The Barrie Colts head to Owen Sound to face the Attack tonight for the 5th of 6 meetings this season. Both teams have won 2 games each so far in the season series with Owen Sound outscoring the Colts 13 to 10 in the previous 4 games. Owen Sound won the last meeting on February 19 in Barrie by a score of 4-3 despite being heavily out shot 43-31 and giving up 6 PP chances that the Colts couldn't take advantage of more than once.
Owen Sound won their last game on Saturday against the Guelph Storm 4-1. Both Thomas Schemitsch and Ethan Szypula had a huge game for the Attack scoring a goal and getting 2 assists each. The team is currently riding a 4 game win streak and sits in 5th place in the Western conference. No doubt that they will come out hard in search of 2 points especially with their next 2 games being against Erie.
Barrie is coming off of a 7-4 win over Sudbury on Sunday. The Colts victory saw them sweep the Wolves in their 8 game series this season. Despite giving up 2 power play goals and 8 power play chances the Colts managed to still get a big win in a game they could have easily lost. The Wolves took no penalties all game and the Colts still put up 7 goals. Captain, Joseph Blandisi recorded a 5 point night with 4 goals and an assist. He was also a +6 on the night. Andrew Mangiapane also totaled 4 points on the night with a goal and 3 helpers.
Barrie's win improved their record to 9-1-0-0 in the last 10 games and increased their lead over North Bay to 9 points for the Central Division lead with 1 game in hand. They meet this week.
Keys to Success: Colts gave up 6 PP chances last time against the Attack. Sunday, they gave up 8 to Sudbury. This season they have 996 PIM's which is the most in the OHL. They have 103 more than London, who is the second most penalized team in the OHL. All season the Colts have struggled with discipline but with the playoffs coming they really need to find a way to keep their level of physicality without going over the line. You don't want them to lose their game with hopes of staying out of the box but they for sure need to find a way to walk the line so that they can be the force they are but without spending so much time in the penalty box.
Players to Watch: Blandisi is 2 points from reaching 100 and 10 points away from tying the OHL leader Mitchell Marner for most points in the OHL. Also coming off of a 5 point night I would expect him to carry that momentum into tonight.
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