Jelsma’s ‘big play’ in overtime gives Colts win in Brantford

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Beau Jelsma did, and the result was a 3-2 overtime win for the Barrie Colts over the Brantford Bulldogs on Wednesday night at the Brantford Civic Centre.

After being snubbed on two earlier chances in front of the net, one where he was hauled down before he could get the puck on his stick and another where he was robbed by the glove hand of Bulldogs goalie David Egorov, Jelsma made good on his third great scoring opportunity.

With 1:34 gone in the three-on-three overtime, the overage forward slapped the puck off the stick of Tomáš Hamarain the Barrie end and then raced to grab the loose puck at centre ice before walking in and firing it over the right pad of Egorov.

The individual effort gave Barrie (12-5) its third straight victory and ninth in its last 11 games.

“I just saw an opening and I poked her through, and I found myself on a breakaway,” said Jelsma of the forced turnover leading to his winning goal. “I missed a Grade A chance before that, so I knew I had to bury this one.”

The overtime winner capped off a late Barrie rally. Cole Beaudoin tied the contest 2-2 with just under four minutes remaining.

The win was an emotional one for the Colts who came back on a night they were once again shorthanded due to injuries, suspensions, and a sickness that has spread throughout the team over the last couple of weeks.

“It felt great,” Jelsma said of finally being able to connect. “It’s not just an individual effort. I thought our whole team played well tonight and it was just a matter of time before we got a good break, and we did.

“It happened to be me, but I’m happy to put it in the net for the boys because it truly was a team win tonight.”

For Marty Williamson, it was just another time his captain delivered in the clutch.

“It was a big play,” said the Colts general manager and head coach. “He had a couple of chances in the game to score goals and it’s nice to see him get that one.”

With Evan Passmore (five games) and Cole Dubowsky (two games) serving suspensions, a virus has also circulated throughout the roster.

Gabriel Eliasson was scratched, while Tristan Bertucci was feeling under the weather and was expected to miss Wednesday’s contest before deciding to play in the morning.

Brad Gardiner returned after missing the previous two games with illness. Defencemen Teague Vader and Noah Barton were called up to make their OHL debuts to help fill the roster.

“We got guys injured, we got guys sick, and it’s not phasing us right now,” said Jelsma. “That’s just the character of our hockey team. I think it’s going to go a long way for us this year.

“There’s no quit in this group. We want it and we want it bad. It doesn’t matter who we have in the lineup every night, we have a chance to win every time we step on the ice.”

Barrie also got another big performance in goal from Ben Hrebik. The backup stopped 29 of 31 shots and made three huge saves to improve to a perfect 5-0 on the season.

“He handles everything,” Williamson said of his young netminder who sports a sparkling 1.95 goals against average and .939 save percentage. “A huge save with his glove there (in the third). He did a great job, and nothing phases him. He’s ready to play in this league, that’s for sure.”

After a slow start in training camp, Hrebik has erased any doubts he can step in for starter Sam Hillebrandt when needed.

“I had the same concerns coming into camp,” said Williamson. “I didn’t know what we had. I knew we had Hilly, but I didn’t know if we had a backup or 1A, 1B type situation and he sure has proven he can play.”

Jelsma said he and his teammates have confidence in their young goalie.

“I trust him,” he said. “He’s been great for us and I’m super happy for him.”

Jake O’Brien opened the scoring for the Bulldogs (7-8-3-0) just 52 seconds into the second period before Dalyn Wakely drew the Colts back even a little more than three minutes later, picking up a rebound in front and wrapping it around Egorov.

Patrick Thomas put Brantford back on top early in the third, but Beaudoin would send it to overtime when he took a cross-ice feed from Beau Akey and beat Egorov.

“This is how you got to play on the road,” said Williamson. “That’s what I was most proud of my team. Right from the beginning, I thought we played pretty hard. (Brantford) is coming off a win, they’re feeling good. They’re a good hockey team over there even though they sputtered a little bit early – they had some injuries and that – they’re getting stronger. They are well-coached. I thought it was a really good hockey game.

“If we hadn’t showed up to play, we could have gotten behind the eight-ball early and trailed by a bigger number and we didn’t.”

With an OHL fewest 45 goals against, the Colts were once again stingy on the defensive end. Helped in part by penalty killing that held Brantford scoreless on five chances.

“Credit to our penalty kill this game, I thought they were fantastic,” said Williamson. “We had some big kills at times. We took five penalties, a little careless play by us, but I thought the penalty kill was kind of the difference.

“I know (Brantford’s) numbers are low (18^th on the power play), but they’ve been hot the last couple of games. It was nice to shut them down and not give them anything tonight.”

The win kicks off a challenging week for the Colts who face three of the conference’s expected heavyweights. Barrie hits the road Friday to take on the Brampton Steelheads and then wraps up the weekend with a home date against last year’s Eastern Conference champion Oshawa Generals.

“It’s a good start for the weekend,” said Jelsma. “We got a tough week coming up and I’m super happy to get the first one. We’ll take it game by game. We got the first one down and now we’re focusing on Brampton. We got a good day off here, get in some practice and we’re going to go back to work Friday and Saturday.”

Game time Friday night at the CAA Centre is 7 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: While Eliasson wasn’t able to dress, Bertucci was just good enough to gut it out. “We’re out a point in the season where we’re not going to push guys,” said Williamson. “It was the same with Bertucci, he was the one that phoned us. As of last night, I didn’t think he was playing today. That’s what he had Vader and Barton both up. He phoned this morning he could gut it out, so we’ll give him the day off tomorrow and get him ready for Friday.”. . . Williamson praised the minutes he got from the likes of young players Parker Vaughan, Justin Handsor, Jaiden Newton, Vader, and Barton. “It took everybody. It was a real team effort tonight.”. . . Jelsma now has six goals in eight games. . . Wednesday’s win was Barrie’s first at the Brantford Civic Centre.