Not even a long, treacherous, snowy bus ride north and a bloody high stick to the face can stop the red-hot Beau Jelsma.
After enduring a four-hour trek through a snowstorm with his teammates and missing a period to get stitched up, the Barrie Colts captain would end up scoring the game-winner and then seal a 7-3 win over the Wolves with his 30th goal of the season, Wednesday night, at Sudbury Community Arena.
Jelsma scored just 22 seconds into the second period to give Barrie a 3-2 lead, and then left the game after taking a high stick to the face from Noah Van Vliet past the midway point of the same frame.
Stitched up, he would return in the third period and stick the final dagger into their Central Division rivals with an empty-net marker at 16:59.
“That’s why he’s our captain,” Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson said of Jelsma toughing it out and returning to the ice. “He’s playing very hard for us right now and I can’t say enough about him.”
Jelsma, who also added an assist for a three-point night, ran his scoring streak to 11 games (12-8-20) and now has 30-goal back-to-back seasons.
The Barrie scoring leader also joined former Winnipeg Jets star Bryan Little as the only two players in franchise history to notch at least 25 goals in their first three seasons with the team. Little did it four years in a row from 2003 to 2007.
Jelsma now has 88 goals in 191 games.
“It’s pretty cool in back-to-back seasons to get 30 goals, but it’s a process,” said the Barrie forward. “Lots of people around me have made me better and given me nice passes. At the end of the day, I’m out there to play hockey and if I score 30 goals in a year and that’s what it takes to help the team win, then that’s what it takes.
“I’m super honoured and I just have to keep going and playing my game.”
The win for Barrie (24-29-3-0) also improved its stranglehold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With just 14 games remaining in the regular season, the Colts now lead the Peterborough Petes by 10 points and the Niagara IceDogs, who they host Saturday night, by 12 points.
The Colts earned the important two points without Kashawn Aitcheson in the lineup. The team decided to sit the defenceman after allegations of a bounty placed on him by Sudbury.
“Even driving up here today, it was quite the snowstorm, but we decided to come and we came here with something on our mind,” said Jelsma. “We wanted to get the two points tonight and all the boys played well. We had a bit of a shaky first period there, but I think we really dialled it in over the next two periods.”
Tied 3-3 after a wide open first period, the Colts took control in the second with goals by Jelsma and Chris Grisolia, backed by a strong effort in goal by Ben West along with second goals by Riley Patterson and Jelsma to put the game away in the third.
“It was a long trip up here. We left early because of the weather,” said Williamson. “It’s tough on the guys because we spent four hours on the bus. Even though we scored three goals, and you got be happy with that, I thought our heads just weren’t in it. We got better as the game went on and, fortunately, we kept scoring.
“They’re a talented group up and for us to come up here and get two points, it was big for us.”
Jelsma wasn’t the only Colt to have a big game. West turned aside 41 of 44 shots and Patterson scored twice and added an assist to regain the OHL rookie scoring lead with 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points.
Patterson has scored 18 of those 26 goals after the Christmas break and has totalled 37 points in 27 games during the second-half run.
Williamson said Patterson’s story is a great example of how tough a league it is to play in.
“When you come in you might think it’s easy, and it never is,” said the coach. “Then when you have an open mind to keep working with the coaches, keep doing video with the coaches and you want to get better, and you have the skill that Patty’s got, he’s reaping the results of hard work by him and just being patient.
“Nobody is happier for Patty than the coaching staff because we know how frustrated he was early because things weren’t going his way and he wasn’t quite understanding what we wanted from him. Credit to him for the hard work he’s done getting his game to the point where it is now.”
Michael Derbidge and Jack Brauti also scored for the Colts, who were without injured Grayson Tiller and Aitcheson were playing with four defencemen who were 17 and younger, including one, in Justin Handsor, who just turned 16 five months ago.
The team has leaned heavily on overager Thomas Stewart.
“Stewart gets a ton of credit with just how well he’s playing,” said Williamson. “I know (associate coach Phillip Barski) has put him out there a lot and he’s got a lot of ice time. We need a lot from him when Aitch doesn’t play and until we get Tiller back, but he’s just a great example for that group back there with how calm he is and how he doesn’t get rattled by being up or down.
“If I’m a rookie, that’s the kind of guy I want to sit beside on the bench and watch and learn from.”
OHL scoring leader David Goyette, Nathan Villeneuve and Kocha Delic scored for the Wolves (33-18-3-3), who remain four points up on the North Bay Battalion for top spot in the Central Division.
The Colts can end the Niagara playoff hopes with a win at home on Saturday.
“They’re enjoying themselves,” Williamson said of his young team. “We got a great atmosphere going with our group, so don’t think you’re great, keep your nose to the grindstone and we got to play a Niagara team that will be very desperate, and that’s a dangerous team.”
Game time Saturday at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The Colts will be releasing a special game day video on Patterson on its website this Friday. The video features the rookie at home with his billets Sarah and Boyd Cowan. . . Sudbury outshot Barrie 44-29. Wolves starting goalie Jakub Vondras was pulled at 15:39 of the first period after giving up three goals on eight shots. Marcus Vandenberg played the rest of the way and gave up three goals 20 shots. . . Chase Coughlan could be facing a lengthy suspension after receiving a match penalty for spearing Handsor late in the third period. . . Zach Wigle, Blair Scott, and Tai York each had a pair of assists, while Derbidge and Brauti also added a helper each to finish with two-point nights.
banner image: Terry Wilson, OHL Images
