Colts will need ‘buy-in’ from every single player in series against Frontenacs

The demanding work. The gruelling practices. Those long, late-night bus rides. They were all for now.

When it comes to hockey, there is no better time of the season than the playoffs.

Marty Williamson loves the challenge they present and he believes his Barrie Colts are ready for the next big step when the puck drops Thursday night against the Kingston Frontenacs for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven semi-final series at Sadlon Arena.

“It’s the best time of year. Playoff hockey is a lot of fun,” said the Colts’ general manager and head coach whose team made short work of the Niagara IceDogs in the first round. “You work hard to get into the playoffs and then you work hard to play against certain teams with the seeding and then you got to continue to execute in the playoffs because you put in all that hard work during the year.

“That’s what I like about this group. We’ve seen a really good practice today and focus. With (Tristan) Bertucci, the (Dalyn) Wakely group, and (Beau) Jelsma, they’ve gone deep. We know what it takes to win.”

And what it will take is likely playing their best hockey of the season. The Frontenacs were right there with the Colts atop the conference standings and like Barrie they bolstered their lineup at the trade deadline to take a serious run at an OHL championship.

“They’re a great team over there,” said Bertucci of the Frontenacs who are led by a pair of the OHL’s Top 10 scorers in Tommy Uronen and Jacob Battaglia. “It’s really going to take all the depth (we have).

“It’s going to take every single guy to buy in, play their role, and do their job.”

The Colts won the season series between the two teams, winning three of four games. But that means little now.

The Frontenacs, who added forwards Joey Willis, Ethan Hay, and defender Will Bishop from the Saginaw Spirit along with goaltender Charlie Schenkel from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds ahead of the OHL trade deadline, boast a deep lineup with an offence (281 goals) that had fewer goals in the conference than only the Brampton Steelheads (298).

“We know we won the season series, but a lot of the games were played early,” said Williamson. “They made a lot of additions at the deadline with a new goalie, a new defenceman, and a couple of forwards. They paid a price, and they want to win this series badly.

“We had the same amount of points and there’s a lot of similarities to our two teams. We’re both deep and it’s going to be who can be consistent and who executes. That’s probably going to be the difference.”

In what is expected to be a long, tight series, another key difference maker will likely be who makes fewer mistakes.

“That’s why I tip my hat to Kingston,” said Williamson. “They’re the least penalized team, so they’re not shooting themselves in the foot. They don’t give up odd-man rushes, and we need to match that. We need to do the same thing.

“We think we can impose ourselves in certain areas of the game, but without consistency, and if we’re making too many mistakes (it won’t be easy).  We’re at the level now with the final eight teams that they’re going to make you pay.”  

Both teams boast one of the OHL’s top lines. While Anthony Romani, Owen Van Steensel, and Wakely rung up a combined 13 goals and 29 points in a five-game win over Niagara, the Frontenacs trio of Uronen, Battaglia, and Cedrick Guindon racked up 111 goals and 265 points during the season.

“We know that line is going to be awfully good,” said Williamson. “You have to pay special attention, and you have to get the right players out against them. Hopefully, they aren’t difference-makers in the series. We need to do the best job we can checking.

“Again, like our top line and our guys, there are going to be times you can keep them quiet. It’s not going to be the whole series. We just can’t let that line dominate. They can’t go out and be heads and tails better than everybody, but we need to be consistent against them.”

Goaltending will also be key. While Schenkel started all four games in the sweep of Sudbury and boasted an impressive 1.83 goals against average, and .934 save percentage, the Colts believe they have two starters in veteran Sam Hillebrandt and Ben Hrebik.

The two both saw action in the opening round and that could be the case against the Frontenacs.

“I think we have confidence in both,” said Williamson, who knows who his starter is tonight but will keep that under wraps until just before game time. “I think we’ll go forward with one as long as he’s playing well. If we think he needs a rest, or it isn’t going well, we got full confidence in the other going in.

“We’re still a two-goalie team and we’ll just kind of play it game-by-game.”

Kingston comes into the series with something few teams have, said Williamson.

“This is the first time we’ve played a team with a true checking line,” he said of the Ethan Hay, Gage Heyes, and Ben Pickell trio. “They played against (Sudbury’s) Quentin Musty and Kieron Walton up there and I would imagine we’ll see the Hay line against the Wakely line an awful lot.

“His (Wakely) line will still do their thing and maybe they’ll get shut down a little bit, but those other lines are going to have to step up for us and we believe they can.”

The Colts also hope to have a couple of key veterans back in the lineup tonight with the return of forwards Brad Gardiner and Bode Stewart.

Gardiner missed the last three games of the Niagara series, while Stewart was injured for the last two.

“Stewie is going to be ready for the series and we hope Gardiner is,” said Williamson. “We hope our depth will come through for us.”

While the series is expected to be a long one, Williamson says his team’s focus is clearly on Game 1 and that’s it.

“Every game can be a different kind of game and whether you score late or don’t score late or score early or don’t score early, and all the way through, you have to stay in the moment and just worry about winning Game 1, and then you move on from there.

“That’s all we’re focused on really is the first period and playing the way we want to. Then we’ll see what kind of adjustments or what we want to do.”

No matter what happens, Bertucci feels he and his teammates must focus on playing their game.

It’s the best time of the hockey season and the Dallas Stars prospect believes he and his teammates have what it takes to keep the playoff run going.

“I think the biggest thing always is playing for each other and being that tight-knit group, and I think we have that here,” he said. “When it comes down to all these teams, it’s kind of like who is more disciplined and it becomes a game of mistakes, so if we can just stay dialed in and play our game, I think we’ll have no problem.”

Game time on Thursday is 7 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Game 2 is Saturday night in Barrie at 7:30 p.m., before the series switches to Kingston for Game 2 on Tuesday and Game 3 on Thursday with 7 p.m. starting times. Game 5, if necessary, is next Saturday back in Barrie at 7:30 p.m. Game 6 returns to Kingston at 7 p.m. next Sunday, followed by a possible Game 7 in Barrie on Tuesday, April 22 at 7 p.m.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Barrie Colts (42-22-2-2) vs. Kingston Frontenacs (40-20-5-3)

-       FINISH: Colts (2^nd conference), Frontenacs (3rd conference)

-       HEAD-TO-HEAD: Colts 3-1

-       POWER PLAY: Colts (6^th, 24.1%), Frontenacs (4^th, 25.6%)

-       PENALTY KILL: Colts (3^rd, 83.1%), Frontenacs (11^th, 77.7%)

-       GOALS FOR: Colts (250), Frontenacs (281)

-       GOALS AGAINST: Colts (219), Frontenacs (232)

Top 3 Scorers

BARRIE

1.   Kashawn Aitcheson (26-33-59)

2.   Riley Patterson (25-34-59)

3.   Dalyn Wakely (23-35-58)

  NIAGARA

1.   Jacob Battaglia (40-50-90)

2.   Tuomas Uronen (38-52-90)

3.   Cedrick Guindon (33-52-85)

PREDICTION: Two fairly even teams with good depth. Colts hold the edge on the blueline, and that should be the difference. BARRIE IN SEVEN GAMES