One good period wasn’t enough for the Barrie Colts in Owen Sound on Wednesday night.
Certainly not against an Attack team that is playing as well right now as any team in the Ontario Hockey League.
For the third time early this season, the Colts came up short against their Highway 26 rivals, this time falling 6-0 to the Attack at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
It was the fourth-straight win for Owen Sound (8-2), which sits second overall in the OHL standings with 16 points, trailing only Windsor.
Barrie's News Delivered To Your Inbox
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Central Ontario Broadcasting, 431 Huronia Rd, Barrie, Ontario, CA, https://www.cobroadcasting.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
“They’re a good team,” said Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz, whose club has also suffered losses of 2-1, in a shootout, and 5-4 to the Attack earlier this season. “They got a lot of guys with experience. They don’t need many chances. They have some guys who are really hot right now. Their power play is really hot. It was a big focus of ours going into the game tonight, and they made us pay.
“Give them credit, they’re a good team, and we just have to learn from the 20 minutes when we were skating with them. We just have to duplicate that in the second and third, and we like our chances. Unfortunately, we didn’t put together a full 60 (minutes) tonight, and we paid for it.”
Barrie (3-5-0-2), despite being down 1-0 on Nicholas Sykora’s eighth of the season, had a solid start in the opening 20 minutes, but it all began to unravel just past the midway point of the second period when Harry Nansi scored his first of two on the night, with the Attack shorthanded.
Masen Wray made it 3-0 a little more than three minutes later, before Pierce Mbuyi, on the power play, Max Delisle, and Nansi, again on the power play, put it away in the third to hand the Colts their third straight loss.
“In the room after the first, we were kind of happy,” said Smoskowitz. “Obviously, you don’t want to be down 1-0 after what we felt was a good period, but we come out and give up that shorthanded goal in the second, and the wheels kind of fell off from there.
“We just have to build off the positives. There’ll be some positive clips in the first period there. Some good battles, some good structure. We just have to be a little bit tighter and not be cheating so much that we let games get out of hand, like that.”
The Colts’ offence has certainly had its share of struggles early this season, and Wednesday night was no different. They outshot the Attack, 29-26, but couldn’t find a way to beat Los Angeles Kings prospect Carter George, who has allowed just a single goal in his two wins over Barrie.
“There are so many looks that we get where there’s not that many guys in front of the net, or maybe there’s a second-chance opportunity and we’re kind of on the outside looking in,” said Smoskowitz. “There’s no will to compete, to get to the inside of the ice.
“We’ll go over the tape and we’ll look at some of the chances we had, and maybe how we could have got a second or third opportunity if we had more guys on the inside of the ice.”
The Colts’ bench boss and his coaching staff have been tinkering with lines over the last couple of games in an effort to get things going.
Captain Cole Beaudoin played between rookies Joe Salandra and Nicholas Desiderio, while Brad Gardiner centred Alex Assadourian and Calvin Crombie.
Rookie Eamon Edgar moved to the middle between Jaiden Newton and William Schneid, while veteran Carter Lowe played in the middle of young forwards Luc Gauvreau and Jonah McCormick.
“We kind of changed them up from the last game as well,” said Smoskowitz. “It’s something that we’ve talked about and looked into, and we’ll continue to look into it because, again, we’re not going to make the same mistake twice.
“At the same time, we do have to let guys gel and connect and communicate. Maybe watch the film and get on the same page. Some of these guys can have a better outing next game. So, again, we’ll go back and look at it and have a couple of good days of practice to regroup for a big home-and-home with North Bay.”
Barrie hosts the Battalion on Saturday night at Sadlon Arena, before wrapping up the home-and-home on Sunday afternoon at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in North Bay.
The Colts don’t want this skid to continue much longer, and a good showing against their Central Division partners during rival week in the OHL can help get them get back on track.
“It’s not like anyone in our division is really pulling away,” said Smoskowitz. “So, even though we would like to have a better record than we do, now, I believe we’re still three points behind for first in the division behind Niagara.
“It’s a big two games at home and then in North Bay on Sunday. Really, it’s a big, important weekend for us, depending on how it goes. So, we’re getting right back to work in practice and ready for North Bay.”
ICE CHIPS
Gabriel Eliasson is eligible to return from his three-game suspension on Saturday night. . . Justin Handsor returned to the lineup last night after missing three games with an unspecified injury. . . Ben Hrebik made his fourth-straight start in goal. . . Barrie went 0-for-5 on the power play, while Owen Sound was 2-for-4.
ADD. OHL
Sault Ste. Marie 5 Saginaw 2
