Marty Williamson didn’t hesitate when asked what the Barrie Colts have to do after taking a 7-1 thumping at the hands of the Oshawa Generals on Sunday night at Sadlon Arena.
“We need a big response,” said the Colts’ general manager and head coach whose team is now down 2-0 heading to Oshawa after dropping both games on home ice in the Eastern Conference best-of-seven final.
“Things haven’t gone our way and we can’t make excuses,” continued Williamson. “We need to have a big response. We’ve played well in that rink, and we have to go show the character of this hockey team.”
The series now heads to the Tribute Communities Centre for Game 3 on Tuesday night with the Generals in control.
Game time is 7:05 p.m.
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“It’s not an ideal spot to be in, but I think for us the belief in that room has never waivered,” said Colts’ veteran Dalyn Wakely of dropping the opening two games at home. “So, for me, I’m really confident in this group and our ability to bounce back.
“I thought we responded well last series and be able to draw on that this time around.”
Beckett Sennecke (3G, 1A), Colby Barlow (1G, 3A), and Luca Marrelli (1G, 3A) each had four points and Andrew Gibson scored twice to lead the Generals who broke open a close game with four power-play goals against an undisciplined Colts team.
Down 2-0 early in the second period after Emil Hemming’s early goal was ruled offside following a short video review, a frustrated Colts team got caught twice taking retaliation penalties and the Generals made them pay the price with Sennecke and Barlow hammering one-timers past Sam Hillebrandt on the ensuing power plays less than three minutes apart.
The frustration only grew from there and by the end of the period Oshawa was up 5-0 and in complete control.
“They made us pay all game with the power play,” said Williamson. “They did a really good job. We had a plan going in and we probably got to go back to the drawing board in shutting that down.
“The main thing is to not take penalties. That’s the best way to kill penalties.”
The Generals saw an opportunity and seized it at a critical time of the game.
“It was just kind of capitalizing on their mistakes,” said Sennecke, who now has 22 goals and 43 points in 32 career playoff games. “They took a couple of penalties and at the end of the day we just capitalized on them, and that was huge for us.”
After Barrie killed off two earlier Oshawa power plays without much difficulty, Generals’ coach Brad Malone admits he thought about sending out his second unit, but he says associate coach Mario Pouliot made the case to stick with their big guns and they came through.
“Critical moments you can’t define what they’re going to be, but I thought that power play opportunity was one of them tonight,” said Malone. “We talk all year about regular season being a dry rehearsal and we go back after a regular season game and talk about the power play not executing at a certain moment of the game and the momentum shifts.
“That’s why you have those conversations during the regular season so that when we get into a situation like this in the conference finals, we understand the magnitude of what it means and how important if we don’t score to continue to generate momentum.”
The Generals would score twice more with the man advantage in the third against Ben Hrebik, who replaced Hillebrandt in net to start the period.
The Colts, clearly dejected, had little fight left in them.
“Like coach (Williamson) said, ‘the best way to kill penalties is to stay out of the box,’” said Wakely. “I take a bit of ownership in that I took two tonight. I think for us, being able to play five-on-five is when we’re at our best, so obviously we got to try our best to do that next game.”
Owen Van Steensel, with Barrie on the power play, scored with 1:49 remaining to break the shutout bid by Oshawa Jacob Oster.
The veteran overage netminder, who would turn aside 31 of 32 shots, was outstanding, especially in the opening period.
“He’s done that for us all year,” said Malone. “For me, just trust in what he does and what he sees on a day-to-day basis. Not just the coaching staff, but the rest of the guys in the room got a lot of trust in him.”
The Colts came out in the first period much better than they did in the series opener, but Sennecke would set the pace early when he laid a massive hit along the backboards on Kashawn Aitcheson and then wired a shot from the faceoff circle past the glove hand of Hillebrandt all before the 24-second mark of the game.
“I thought we started right in the first shift with this guy (Sennecke), and it set the tone,” said Malone. “The big emphasis going into this game was to set the tone early and I thought we did that with Beckett’s leadership and then continued to execute the game plan.”
The Colts would push back, outshooting the Generals 11-3 through the first half of the opening frame, but Oster slammed the door, and Gibson would hammer one from the point upstairs to add to the Generals’ lead.
“We’re not going to make excuses,” said Williamson. “I thought we came out ready to play and I was proud of our guys for that. Hilly would like to have one of those back too some extent, but that’s the game.
“We were down 2-0 and needed to have a better second period. We took some penalties, and the hole got a bit deeper and it’s tough to win that way.”
Malone’s message for his team heading home with an opportunity to grab a stranglehold of the series is a simple one; more of the same.
“Just continue to do what we do,” he said. “Continue to play with confidence. Continue to play the right way, and trust in each other that we’re all going to do that job.”
The Colts battled back after a 9-4 drubbing in Game 4 against Kingston and they’re hoping to do the same now. Only this time, they’ll have to do it on the road.
“I think we’ll get in a good day tomorrow, get some rest and go over some things here, and obviously come focused for two big ones on the road,” said Wakely.
ICE CHIPS: Game 4 goes Thursday night in Oshawa at 7:05 p.m. . . . Oshawa finished 4-for-7 with the man advantage, while Barrie was 1-for-3. . . Hillebrandt stopped 25 of 30 shots, while Hrebik stopped 9 of 11 in cleanup duty. . . The Generals continue to target Aitcheson physically and the Colt blueliner would end up taking three penalties.
