The Barrie Colts got themselves a little payback against the Owen Sound Attack on Thursday night at Sadlon Arena.
Emil Hemming scored twice en route to a four-point night, and Brad Gardiner also popped in a pair as the Colts put it to the Owen Sound Attack 6-1 for their first win in four tries this season against their Highway 26 rivals.
Joe Salandra and Justin Handsor also scored for Barrie (17-8-1-4), which has now won four straight and eight times in its last 10 games to move five points ahead of the North Bay Battalion atop the Central Division standings.
“We knew that we had been struggling a bit earlier playing against them, so we wanted to get revenge here,” said Hemming, who, with his teammates, fell 6-0 to the Attack on Oct. 15 after suffering a pair of one-goal losses in late September. “The first 10 minutes of our game were not that great, but the 50 remaining minutes were great.
“We did not take the foot off the gas pedal.”
Tristan Delisle had the lone goal for Owen Sound (17-13-0-2), which dropped its second straight.
Ahead 2-1 after the opening period, the Colts took control with three goals in the second.
“I told the guys before the game that I’m just sick looking over at that team after 60 minutes and seeing their smiles and seeing how dejected we are,” said Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz of losing the three previous times to the Attack. “They’re a good team, and they play hard. I give them a ton of credit because the first three games, we didn’t (get) the outcome we wanted. They really played us hard.
“They played hard tonight, too. (Without) a couple of good bounces for us, a couple of big saves by (Barrie goalie) Arvin Jaswall, it could have been a different game. I’m really happy to finally take two points away from those guys.”
Turnovers proved costly all night for the Attack in this one. Teague Vader knocked the puck off Max Delisle’s stick inside the Barrie blueline at 12:24 to allow Hemming to race down the ice on a breakaway and open the scoring in the first.
Then, with Barrie up 2-1 in the second, Mason Roy’s pass to centre ice was picked off by Handsor, and the blueliner walked in alone and wired one over the blocker of Tristan Bennett.
Gardiner’s second of the night would make it 5-1 after Bode Stewart poked the puck off the stick of John Banks in the Owen Sound end to Gardiner, who spun around and fired it past the glove-hand of Bennett.
“You’re always working for the turnovers,” said Hemming. “I feel like the last three games we’ve been working hard and keeping the gap tight, and that leads to a lot of turnovers.
“It was great that when they did turnover the puck, we were able to score off them. It’s an advantage we can go forward with.”
The opportunistic scoring was certainly nice, but Smoskowitz said the Colts can learn from Owen Sound’s mistakes on this night.
“When you’re working hard for the chances, and you’re getting the chances, then everyone starts to feel good about it,” said the Barrie bench boss. “That, as a coach, is how you get the buy-in. ‘Look at how hard you guys are working. Look how much good comes out of this hard work.’
“On the flip side of this, we can learn from Owen Sound. Turnovers in this league kill you. There are a lot of skill players in this league that, if you give them the puck and space, they’re going to make you pay. As happy as we were with the capitalization tonight, we can learn how dangerous turnovers really are.”
Having the book on Bennett helped Barrie take advantage of those turnovers and other scoring chances. The Colts were going upstairs all night. Of the six goals, three came off perfect shots into the top corner.
Hemming’s second of the night, which closed out the scoring at 11:39 of the third, found the top corner at 11:39 of the third on a two-on-one with Beaudoin.
“We had the sheets showing where the weaknesses are,” said Hemming, of the pre-scouting they had on the Attack goaltender. “The high shots were his weakness, so we tried to roof them, and we did.
“Those shots were pretty great and tough for the goalie to save. Tough spot for the goalie to be in when you’re putting it in the top corner.”
Smoskowitz credited his coaching staff for “barking” at players all practice about the little things, while players like Hemming work hard at perfecting their shots.
“You come watch practice during the week, he’s the last guy off the ice,” Smoskowitz said of the Dallas Stars’ 2024 NHL first-round draft pick “He has 200 or 300 pucks, and it’s just shoot it and shoot it. The kid doesn’t miss.
“He gets a chance today, and, lo and behold, he doesn’t miss. It’s not a coincidence that guys like that have so much success in games. It starts in practice.”
The Colts will wrap up a fairly light week on Saturday night when they host the Niagara IceDogs for the first time this season at Sadlon Arena.
After losing seven in a row, Niagara has now won its last three straight.
“It’s a competitive division,” Smoskowitz said of the Central. “We’re leading it for now, but we know that these two points here against Niagara are important.”
Game time is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Handsor’s third goal of the season was a beauty. “What a shot,” said Smoskowitz. “Shooting in stride. Head up all the way. He knew what he was going to do. I’d be lying if I told you I’d ever seen Justin Handsor (on a) breakaway. Whether it’s in practice or a game. He looked like it was so comfortable. But again, that’s just the progression of a young Justin Handsor who is now coming into his own, and being selected to the Top Prospects Game. . . Arvin Jaswal made 25 saves to pick up his fifth win of the season in goal for the Colts. . . Barrie outshot Owen Sound 45-26. . . The Colts were 2-for-6 on the power play, while not giving up a man advantage. . . After coming up just short in a 4-3 overtime loss to the United States in the gold medal game at last year’s world junior hockey championship, Hemming and the Finnish team will look to reach the podium in Minnesota over the Christmas holidays. Of course, that means keeping Cole Beaudoin, Kashawn Aitcheson, and Team Canada from striking gold. “You have teammates playing against you, so you really look forward to those games,” said Hemming. “It was a good game for me tonight, so of course I want to bring that to the table at worlds too.”
