Dogs Steal One Against Colts 6-3 in Niagara
A second period to forget would prove costly for the Colts in a 6-3 loss to the IceDogs on Friday night.
The Colts would come out of the gate on fire in this one and they were throwing shots on Stephen Dhillon left, right and centre. On multiple occasions it looked like the boys were about to strike but Dhillon kept it out.
Barrie would finally find the back of the net. It was Zach Magwood netting his 19th of the season after he had the puck bounce out to him in the slot and he banked it in off a Niagara defender and behind Dhillon to open the scoring. Jason Willms and Jaden Peca grabbed assists on the goal.
After all the Barrie pressure, they would take a penalty sending the IceDogs to the powerplay and they wasted no time stealing the momentum from the Colts. It was one of the newcomers for Niagara Sam Miletic snapping one home through a screen and past Leo Lazarev to tie the game.
Nearing the end of the first period it was a milestone moment for the newest Barrie Colt, Dmitry Sokolov. He finished off a great passing play from Lucas Chiodo for his second goal as a Colt but more importantly his 100th career OHL goal to give Barrie the 2-1 lead. Ben Hawerchuk drew the second assist on the go ahead goal.
The second period would pick up exactly how the first period started, with the Colts keeping their foot on the pedal as they kept the shots on the Niagara goal but unable to beat Dhillon early.
Niagara would eventually tie the game on just their seventh shot of the game. After a length review on a goal that was possibly offside and possibly knocked in with a high stick the officials decided both were clean and the goal would stand and the game would be tied once again. Bradey Johnson would be credited with the goal as he tipped in the Liam Ham point shot.
The Colts didn’t seem phased by the tying goal as they would put the pressure back on the IceDogs. After about five or six chances in a one minute span it was Niagara who would turn the puck the other way and capitalize on their scoring chance as Elijah Roberts scored on his own rebound to give them their first lead of the game at 3-2.
That goal actually sparked Niagara as they would find some insurance. It was Miletic again. After lots of pressure from the Dogs Miletic was able to find the rebound and he threw it past Lazarev for the 4-2 lead.
They didn’t stop. Just moments later it was Roberts again, this time with a shot from the point that made its way through a screen and into the back of the net for the 5-2 lead.
The third would prove to be a big test for Barrie finding themselves down by three. They would get the man advantage nearing the midway mark of the period and they would strike. It was a point shot by T.J. Fergus that had eyes and got past Dhillon to cut the lead to 5-3 for the Dogs. Andrei Svechnikov and Sokolov recorded the assists on the goal.
That is as close as the Colts would get as Roberts would add an empty netter for the Dogs to close out the game 6-3.
Barrie is back in action tomorrow night as they welcome the North Bay Battalion into the Barrie Molson Centre at 7:30pm.
