Right after scoring his third goal of the night, Grayson Tiller turned back to teammate Sam Black with a sheepish grin.
Then, as the defenceman made his way down the Barrie Colts bench to celebrate his first career OHL hat trick, ecstatic teammates Sam Hillebrandt and Kashawn Aitcheson mugged him.
With just five career goals over four seasons and 161 games before turning the trick in Saturday night’s 8-1 romp of the Sudbury Wolves at Sadlon Arena, the smile on the face of the normally subdued Tiller said it all.
“Yeah, it was unbelievable,” he said of his night, while still sporting an ear-to-ear grin after the game. “Tonight, coming into the game, whoever would have thought I would have had a hat trick? But it’s all those guys in that room.
“We came out tonight and we weren’t happy with our first period, but I feel like the second and third we really dominated and took it to them.”
Colts head coach Marty Williamson was all smiles when asked about his veteran defenceman who capped off a big night with less than three minutes remaining by taking a nice feed from Jaiden Newton just inside the blue line and wiring one through heavy traffic in front and Sudbury goaltender Drew Gaulton.
“When you see a hardworking defensive defenceman get three goals it’s kind of a nice surprise, and they were all good goals,” said Williamson. “He also snuck in on the net and joined the rush. It was a really good effort by him and a pretty good effort all the way around.”
The Colts (11-5) completed the sweep of the back-to-back home-and-home set which opened with a 3-2 overtime win Friday in Sudbury (8-7-2).
Tiller got things started on Saturday at 11:38 of the first when he went to the net and finished off a cross-crease feed from Carter Lowe.
Barrie’s defencemen have been much more active offensively this season, with 17 of its 59 goals coming from the blue line. Tiller is certainly doing his part, with four goals and six points in 15 games.
“He’s jumping into the rush and doing a good job,” said Williamson. “He’s playing smart hockey and, as Tiller always does, he’s had a little problem early with penalties.
“But he’s settled that down now, and he’s playing really well.”
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
Tiller admits he’s felt much more comfortable this season jumping up after focusing more on keeping the puck out of the net in his first three OHL seasons.
“My goal coming in was definitely take care of the defensive zone first, but, as my career has gone on here, I’ve learned to hop on offence and create that way too,” said the 19-year-old, who received a playful cold shoulder from his teammates when he entered the dressing room after the game, before getting mugged by them.
It was also a big night for Colts captain Beau Jelsma, whose second-period marker was No. 100 of his OHL career.
“He’s one of my best buddies on the team coming in on Day 1,” said Tiller, who was just as happy for Jelsma. “We’ve grown a friendship that’s going to last a lifetime, so I’m happy to see that for him tonight.”
The goal was well fitting of the way Jelsma plays every night. The Barrie overager brought packages of strawberry jam to practice earlier this season to encourage his teammates to play with jam every night.
On his milestone goal, Jelsma did exactly that, jamming the puck past Gaulton.
“He’s our captain and he’s a hard worker,” said Williamson. “Going to the net and being able to jam that thing in is kind of retrospective of how he plays. We’re happy to have him on this team.”
Dalyn Wakely, returning from an ankle injury, Carter Lowe, who also had two assists, Riley Patterson, and Aitcheson also scored for the Colts, who have now won eight of their last 10 games.
Barrie jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but gave up 20 shots in a somewhat sloppy opening period.
“The goals were good. We were doing good things offensively, it was just our defensive game was non-existent,” said Williamson. “Luckily, Hrebik had a hell of a first period for us.”
Hrebik made 38 saves on the night to improve to 4-0 this season. A power-play marker by Kieron Walter late in the second was the lone puck to get past him.
“We want to be the best team in the conference, we want to be No. 1,” said Tiller. “That was our goal at the start of the year and that’s what we’re working towards right now.”
The Colts will return to action on Wednesday night when they hit the road to face the Brantford Bulldogs for the first time this season.
Game time at the Brantford Civic Centre is 7 p.m.
ICE CHIPS:
With Remembrance Day just around the corner, the Barrie Colts held a special ceremony before the game to pay tribute to local troops. . . A physical game blew up late in the third after a check to the head by Sudbury agitator Chase Coughlan. Sudbury’s Blake Clayton was given a game misconduct for the third man in, while Barrie’s Cole Dubowsky drew a game misconduct and Evan Passmore a match penalty for fighting. “Coughlan ran our guy in the corner,” said Williamson. “You don’t like to see it, but he’s sticking up for our guy. Those things kind of happen. He’ll serve his suspension, and we’ll move on.” . . . Zach Wigle, Emil Hemming, Cole Beaudoin, Bode Stewart, and Jaiden Newton had two assists each. . . Barrie outshot Sudbury 44-39. . . Brad Gardiner (sick) missed his second game. . . Parker Vaughan and Canada Red fell 3-1 to Canada White in the gold medal final of the 2024 World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Sarnia on Saturday night. Vaughan was tossed from the game after a check to the head along the boards.
