Since making his OHL debut in Barrie three seasons ago, Carter George has found himself right at home against the Colts at Sadlon Arena.
It was more of the same on Thursday night.
The Los Angeles Kings prospect was his usual stellar self, turning aside 42 of 43 shots to lead a desperate Owen Sound Attack team fighting for a berth in the playoffs to an important 3-1 win.
George, who turned aside all 23 shots in the second period, improved his record in Barrie to 4-1-0-1, but of more importance moved the Attack (25-34-4-3) two points ahead of the Sarnia Sting – who lost 5-0 in Windsor – for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference standings with just two games remaining.
“He’s a really good goalie and all credit to him,” said Colts’ defenceman Tristan Bertucci. “He’s so consistent and he does it night in and night out. He’s kind of the backbone of their team there.”
Trailing 1-0 after a poor opening period, the Colts cranked up the heat in the second period before Kashawn Aitcheson finally got one by George just 1:18 into the third to draw even.
The Canadian national junior team starter, though, would slam the door shut again long enough for Bruce MacDonald to score the winner with 3:27 remaining and Ben Cormier to add an empty-netter a little under two minutes later to nail down a big two points.
George, who was named the game's first star, has been named the first star in three of the six games in Barrie.
“I’ll be happy when he gets his NHL deal and is gone,” said Colts’ general manager and head coach Marty Williamson of George before bursting out in laughter. “I think we got one more year of him. He’s a heck of a goalie. We joke about it here that there’s quite often the Carter George affect. When he’s on his game, he’s tough to beat.
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The loss for the Colts (41-22-2-2) ended their slim hopes of finishing first in the Eastern Conference and nailing down home-ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
A costly collision between two Barrie players inside the Owen Sound blue line would lead to the winner on this night.
Defenceman Beau Akey, moving the puck in from the point, ran into teammate Brad Gardiner. That allowed Declan Waddick to pick up the loose puck and race down the ice with MacDonald on a two-on-one.
MacDonald would one-time the perfect cross-slot feed past Sam Colts’ goaltender Sam Hillebrandt for the winner.
“I think it was a bad decision by the defenceman,” said Williamson. “There was no play there and we’re forcing it. To me, the game was in the first period. We didn’t come out ready to play and got lambasted in shots and got lambasted for most of the period.
“We played two pretty good periods after that, but we made the big mistake, and Carter George played a hell of a game in there.”
The Colts started the contest with a pair of early power-play chances but couldn’t connect and that seemed to light a fire under the Attack.
Barrie native Cole Zurawski was allowed to walk out of the corner in front and fire it past Hillebrandt at 13:38 for the period’s lone goal.
“We were really bad in the defensive zone,” said Williamson. “That’s the worst I’ve seen us in a long time in the defensive zone. The power play, we didn’t score but we weren’t horrible on it. We were moving it around and that, but in the defensive zone we were just puck-watching.
“(Zurawski) gets a breakaway out of the corner, basically. We’re supposed to have layers there that are bulletproof. It wasn’t like a point shot that we let in. The guy walks out of a corner.”
Owen Sound would outshoot Barrie 26-8 in the first, clearly showing which team was more desperate in this one.
“We woke up a little bit,” said Williamson of his team’s play in the second. “We were more desperate, better hockey, but we sure didn’t start the game that way. You give away a period you just can’t expect to have good things. I hate this term, ‘switch on and off.’
Get ready to play. Play three periods and let the chips fall where they fall.”
Looking for some consistency from his team, Williamson wanted a solid three periods.
“It’s disappointing to have that first period,” he said. “Who knows, maybe everything is different if we come out and play. Whether it’s 0-0 or we’re up 1-0, it’s a whole different game.”
The Colts can ill afford to do that in the playoffs, said Williamson.
“Yeah, you can’t give 20 minutes away and I don’t care who you play,” said the head coach whose team will face Niagara or Sudbury in the first round. “The IceDogs can score goals in buckets, Sudbury plays hard. Whoever we play, we got to go fight for every inch at the start of that faceoff drop.”
As for who the Colts will face in the playoffs, a win by the North Bay Battalion against Niagara on Friday night and the Colts will open up the best-of-seven first-round series at home against the IceDogs next Thursday night.
The Colts host the IceDogs in the regular season finale on Saturday night and Williamson has yet to decide whether they will sit any regulars.
“It’ll probably factor into tomorrow night’s games on what we do,” he said. “They’re (Niagara) playing North Bay tomorrow. If they lose, they can’t go up and down and then it makes a difference. If they win and then they beat us, then we play Sudbury.
“These different things can happen, so if the game means something then we’ll have a lineup in there. If it doesn’t then we are resting guys.”
Regardless of who is in the lineup, Bertucci knows it’s important the Colts come up with a better effort on Saturday.
“We got to finish strong in our last game on Saturday and have that momentum heading into playoffs and just be at 100 per cent when the first series starts,” he said.
Game time on Saturday night is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The Colts will be sporting their 30th-anniversary jerseys for the final time this season and then will auction them off to fans after the game. . . Before the game Thursday, goaltender Ben Hrebik was presented with the Gord Bones Memorial Trophy as the team’s most improved player. . . With goals in three straight games, Aitcheson now leads the Colts with 26 goals. . . Riley Patterson has struggled down the stretch with just one goal in his last 10 games. . . Shots were all even at 43-43. . . Game 1 of the playoffs will be Thursday night and Game 2 will go Monday night. Both games will be in Barrie with a start time of 7 p.m. The Sadlon Arena is booked through the weekend with the annual home show. . . Anthony Romani is one point away from 200 OHL career points, while linemate Owen Van Steensel is two away from the 200-point mark.
