Colts wrap up weekend sweep with win in Ottawa

With apologies to Meat Loaf, 'Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad' but the Barrie Colts were looking to strike a bigger chord when they embarked on their road trek this weekend.

To that end, Grayson Tiller made sure they hit the right note on Sunday afternoon in the Nation’s Capital.

Tiller scored the winner early in the third period as the Colts polished off a three-game sweep of the weekend with a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa 67’s at TD Place.

The win was the fourth straight for the Colts (20-8) who opened with a 5-2 win over the Flint Firebirds at home Thursday and then defeated the Frontenacs 5-4 Friday in Kingston.

“It’s really good. We played six good road periods,” Colts’ general manager and head coach Marty Williamson said of the weekend sweep. “I was pretty happy with the guys. We didn’t quite get the scoring today, but it’s a long trip and to grind out the game like we did, and really not give up too much, I was pretty proud.”

Sunday’s win in the Nation’s Capital was a game the Colts felt they had to have. Barrie now sits alone atop both the Eastern Conference and Central Division standings.

“We talked about it coming into this weekend that we had to get all three,” said Tiller, who now has a career-high six goals on the season. “This was a big statement weekend for us, and we accomplished that. Now, we’ve got to turn our focus to next weekend and get all the games next weekend too.”

Locked in a 1-1 tie heading into the third period, Tiller stepped up into the play and delivered what proved to be the difference maker.

Up on a rush over the Ottawa blueline with Bode Stewart, the veteran defenceman took a feed from Stewart and in one smooth motion wired a shot top left corner over the glove of goalie Jaeden Nelson for his first game-winner of the season.

“I just tried to join the rush like we’ve been trying to do in getting four to the (blueline),” said Tiller. “I was going to drive the net and luckily the puck came to me. I just tried to put the puck on the net.

“I don’t want to turn over pucks at the blueline. We talked about it a lot, and I was lucky enough that I just beat him, and it went in.”

It's been a balanced attack all season for the Colts. They don’t have one player among the OHL’s top 30 scorers, but do have 13 players with double-digit points.

“It’s great to see Tills get the game-winner there, but that’s our attitude. It really is,” said Williamson of the balanced scoring. “We don’t care about winning scoring championships and stuff like that, we care about winning hockey games.

“Whoever chipped it in tonight was going to be the guy and it was him. It is good to see though.”

The OHL’s top defensive team then pretty much suffocated the 67’s comeback attempts, limiting them to just four shots in the final period.

Ottawa (10-11-2-4) managed just a Luca Pinelli power-play goal in the second period, which brought down the Teddy Bears, and 22 shots overall.

“That’s what I meant about the six periods,” said Williamson. “We were not giving much space on the ice anywhere. We did a really good job, and it’s top to bottom. It’s our fourth line, it’s every line. They’re all buying in. This is how you can be a top team and not a .500 team if you do these kinds of things.

“We know there will be nights that we can score six, seven goals, but we need to be able to win a game like this, and the way you do it is by playing great defence.”

A balanced attack and defence are paying off for Barrie.

“We have so much talent on this team,” said Tiller. “We always talk about good defence leads to good offence, and that’s what we’re doing. We have the best defensive numbers in the league and we’re getting offence from all over. It just shows that we’re all playing together as a team.”

Cole Beaudoin, who along with Beau Akey will stay in Ottawa for the beginning of the Canadian National Team Selection Camp, put Barrie on top with a power-play marker at 6:13 of the second.

Emil Hemming slid it to the Kanata native in the faceoff circle and he wired it over the right shoulder of Nelson for his team-leading 13^th of the season. The goal ran his scoring streak to eight games (6G, 7A).

“Let’s get some separation, as much as we can get,” said Williamson. “We know it’s going to be a tight league, and we also know we’re losing some guys. This is the last game we’ll see Cole Beaudoin and Beau Akey and hopefully until January 6. Hopefully, they make (Canada).

“So, getting the wins are important. We know our lineup is going to be a little thinner and you never know what can happen through the Christmas break and that with the lineup.”

Ben Hrebik made 21 saves to improve his record to 8-1. The Barrie backup has posted a sparkling 1.93 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.

“I just feel neither goalie ever lets me down,” Williamson said of giving his backup his second start of the weekend ahead of Sam Hillebrandt. “We don’t need to ride anybody right now; both these kids deserve to play and they’re both doing great jobs.

“Hrebik’s numbers are through the roof. He’s doing a great job.”

The Colts will have some time before returning to action Friday night against the Bulldogs. Game time at the Brantford Civic Centre is 7:05 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Barrie outshot Ottawa 32-22. The Colts were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the 67’s went 1-for-2. . . With Beaudoin, Akey, Hillebrandt, and Hemming possibly gone to world juniors, others will have to step up for Barrie. “We just got to find ways to win with whoever is left and we got a lot of good players here,” said Williamson. “Jaiden Newton, Parker Vaughan, and Michael Derbidge sometimes these guys are a little bit screwed on ice time in tight games like this. We’re going to be counting on these guys to go from eight minutes to all of a sudden 15 minutes. This is what they want.” . . . Recently signed winger Ben Bowen (injury) isn’t expected to be eligible to play until mid-January.