Colts snag a point, but come up short in shootout against Storm
By: Melissa Bromley
For the first of two battles this season between the Barrie Colts and the Guelph Storm, regulation time wouldn’t be enough to decide a winner. Neither would overtime. The game would need a shootout, and it was the Storm who would take the game in the third round from Robby Fabbri’s goal.
Rookie goalie, Ruan Badenhorst opened his OHL career for the Colts against the defending OHL champions, and faced 43 shots, stopping 41 of them. Not only did Badenhorst shut the door on 10 of the Storm’s 11 power plays in the game, he was also awarded the game’s first star. Badenhorst was a 9th round pick for the Colts in 2014, being drafted 173rd overall.
Badenhorst was tested early on, and the Storm drew first blood at 2:31 of the first period when Pius Suter netted his 10th of the year. Badenhorst made the initial save off a shot from Jason Dickinson, but Suter was able to put home the second chance.
For the remainder of the period, there wouldn’t be much even strength play between both teams. The Colts had a total of 16 minutes on the penalty kill; and three times they were playing two men short. Despite the penalties, the Colts were perfect on the penalty kill in the first, and Badenhorst stood on his head denying 22 shots during the period.
Later in the period, the Colts were able to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play of their own. After Andrew Mangiapane passed the puck to Kevin Labanc in the left corner, Labanc went cross-ice to Joseph Blandisi, who gave it right back to Labanc on the back door. Labanc put home his fourth goal of the season to tie the game.
After the first period ended in a 1-1 tie, the Colts would score the lone goal in the second period with less than a minute and a half left in the period on the power play. The Colts were given a five-minute power play when C.J. Garcia was checked to the head from the Storm’s Tyler Bertuzzi. On the ensuing power play, Mangipane tipped home Rasmus Andersson’s point shot. Labanc also had an assist on the Colts go-ahead goal.
The Colts outshot the Storm 10-6 in the second period.
At 10:49 in the third period, the Storm would tie the game back up on the power play. With a delayed Colts penalty, Mark Stevens would score his first of the year when he went top shelf on Bradenhorst. Robby Fabbri and Zac Leslie assisted on the tying goal.
Overtime would solve nothing, and the Colts would get the only shot on goal in the five-minute session.
In his first OHL game, Badenhorst would deny Pius Suter in the first shootout shot on the night, but the Storm’s second shooter, Robby Fabbri, would sneak one past Badenhorst for the win. Lemieux, Blandisi and Labanc couldn’t put one past Justin Nichols in the shootout.
The Colts went 2 for 7 on the power play, while the Storm went 1 for 11 on their power play chances. There was over 45 minutes worth of penalties in tonight’s game, half of which were in the first period.
The Colts are now 7-6-1-1 on the season, and are on the road taking on the Peterborough Petes at 2:05 pm Sunday afternoon.
