The Barrie Colts are about to reach a third of the way into their regular season schedule, and they’re doing it playing some of the best hockey of their season.
The Colts have won six of their last seven games and have points in all seven to find themselves tied atop the Central Division standings with the Niagara IceDogs, though they’ve played two more games.
While the Brantford Bulldogs look as though they are going to run away at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, it seems wide open after that, and that has Marty Williamson thinking this could be a year he bolsters the lineup to make a run.
“That’s definitely a possibility, and it excites me,” said the Colts’ vice president and general manager, whose club hosts the Saginaw Spirit at the Sadlon Arena on Thursday night. “It’s nice that we have the core that we have, and to be able to do it.”
Williamson admits he wants to see a little more from his team before he goes ahead and mortgages some of the future for this season.
“I told (head coach Dylan Smoskowitz), and some of the players on the team, they got to prove it to us a little bit too,” he said. “We need to get more consistent with our game, and more of a 60-minute effort to basically risk going for it.
“There’s always a price to pay for the following year. I’d like that opportunity to add, and I’d like to take my chances versus Brantford and whoever else really does a good job in the second half of the year.”
After a slow start, the Colts are just 9-7-0-4, but Williamson believes this is a good team that will only get better.
“I think our coaching staff will get stronger. I think our players will get stronger, and that’s pretty exciting for the second half,” he said. “We also have little hurdles and we can’t be too worried about them. We know we’re going to lose four players for most of the month of December (to worlds), and that’s going to be difficult when you take Kashawn Aitcheson, Cole Beaudoin, Emil Hemming, and there’s a good chance we lose Gabriel Eliasson.
“You’ve got to weigh these things out a little bit, because you really don’t want to hit Brantford in the second round. You want them in the (conference) finals. These are all the things that we kind of have to consider.”
One thing Williamson wants to see from the team is a more consistent effort for 60 minutes. They have improved in that department as the season has gone along.
“We’re playing 40 minutes now. Earlier, we were playing for 20 minutes, and we were losing games, and I think we found ways to give away points,” he said. “Now we’ve found ways to get those points that we gave away a little bit with our streakiness. I think we’re in a positive trend. I think there’s a lot better look to our team and identity to our team, and that’s going to continue to build.
“We’ve got a new coach. We’ve got a bunch of new players, and it’s taking a little while to get our feet under us, but we’re pretty positive going forward. If we can stay healthy and stay out of suspensions, this team can win a lot of hockey games.”
Another area Barrie has to be better in is the discipline department. They lead the OHL in penalty minutes with 307, and the ability to stay out of the box is what likely cost them their six-game win streak on the road this weekend.
On Saturday, Barrie handed the Soo Greyhounds two late five-on-threes, and the parade to the box proved costly the second time around when Chase Reid scored with a little under six minutes remaining to send the game into extra time.
The Hounds, despite the outstanding netminding of Ben Hrebik for Barrie, would win 4-3 in a shootout.
Williamson and Smoskowitz, on his bus ride back, talked about how the parade to the box has to stop.
“I think he’s going to address it pretty strongly with the group that if you take dumb penalties, you’re going to sit,” said Williamson. “It’s the only way to do things, is to take ice time away from these guys. You can’t be at the top of the league with the combination of having the worst penalty kill.”
Once dead last, Barrie’s penalty kill, which now sits 17th overall, has been much better of late. In collecting five of six points in a home-and-home with Sudbury and a trip north to the Soo, they killed 17 of 18 penalties.
Williamson praised the work assistant coach Patrick Sexton has done with the penalty killing units.
“What we told them last week was forget about numbers, and we’re starting this week,” he said. “Right now, we’d probably be the No. 1 penalty kill going 17 for 18, so it’s a good start for us.
“You keep looking at the numbers, and we’re 17th, and you get depressed by it. But you start fresh, and build off it, and that’s what we have to do with our penalty kill.”
Of course, just staying out of the box would nullify the need to execute on the penalty kill. Williamson says the team has to limit the power-play chances to three or four and not the six or seven mark they’re needing to kill on a lot of nights.
“The only goal we gave up this weekend was a five-on-three,” he said. “Usually, a five-on-three is a death sentence in this league. The goalie has to be phenomenal, which our goalie was. The next five-on-three, that’s the only goal he gave up, so we’ll take that positive out of the negative of the penalties. We got to correct that.”
A big part of the turnaround from the team that lost at home early and went through a six-game losing skid was the return of Hemming from the Texas Stars in the American Hockey League in late October.
The Dallas Stars’ first-round pick already has three goals and 13 points in just six games and has played a key role on the penalty kill and power-play units.
“It was huge,” said Williamson of Hemming’s return. “First of all, he knows his teammates. It’s not like a trade where you’re getting a guy that doesn’t know anybody. It was a seamless transition for him to come back. He’s slotted in so well for us. We really need him for all the special teams and the five-on-five game.
“It slotted everybody down when you brought him in, which is what we needed to do. He just made us a deeper hockey team, which is always a good thing. Deeper, but also top-heavy with a line that you have to pay attention to.”
If Williamson is to bolster his lineup via the trade market, he would love to add another player similar to Hemming up front. Another blueliner is also on the wish list.
“We want a player that can be successful in the playoffs,” he said. “That’s a combination of a player who can contribute on the scoreboard but can also play in tough games. A pure goal scorer, I don’t know. There’s a couple out there, but you need it to be a fit for your team.
“Kind of like, Hemming was the perfect fit. That’s what we’re looking for, and I do think we need a little bit of help in our back end, too. We’d like to beef up the blue line. That’s the path we’re going, and I think that you’ll see that as a priority.”
Williamson said his phone has been busy with teams looking to both buy and sell. There’s no rush for the GM.
He wants to see more from his team. While they are in a good position, he’s even more excited when he looks ahead.
“I’m excited about the dressing room,” said Williamson. “This is a really good group of guys. It’s got great leadership, and I’m excited about the whole group down there, including my coaches and my team.
“I think you’re going to see this team get awfully strong and consistent. It’s there for us, and we’re knocking on the door.”
ICE CHIPS: The OHL announced two-game suspensions to each of Kashawn Aitcheson and Gabriel Eliasson for their actions in a game against the Soo on Saturday. Aitcheson will sit out after an interaction with a fan, while Eliasson’s results from a cross-checking major late in the game.
