Barrie Colts Week 1 Recap. #OHL

The Barrie Colts are coming out of their first week of the OHL 2018-19 season and have had a decent start posting a 1-1-0-0 record through 2 games. Here is a quick look at how those games went, including a breakdown of the team, as well as a look at the upcoming week with some additional notes.

Game 1 VS Owen Sound Attack.
The Colts kicked off their season opener at the Barrie Molson Centre against the visiting Owen Sound Attack.

Colts starting goalie: Maksim Zhukov

Owen Sound came out strong in the 1st period out-shooting the Ponies 5-1 through the first 10 minutes of regulation. The Attack would get on the board first  with a goal by Daylon Groulx to give Owen Sound the 1-0 lead.

The Colts came out strong through the second half of the period. With 58 seconds left in the 1st period, Colts Import pick Matej Pekar would score his 1st career OHL goal. Jason Willms and Tyler Tucker both earned an assist each on the goal. The 1st period would end tied 1-1.

Barrie came out strong to start the 2nd period and after killing an Aidan Brown boarding call early in the frame, after which they would start to run away with the game. Ben Hawerchuk scored his 1st goal of the season a little more than 5 minutes into the period with Aidan Brown and Jason Willms (2) being credited with assists.A little more than 2 minutes later, Sam Rhodes would score his 1st of the season with Justin Murray and Jaden Peca getting credit for assists. This would ultimately be the game winning goal.

The Colts would score 3 more goals in the period. Tyler Tucker and Lucas Chiodo both earned their 1st goals of the season, while Matej Pekar would score his 2nd goal of the night in the final minute of the 2nd period. Pekar making a trend of scoring goals late in the period. Colts led 6-1.

The Colts out-shot Owen Sound 23 to 10 in the period, while Zhukov would make 17 saves through 2 periods.

Owen Sound came out with more desperate play in the 3rd period. Markus Phillips scored a little over 1 minute into the period. Owen Sound was within 4 goals.

Both teams exchanged chances until the 6:30 mark when Ryan Suzuki would score his 1st of the season. With his 2 assists, Suzuki would increase his point total to 3 points on the night. The tally would increase the Colts lead to 7-2.

The Attack were getting a lot of chances through the period, out-shooting Barrie 19-8. Despite the generated chances, Zhukov was ready for them all not allowing any more goals against.

The final 2 minutes in regulation was enough time for Barrie to get a pair of goals. Jaden Peca would score his 1st of the season with Cameron and Pekar earning assists and in the final minute, Colts rookie Riley Piercey would score his 1st OHL goal.

Colts won 9-2.

NOTES:

• Matej Pekar (2G.1A), Ryan Suzuki (1G,2A) and Tyler Tucker (1G,2A) all had 3 point nights,
• Ben Hawerchuk (1G,1A), Jaden Peca (1G,1A), Justin Murray (2A) and Jason Willms (2A) had 2 point nights.
• Only 3 Colts skaters didn't register a point. (Luke Bignell, Peter Fleming and Mathew Hill)
• Maksim Zhukov made 35 saves.
• Colts were 2 for 5 on the power play and killed off all 6 penalties.
• Colts win was 4th straight season opener win.
• Attendance at BMC was 2230. 

Game 2 VS Hamilton Bulldogs.
The Colts would host the defending OHL Champions, the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday.

Colts starting goalie: Maksim Zhukov.

Barrie looked strong in the first couple minutes of the game but it wouldn't take long before Hamilton would take over the momentum. After the Bulldogs killed off an early power play, Mathew Hill would take a cross-checking penalty which would cost the Colts. About 30 seconds into the Hamilton PP, MacKenzie Entwistle would score his 1st of the season to give Hamilton the 1-0 lead.

Hamilton took a too many men penalty in the final 5 minutes but Barrie couldn't capitalize. Barrie would trail 1-0 after the 1st, despite out shooting Hamilton 12-8.

Hamilton came out strong to start the 2nd peppering Zhukov with 5 shots in the first 3 minutes. The teams would exchange minor penalties until Nicolas Mattinen would score to give Hamilton the 2-0 lead. The Colts responded with several shot attempts but Nathan Allensen would take a holding the stick penalty, which resulted in Hamilton taking a 3-0 lead on a Arthur Kaliyev goal. The goal would be his 3rd of the season, ultimately the game winner and former Barrie Colts defender, Kade Landry would get an assist. 

Barrie looked a little stronger in the 3rd period, scoring a couple goals in the first 12 minutes of the period. Both Luke Bignell and New York Rangers prospect, Joey Keane would both score their 1st goals of the season bringing the Ponies within a goal.

Barrie would pull Zhukov for the extra man late in the frame but Isaac Nurse would put the insurance goal into the net to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 win.

Scary moment late in the 3rd period when Bulldogs coach, Dave Matsos would collapse on the bench. Ultimately, he was able to make it to the stretcher on his own but went to RVH to be checked out and do some tests. The team has since announced that his tests went well, and that Dave was sent home to be with his family to get some rest. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him behind the Bulldogs bench soon!

Notes:

• Both teams were even with 30 shots a piece, though Barrie had several attempts that just went over the goal.
• Colts struggled on the power play scoring just 1 goal on 8 man advantages.
• Colts allowed 2 goals on 5 penalty kills.
• Zhukov made 26 saves on 29 shots faced. 
• Ryan Suzuki struggled in face-off circle winning just 4 of 15 draws.
• Attendance at BMC was 2183.

Observations through week 1.

Obviously early in the year but after week 1, Barrie sits in 2nd place in the Central Division trailing the Niagara IceDogs.

Barrie Scored 11 goals this week. Only the Erie Otters scored more with 12. It is worth mentioning that Erie scored all of those goals in 1 game.

The Colts also had 24 PIM. Only Peterborough (30), Kingston (30) and Owen Sound (28) spent more time in the penalty box. The Ponies had a 81.8% success rate killing penalties.

Matej Pekar (2G,2A) and Ryan Suzuki (1G,3A) lead the way for the Colts in production with 4 points each, while St.Louis Blues prospect, Tyler Tucker (1G,2A) finished the week with 3 points. Pekar looked great this week for the Colts. He was producing, physical and was always shooting the puck. He led the team with 10 shots on goal.

Maksim Zhukov got both starts and was very solid for the Ponies ending his 1st OHL week with a 2.53 GAA and a SAV% of 0.924. I would look for him to get the majority of the starts for the Colts this year. As the season progresses and he gets used to the OHL level, he will just get better. He looks confident already and did a great job with rebounds. With a solid defensive group in front of him, I would look for Zhukov to be one of the better OHL goalies as the season continues.

After being a healthy scratch in the first 2 games, the Barrie Colts traded forward Kyle Heitzner to the Mississauga Steelheads.

Attendance at the BMC was terrible this week. The arena was just over half filled both nights. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE AND GO SUPPORT THE TEAM!

A Look at Week 2.
Barrie has 2 games this coming week, both against the Sudbury Wolves. Barrie hosts Sudbury on Thursday, September 27th for a 7:30 game, then heads to Sudbury Community Arena for their first road game which is a 3:05 puck-drop.

Sudbury is coming off a a win and a loss this past week. The won their season opener 4-2 over the Guelph Storm and would go on to be shutout 3-0 by Owen Sound. Their 4 goals is tied for the 2nd fewest in the league. Only Oshawa has less with only 2 goals through 1 game.

This week, we also released our 2018-19 Barrie Colts Superlatives! Check them out here.