughan 4 (Kunopaski, Warren) 2:48
9. North Bay, Dubrovtsev 11 (Warren, Vaughan) 14:12
10. Barrie, Testa 1 (Edgar, Lowe) 17:31 (pp)
11. North Bay, Moses 6 (Laird) 19:23 (en)
Penalties — Enright NBB (roughing) 3:16, Konobelj NBB (instigating, fighting, misconduct), Lowe (fighting) 7:21, Barch NBB (roughing) 10:09, Gauvreau Bar (double roughing) 10:09, Lovell NBB (tripping) 16:49.
Shots on goal by
North Bay 13 12 11—36
Barrie 11 11 18—40
Goal (shots-saves) — North Bay: Vreugdenhill (W,1-1); Barrie: Bach (start)(24-20), Nikonovich(7:11 second)(11-9).
Power plays (goals-chances) — North Bay: 0-2; Barrie: 2-6.
Referees — Tyson Stewart, Dan Kovachik. Linesmen — David Milne, Broidy Rondelet.
Attendance — 3,456 (4,195)
OTHER SCORES
Erie 5 Niagara 2
Brampton 4 Brantford 2
Flint 6 Saginaw 2
Owen Sound 5 London 1
Windsor 4 Soo 3
The scariest part of Saturday night’s Halloween-themed contest at Sadlon Arena wasn’t the spooky decor or the festive costumes in the stands for the Barrie Colts — it was a devastating defensive lull early in the second period.
Holding a narrow 2-1 lead after the opening frame, the Colts watched it vanish in a flash as the North Bay Battalion erupted for three goals in less than five minutes, turning a promising start into a 7-4 defeat against their Central Division rivals.
Ryder Carey, Jax Pereira, and Evgeny Dubrovtsev — the latter netting the first of his two goals on the night — capitalized on Barrie’s (2-10-1-0) momentary unraveling to seize control for the Battalion (6-8-0-0).
Though Ben Lombardi provided a spark by cutting the deficit to one late in the middle frame, any hopes of a third-period comeback were quickly smothered when former Colt Parker Vaughan scored just 2:48 into the final stanza to restore North Bay’s two-goal cushion at 5-3.
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Barrie head coach Dylan Smoskowitz pointed directly to that sudden collapse as the turning point of the night.
“Yeah, that fifth goal was a real killer, and that second period got away from us,” Smoskowitz said, reflecting on the team’s struggles to maintain consistency. “The defensive lapses are unacceptable. And that’s really what it is, because you take away that seven or eight minutes, that little lull, and you take away that goal at the start of the third.
“You look at the game as a whole, and, of course, I’ve got to go watch it back, but there were a lot of good things. You put up 40 shots, you score two goals on the power play. I liked a lot of the stuff we did with the puck tonight. Our play away from the puck has to pick up.”
A young Colts team can ill-afford to take its foot off the pedal.
“You’ve got to put a full 60 together,” overage forward Luca Testa said after the game. “I thought the boys were good, just a little mistake here and there; they’re costly.”
North Bay forwards often found a way to get behind Barrie’s defense, breaking in alone on the Barrie net at least five times.
“They’re good at it, but when a team is good at something, you tend to see it in the pre-scout,’’ Smoskowitz said. “We spoke about it, and I guess, maybe it’s for our first-year guys who haven’t seen it firsthand — seeing it on film and then experiencing it on the ice. You look away for one second, and that guy’s behind you because that team’s really used to it, they’re really comfortable doing it.
“So, it’s a good learning experience for our group. It’s two times we’ve played these guys, and we’ve got them six more times. You better believe that our team will be more aware of it for the next six games.”
Arseny Pronin opened the scoring at 11:44 of the first period, but the Colts finished the frame strong, scoring twice a mere 38 seconds apart to jump ahead.
