Colts felt they deserved better fate in 1-0 loss to Generals

Teams complete home-and-home set tonight in Oshawa

While the effort was there for the Barrie Colts on Saturday night, the expected reward that normally comes with it wasn’t.

On a night the Colts felt they deserved a better fate, it was the Oshawa Generals who managed to come away with the 1-0 win, Saturday night, at Sadlon Arena.

The Colts out-chanced and out-shot the Generals (31-17), but the only goal of the game came off the stick of Ryan Gagnier at 10:14 of the third period with Oshawa on the power play.

“I’m real proud of the guys,” said Colts head coach Marty Williamson, whose club will complete a home-and-home weekend set with the Generals Sunday night in Oshawa. “We wanted to play a better game than we did on Thursday (5-2 loss to Kingston) and I thought we did. I thought our young guys played well and gave us good energy.

“If we’re going to play the same way (Sunday) night, then we just want people to get a finish or make a play at the net.”

It was the fourth-straight loss for the Colts (20-12-4-0), who had five of their top veterans out and were playing with 11 first-year players upfront.

“We didn’t have too much puck luck,” said Colts rookie centre Christopher Grisolia, who had a goal called back nearing the midway point of the third. “We had a lot of our bigger guys out, so a lot of young guys stepped up tonight.

“We had a few chances and obviously that goal that got called back. A little unlucky tonight, but it was good work by the boys.”

Patrick Leaver was real good in goal for Oshawa (20-16-1-2), turning away all 31 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season.

The Colts thought they had opened the scoring in the third when the puck went off the side of Grisolia’s skate in front and slid past Leaver.

Officials reviewed the play and would wave off the goal.

“His foot is moving, so those calls can go either way,” Williamson said of the disallowed goal. “It’s a rebound, and it’s a tough one. His foot is moving, and that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Just a couple of minutes later Gagnier stepped over the blue line and slipped the puck past Colts defenceman Artur Cholach and slid the puck underneath Mack Guzda for the winner.

Grisolia didn’t think he kicked it in. He said he felt the puck go off his skate.

“Definitely it was just unlucky,” he said. “We still fought after that. We had some chances.”

The Colts pressed hard in the third, especially late. They outshot the Generals 16-3 in the frame, but couldn’t get the puck past Leaver.

“We didn’t sit back,” Williamson said. “We played on our toes and played hard. That’s about as good as that group can play and we were just wishing we got rewarded.”

“It was a tight game all night and we stepped up in the third,” Grisolia said. “We deserved better.”

Grisolia was strong all night and may have played his best game in the OHL.

The Colts are right back at it Sunday night in Oshawa and the quick turnaround may be good for the young Colts.

“I think so,” Williamson said. “They know they played well. Now they just got to go do it for another three periods. That’s the consistency we want to build and if they keep playing well they’ll start to develop that finish.”

Grisolia is confident things will work out better in Oshawa if he and his teammates put in the same effort.

“I don’t think we did anything wrong (Saturday night). The boys were going,” he said. “We just got to continue what we did Sunday night in Oshawa and I think we’ll have a better outcome.”

Game time tonight at the Tribute Communities Centre is 6:05 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Centre Zach Wigle, who was signed earlier this week, made his Colts debut on Saturday night. . . Last night marked the return to Barrie for several familiar faces. It was the first game back for former interim head coach and longtime assistant Todd Miller since he left the club and was named Oshawa’s head coach last summer. It also marked the return of former Colts’ players Matthew Hill and Oskar Olausson, who were both traded to the Generals in separate deals this season. . . Oshawa finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Barrie went 0-for-2. . . Nathan Allensen (2-9-11) had his six-game scoring streak snapped, while Hunter Haight had his five-game goal-scoring streak halted.

feature image: Christopher Grisolia – TERRY WILSON/OHL IMAGES

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