A Look at the Barrie Colts 2019-20 Season after 11 Games. #OHL

Photo by Terry Wilson / OHL Images.

The Barrie Colts have completed the first 11 games of the 2019-20 season. In this post, we will take a look at how the team has looked so far. 

Record After 11 Games:
The team has started its silver anniversary season with a decent record. Through 11 games, the team has a 6-4-0-1 record. Last year at this point, the team went 5-5-1-0.

With 13 points, the team currently sits in second place in the Central Division below the Sudbury Wolves, who have 16 points in 13 games played. The Colts are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

If the team keeps this pace through the duration of the season, they will finish with 80 points. Last season, 80 points would have seen them finish in fifth place at the season's end.

Goals For VS Goals Against:
The Colts have scored 45 goals and allowed 46 against through 11 games. Most of the goals have come from Matej Pekar (11) and Tyson Foerster, who has scored 42% of the team's goals. Both players are ahead of where they were last season after 11 games. Pekar had scored six goals through 11 games while Foerster had just one. Foerster has already surpassed his goal total from last season, where he scored ten goals through 64 games.

Photo by Terry Wilson / OHL Images

Jason Willms has also started this season off better than last year with four goals compared to one at this point last season. Riley Piercey has also upped his production early by already matching his total of three goals from last season. Another player who has already matched their goal total from last year is defenceman Nathan Allensen who has four goals.

While many Colts have seen an improvement from last season, here is a look at a few players who are down from last year. Ryan Suzuki missed the first couple of games because he was still at Carolina Hurricanes camp. He hasn't produced goals as many would have hoped for with two in his nine games played. Last season, he had four goals at this point.

St. Louis Blues prospect Tyler Tucker had also seen a slight decline in production from this point last season. The defence has missed a few games due to a suspension and has two goals in his eight games played, two fewer than at this point last year. While these players haven't scored as much as expected, both have been producing points still, and it is only a matter of time before you see their scoring numbers improve.

Photo by Terry Wilson / OHL Images

Special Teams:
Special teams have been a struggle early this season for the Colts. As of now, the team leads the league with 214 penalty minutes. They are the only team to pass the 200-minute mark. Right now, the team averages 19.4 penalty minutes a game. Last year, the team totalled 885 penalty minutes, which is an average of 13.0 minutes per game.

The team has struggled with discipline and opponents have made them pay for it. Barrie has a 73.2% success rate when killing penalties, which is 14th in the OHL. They have allowed 19 goals while shorthanded, which makes up for 41.3% of their total allowed goals.

While the team could improve at killing penalties, Luke Bignell has been outstanding in this area. Below is a small representation of what he has been able to do while down a man.

Here is a look at how incredible @OHLBarrieColts forward @lukebignell22 has been on the powerplay this season. He generates a scoring chance, eats up about 30 seconds of time, throws a huge hit and keeps the puck in the offensive zone. An unreal shift. #OHL @OHLHockey pic.twitter.com/v3f63e59dV

— Ryan Noble (@ryannoble66) October 13, 2019

The power-play has struggled this season as well. Barrie has a 19.2% success rate on the man advantage, which is 18th in the league. Tyson Foerster (3G) and Jason Willms (3G) lead the team in power-play goals with six of the nine goals scored. As mentioned earlier, Tucker and Suzuki haven't scored as anticipated, and the man advantage could be an area that you may see their numbers improve moving forward.

Leading Scorers:

Above is a screenshot of the Colts top-10 point leaders this season. While some numbers might not be as high as expected, it is good to see depth points coming from the roster. Expect players like Suzuki and Tucker to climb the rankings over the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see if Foerster can keep his pace up and how much Brandt Clarke will improve. While he has shown great skill and has set up his fair share of goals, you can tell he will score his first OHL goal soon. Once that happens, I'd expect him to start putting up even better numbers. 

Goaltending:

Above is a screenshot of Arturs Silovs and Jet Greaves's numbers. The team has allowed 46 goals against which is the seventh most in the league. Both goalies have performed well for the most part. It hasn't been a simple spot considering how much time the team spends shorthanded.  19 of the allowed goals have come while killing off penalties. No team has allowed more shorthanded goals than Barrie; however, no team spends more time killing penalties. Though Silovs has seemed to stand out a little more than Greaves, both have helped the team with solid performances in goal.  If the team can play more disciplined, there is no doubt both goalies number can and will get better. 

Rookies:

Photo by Terry Wilson / OHL Images

There are no surprises that as far as rookies go in Barrie, Brandt Clarke leads the way. The blueliner has put up seven assists in his first 11 games, which is fourth most this season among OHL rookies. Currently averaging .64 points per game, Clarke is ranked eighth in team scoring. There are many areas where Brandt stands out. His confidence might be one of his most prominent attributes. Clarke is not afraid to point out play ideas to teammates. You can often see him on the ice talking to other players and pointing out suggested plays to them. While most rookies try and find out how to fit in, Clarke knows his abilities and what he can do. As the team gets more familiar with his skill level and skills, expect him and the teams' production to improve.

Jacob Frasca has been stable for the Colts this season. He is currently the only Colts rookie to register a goal. He plays a physical game and has also been solid at faceoffs. Ryan Del Monte has also been good so far registering an assist. He skates well and has managed to get moved up and down the lineup and has been useful in al roles. 

Attendance
While the Colts have been decent early this season, attendance at home games hasn't been as good. The team has played just five home games, and while the team has shown up, the fans haven't. Colts Centre can hold 4,195 fans while the average attendance has been 2,888. While we realize that it is still early, as of now, this is the lowest average attendance in team history. There is still time for us as a fanbase to improve these numbers. The lowest average in Barrie came during the 2010-11 season when there was an average of 3,423. Last season was the second-lowest averaging  3,463. Through the first five home games last season, BMC (Colts Centre) averaged 2,755 fans, which is slightly lower than this year.

The team is good this year. Get out to the arena and support the team!

What have your thoughts on the team so far this year? Let us know in the comments.