Barrie takes advantage
BARRIE, Ont. — Beau Jelsma scored the winning goal on a two-man advantage in the third period and added two assists to pace the Barrie Colts to a 4-2 victory over the North Bay Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night.
Jack Brauti, Kashawn Aitcheson and Shamar Moses had a goal apiece for Barrie, which got 33 saves from goaltender Sam Hillebrandt before 3,977 at the Sadlon Arena.
Barrie, which played a third game in three nights, winning all three, has a won-lost-extended record of 9-8-0 for 18 points, fourth in the Central Division.
Jacob Therrien and Justin Ertel scored for North Bay, while goaltender Charlie Robertson faced 28 shots.
The Battalion is 8-6-4 for 20 points, third in the division, one point behind the Sudbury Wolves and two behind the Mississauga Steelheads.
Barrie, which led 2-1 through 40 minutes, was gifted a two-man advantage and arguably the game when Ethan Procyszyn and Paul Christopoulos went off for a faceoff violation and hooking respectively 54 seconds apart early in the final frame. Jelsma one-timed his sixth goal of the season from deep in the right circle at 5:55, with assists to Cole Beaudoin and Connor Punnett.
Penalty killer Ertel stripped Eduard Sale of the puck on the end boards to Hillebrandt’s right and sent the disc in front, where it deflected off a defender’s skate at 18:14, pulling the Troops within 3-2. In a scoring change by the league office, Ty Nelson was awarded an assist, giving him 102 in his career to tie Dylan Blujus for the franchise record by a defenceman.
Moses fielded a high puck in the goalmouth and put it behind the diving Robertson at 19:11 to close out the scoring, although the Troops besieged Hillebrandt until the end.
Therrien cut the Troops’ deficit in half with the only goal of the second period at 5:00, cutting across the mid slot and wiring the disc past the goaltender for an eighth goal on the season and a third in two games.
Robertson sprawled to rob Riley Patterson on a solo break-in at 7:40 after he seized a glaring turnover deep in Battalion territory.
The Colts jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on scores 1:44 apart, sparked by rookie defenceman Brauti’s first OHL goal at 11:32. He drilled the puck through traffic from the mid blue line on assists by Evan Passmore and Chris Grisolia off a left-wing faceoff.
Aitcheson struck from the left dot, ringing the puck off the right post past Robertson’s glove. Jelsma and Tai York assisted on defenceman Aitcheson’s fourth goal.
The Battalion, which killed two power plays, had the last man advantage in the frame, with Owen Van Steensel and Dalyn Wakely threatening at the right side of the crease on the best chances.
The Battalion plays host to the Peterborough Petes at 7 p.m. Thursday on Special Olympics Ontario Night.
BATTALION BULLETS: It was the third of six meetings. The Colts won 4-3 via shootout in the season opener for both teams Sept. 28 at Barrie and 3-1 the next night at Memorial Gardens. They face off again Jan. 28 at North Bay … Nelson now has a six-game points streak in which he has four goals and three assists for seven points … Ertel has a four-game points streak during which he has two goals and four assists for six points … North Bay is 4-2-4 on the road. Barrie is 6-3-0 at home … The Battalion went 0-for-4 on the power play, including one issued with half a second left in the game. Barrie was 1-for-7 … Opening lines featured Liam Arnsby centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Brice Cooke, Wakely centring left winger Ertel and right winger Anthony Romani and Procyszyn pivoting left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Therrien. Nolan Laird centred left winger Carter Kostuch and right winger Lirim Amidovski … Defence pairs saw Alex Cajkovic with Nelson, Tnias Mathurin with Christopoulos and Brayden Turley with Wyatt Kennedy … The Battalion was without Dylan Richter, Tyson Rismond, Zach Wilson, Pasquale Zito, Stef Forgione and Dom DiVincentiis … Among the missing for Barrie were Zach Wigle, Jacob Frasca and Beau Akey … Hillebrandt, a Riverview, Fla., product who has appeared in six of the last seven games, has a goals-against average of 2.46, a save percentage of .923 and a record of 6-4-0 in 10 games … Sean Kimmerly and Matt Scott were the referees.
