A Home Opener to Remember
The Barrie Colts would kick off the regular season at home against the Ottawa 67’s on Thursday evening and absolutely crush them 11-2 in front of their home crowd.
Lots of story lines going into this one as both of Barries first overall picks made their OHL debuts. First off the first selection in the OHL Priority Selection Draft, Ryan Suzuki and secondly Andrei Svechnikov who was selected first overall in the CHL Import Draft.
It was also a special night for Barrie’s starting goaltender, Leo Lazarev who was recently acquired by the Colts from the visiting 67’s. You knew he wanted to play well in his first appearance with the club.
The scoring didn’t take long to get started. Colts rookie Nathan Allensen scored from the blue-line to beat Olivier Tremblay to open the scoring and collect his first career OHL goal. Both Jaden Peca and Curtis Douglas picked up assists on the seasons opening marker.
Not long after and shortly before the ten minute mark of the period the boys in white would strike again. On a two on one Justin Murray was stopped the first time but was able to keep with the rebound as he slid it past Tremblay to get the fans on their feet again, extending the lead to 2-0. Peca picked up the lone assist.
Less than two minutes later, the Russians would strike. It was all three Russian forwards combining for the goal of the year so far. Alexey Lipanov would carry the puck over the blue-line before feeding a backhand pass to Svechnikov. He would then send it over to Kirill Nizhnikov who would finish the give and go for Svechnikov’s first goal of his OHL Career.
At the other end Lazarev wasn’t forced to make any major saves but kept the slate clean on six shots holding the score at 3-0.
Another first was scored very early in the second period. Luke Bignell lit the lamp just over two minutes into the frame as he pounced on a lose puck that forced Tremblay to the ground and he batted it into the net. Allensen and Nizhnikov added helpers on the 4-0 goal.
Ottawa would finally find the board nearing the midway mark of the period. It was a strange goal that Lazarev couldn’t read. Mathieu Foget went wide on the defence and threw the puck towards the net from a weird angle that went off the foot of Colts’ defenceman Allensen and past the Colts netminder.
The Barrie boys wouldn’t waste any time getting that right back. Peca who picks up his third assist of the night found Douglas streaking along the far side and sent him in all alone and he made no mistake giving the Colts their four goal lead back. Allensen would also pick up an assist.
Seconds after that, it was the #1 overall pick collecting his first as well. Ryan Suzuki put an absolute beauty over the shoulder of Tremblay to extend the lead to 6-1 to match the numbers on the back of his jersey and ending the night of Tremblay.
The place absolutely erupted when the Colts were sprung on a two on zero. Suzuki and Chiodo flashed some brilliant passing that resulted in three passes back and forth before Chiodo would put it past Oliver Lafreniere extending the lead to 6.
Stop the bleeding, was heard from the Ottawa bench as Barrie would light the lamp again. Andrei Svechnikov would show off an amazing slapshot that he would blow past the Ottawa goaltender giving Barrie the 8-1 lead. Nizhnikov and Joey Keane grabbed assists on the play.
Wasting no time in the third period Barrie would sound the horn again. This time it was Zach Magwood who sniped one over the shoulder of the Ottawa to give Barrie a 9-1 lead.
The floodgates remained open. Jason Willms would put the Colts into double digits giving them the 10-1 lead.
After Ottawa would get one back, Barrie would strike again. It was Douglas finding the net again on another breakaway as he took the feed from rookie defenseman Matthew Hill for the 11-2 lead.
The boys are back in action tomorrow night in North Bay for their final game this week. Looking to keep the momentum on their side tomorrow night at 7pm. Barrie will be back at home next Thursday, as we present #Overdrivenight at the rink. TSN1050’s show Overdrive will be airing live from Horsepower Sports Bar and Grill.
