The Barrie Colts have no room for error in their Eastern Conference Final series against the Brantford Bulldogs.
The Colts now find themselves on the brink of playoff elimination after a convincing 6-1 Bulldogs win, Tuesday night, in front of 4,004 fans at Sadlon Arena.
Cooper Foster and Charlie Paquette had two goals and an assist each, and top NHL Draft prospect Caleb Malhotra had a goal and four points to help the Bulldogs take a 3-1 stranglehold in the best-of-seven series.
After dropping both games on home ice, the Colts will look to stave off elimination when they head back to TD Civic Centre on Thursday night. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
“It’s us playing with desperation now,” said Colts overage forward Brad Gardiner. “I don’t think a single guy in that room believes that we don’t have what it takes to come back.”
As for the message to his team after the tough loss, Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz said it’s the same one he’s delivered to them all season.
“We just got to win the day,” said Smoskowitz. “Have a really good day tomorrow, and the goal is to go win that game on Thursday. There are a lot of things I love about this group, but with the resilience in that room, and how tight-knit they are, there’s no mountain that’s too high for this group.
“There’s no task that’s too big for this group.”
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After a 5-3 loss on home ice evened things at 1-1, Brantford responded with its two best games of the series in Barrie. The Bulldogs gave up just a single goal combined in two games and now find themselves a win away from advancing to the OHL finals.
The Bulldogs hope this is the last trip of the season north.
“That’s natural,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Jay McKee, of not wanting to let Barrie off the mat. “We know we were at the top of our game tonight, and I would think they would feel they were a little bit off their game, so we know it’s going to be a big test.
“We like playing at home, obviously. Every team does. It’s going to be a team that has their backs up against the wall, and they’re going to press, so we have to be on our toes and be prepared and focused, and ready to play our best hockey.”
Brantford did all the damage they would need early in this one.
Dennis scored 4:41 into the game, and a little under six minutes later, on a power play, the Bulldogs would take advantage of a missed call to double their lead when Emil Hemming had his stick held as he looked to clear the puck from his zone
Play continued, and just seconds later, Adam Benak would beat Ben Hrebik. Paquette would make it 3-0 a mere 55 seconds later to put the Colts in an early hole.
“Not the best start, obviously,” said Smoskowitz. “You go down 3-0, and you get back to the room, and it’s not ideal. It’s not the way anybody draws it up, but, again, I’ll give these guys credit. Walking into that room, before I even said anything, everybody in the room was ‘OK, we got this, guys. It’s three shots. We know we got better. Let’s win this period here.’
“The positivity is what drives a team, and it especially drives this team. It doesn’t seem like it could get much worse than it is now, and still, I’ve got a room of 20 guys in there who are all positive, and they are so excited for Thursday night. That gives me a lot of hope.”
The Colts would get some much-needed life early in the second period when penalties on the same play to Zackary Sandhu and Luca Testa gave Barrie a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.
Hemming would hammer a one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle over the shoulder of Bulldogs goaltender Ryerson Leenders to make it 3-1.
The Dallas Stars prospect would then look to cut the lead to one when he went in on alone, but his shot aimed at the five-hole was denied by Leenders, who slammed his pads shut.
It would be as close as the Colts would come as the OHL’s regular-season champions took complete control from there.
Two goals later in the period by Dennis and Paquette, and it was lights out for the Colts. Malhotra would complete the scoring in a fight-filled third period.
“A few guys were talking about that after the game,” said Gardiner about the Colts nearly making it a one-goal game in the second. “A few bounces go our way, it could be a different game there in the middle of the second, but that’s what we just got to build off of. We know we have the group to do it.”
McKee praised his netminder for coming up big at a key moment.
“Those are saves that give our bench life, momentum, excitement,” he said of Leenders’ breakaway stop on Hemming. “We were proud of the group for just digging in when it got tight there. Obviously, when you give up a five-on-three goal, they can get some life off it, but our guys dug in and stuck with it, and were patient, and got rewarded eventually.”
The Colts brought in Arvin Jaswal for Hrebik to start the third, but three late fights were pretty much all the life the Colts could muster in the final period.
If the Colts want their season to continue past Thursday, they’ll need to find some offence and quickly.
“The one thing I love about our guys is they love rising to a challenge,” said Smoskowitz. “If you put a challenge in front of them, these guys take it to heart. . . “I’m looking forward to setting that challenge for them and seeing how they respond.”
While they are well aware that they’ll be heading into a hostile environment with their season on the line, the Colts believe the battle is far from over.
“It’s a loud barn, but we’ve always fed off that,” said Gardiner. “We always know (Kashawn Aitcheson) is going to get booed, (Calvin Crombie) returning (to his old rink). We all build off that. We have a tough group, and not a single one of us is ready for the season to be over yet.
“We still got a lot of hockey left here, and we still got our best hockey ahead of us. We’re excited to show that next game.”
FOSTER GETS CONFIDENCE-BOOSTING TWO GOALS
Brantford’s Foster, who had 34 goals in the regular season, went scoreless for six playoff games before breaking through in big fashion with a pair of goals.
“It definitely helps a lot,” he said of what the goals mean for his confidence. “I just needed one, and I got it there early, and I just kind of ran with it. It was nice to get that one.”
While he wasn’t finding the back of the net, McKee said Foster was contributing in several other ways.
“Coop’s been strong for us through the whole playoffs,” said the Brantford coach. “I know the numbers haven’t shown for, but he’s probably generated more chances for most of our guys and had a lot of good looks at the net.
“We talked the other day on the ice, and you know it’s coming when you’re generating. He’s been playing fantastic, and to see him rewarded tonight was nice.”
TRIO OF FIGHTS
Things began to boil over early in the third when Luc Gauvreau returned to the ice after a checking-to-the-head penalty. Bulldogs tough guy Ryder Boulton went after Gauvreau, and the two dropped the mitts.
Aitcheson took Dylan Tsherna down in a scrap later, before Parker Holmes went after Crombie following a big hit along the boards by the Barrie overage forward.
ICE CHIPS: Brantford outshot Barrie 40-26. . . Hrebik stopped 20 of 25 shots, while Jaswal made 15 saves in the third. . . The Bulldogs were 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Colts finished up 1-for-6. . . Unless the Colts find a way to bring the series back for a Game 6 on Saturday, it will be the final home game for Aitcheson and Cole Beaudoin, two of the greatest players in franchise history.