With Barrie on the power play, William Schneid found Eamon Edgar open across the slot, and the second-year forward ripped one over the right shoulder of Battalion goaltender Cole Vreugdenhil at 16:41. Sebastian Mogull then made it 2-1 before the wheels came off for the Colts early in the second.
The three-goal Battalion outburst brought an end to Barrie goaltender Hagan Bach’s night. The rookie goalie gave up four goals on 24 shots and was replaced by Matvei Nikonovich, who stopped nine of 11 shots over the final 30 minutes of action.
It was the second straight game Bach was pulled, following a 6-0 loss in Peterborough where he surrendered five goals over two periods — all while the Petes were on the power play. Smoskowitz didn’t blame his young goaltender for either loss.
“I don’t fault Bach for any of those goals,” the Colts head coach said of the four North Bay markers. “The pull wasn’t something that had to do with Hagen at all. It was more about the team. It was more about a team reset. You know, just to let them know what we’re doing right now is unacceptable. We’ve got to do something different.
“So, he’s going to be fine. He’s going to have a good week of practice. He’ll be okay.”
Barrie, which has a league-worst 27 goals and has struggled offensively all season, scored four or more goals for just the fourth time in 13 games. Ultimately, it was their defensive play that cost them.
“It’s funny. It seems like you plug one hole and another hole opens up, and then the boat starts leaking again,” Smoskowitz said. “So, that’s just the reality of playing with a team with a bunch of players who really haven’t gone through it before. You see the veterans, they’re pretty good. They’re pretty good with chipping in offensively, but being solid and structured defensively...
“The young guys may have a good defensive game, but now they lack offense. All of a sudden, next game, they’re pretty good offensively, and now they lack defense. If we put it all together, we’re going to be a pretty damn good team. It just takes time.”
A turnover by Testa at center ice led to Dubrovtsev’s second goal of the night, with Vaughan drawing one of two assists in a three-point performance. The two Battalion forwards were the best players on the ice Saturday, both posting a plus-four rating.
Testa, who had his best game as a Colt since being acquired in a trade with Brantford, answered back on the power play with 2:29 remaining and the goaltender pulled. The overage forward added an assist to pick up his first two points in a Barrie uniform.
“It was nice,” Testa said of finally finding the back of the net. “Unfortunately, a tough turnover before led to a goal against, but it’s definitely nice to get the monkey off the back.”
The goal came via a setup from Edgar, who found Testa on the doorstep with a laser pass through traffic.
“Hell of a play,” Testa said of the pass. “He’s a hell of a player. I love playing with him.”
Smoskowitz felt it was Testa’s best performance in Barrie as well, while also praising the play of Testa’s line, featuring wingers Anthony Figliomeni and Luc Gauvreau.
“They’re hard to play against,” the Colts bench boss said. “They keep it simple. It was really nice for Luca to get rewarded there at the end. There was even an assist, so it was a two-point night for the kid.
“He’s been working hard. He deserves it.”
Another former first-round Barrie draft pick iced the game for North Bay as Shamar Moses hit the empty net with 37 seconds remaining.
UP NEXT
The Colts wrap up Rivalry Week in the OHL on Sunday when they travel down Highway 26 to take on the Owen Sound Attack. The hosts will be looking to bounce back from a 4-3 overtime loss in Barrie on Thursday night.
“It’s always good to get right back on the horse,” Smoskowitz said. “It’s a tough rink to play in, a small rink against a really competitive team. We had a big battle tonight as well, so I’m looking forward to getting back on the ice tomorrow and having another crack at it.”
Meanwhile, North Bay hosts the London Knights on Thursday.
ICE CHIPS
Veteran blueliner Justin Handsor was scratched due to an illness. “I’m waiting to see how he feels when he wakes up (Sunday),” Smoskowitz said when asked if Handsor would play in Owen Sound.
Edgar has four points (2G, 2A) in his last two games.
Vaughan, Barrie's fifth overall pick in 2024, has racked up three goals and 13 points in his last eight games for the Battalion.
