Colts take New Year’s Eve game 6-1 over Bulls
In the last regular season game of 2014, the Barrie Colts welcomed the Belleville Bulls to the Barrie Molson Centre for their annual New Years Eve game. The game was the second and last meeting between the two teams for the season, with the Colts having taken the first contest 9-3.
The Colts looked to extend their winning streak, while Belleville came into the night with 3 wins and 3 losses in their last six. Tonight, the Colts took an early lead and didn’t look back, winning 6-1. This win is the first New Years Eve win since 2012.
Joseph Blandisi and Brendan Lemieux each scored two goals, while Kevin Labanc scored a goal and added three assists. Justin Scott also scored for the Colts, and Andrew Mangiapane had four assists on the night. Garrett Hooey and Rasmus Andersson also added an assist each in the 6-1 win.
The Colts opened up the scoring early when Justin Scott put home his 14th goal of the season just over a minute and a half into the game. Hooey had the puck on the boards, put it down low to Mangiapane, and Mangiapane put it in front to Scott. Scott was able to bat it home to give the Colts a 1-0 lead. Tonight’s game marks Hooey’s 300th career game in the OHL.
Just over seven and a half minutes in to the game, the Colts extended their lead to two goals on the power play. Labanc put home his 16th goal of the year, extending his point streak to 21 games. Mangiapane and Andersson had the assists on the Colts 2nd goal.
Three minutes later, the Bulls cut the Colts lead in half when they put home their lone goal of the game. After Blackwood made the initial save on Andrew Ming, David Tomasek was able to find the rebound and drive it home. Jake Bricknell also assisted on Tomasek’s 5th goal of the season.
Lemieux finished off the first period with a power play goal with less than 30 seconds to go. He buried a shot from the slot after a nice feed from the corner. Blandisi and Labanc assisted on the goal.
The second period saw both teams go even with 10 shots apiece, but Blandisi would be able to beat Graham twice for two goals of his own. Blandisi would register both his 22nd and 23rd goals on the power play. Mangiapane would assist both goals, while Andersson and Labanc each assisted on a goal. Blandisi’s second goal would end Charlie Graham’s night in net, as the Bulls replaced Graham with Connor Hicks.
The Colts would carry a 5-1 lead into the third period, and would add one more goal when Brendan Lemieux scored his second of the game. After Labanc pushed the puck up to Blandisi who was going over the blue line with speed, Blandisi beat the Bulls defenseman wide and made a cross crease pass to Lemieux who made no mistake. The sixth Colts goal would top off a strong night for the line of Lemieux, Blandisi and Labanc as they accounted for 10 of 18 points tonight.
In his 300th career game, Hooey registered an assist, extending his current point streak to three games (1G, 2A). He also tallied 14 minutes in penalties in his career milestone game.
Labanc extended his current point streak to 21 games, officially tying a Colts record for longest point streak, held by Bryan Little. Labanc has registered a point in every game since the beginning of November, and sits at 13 goals and 29 assists during that time. Tonight also marked Labanc’s 100th game in the OHL with the Barrie Colts.
Tonight was the fifth time this season that Blandisi has scored two or more goals in a single game, and the eighth time that Lemieux has done so.
The Colts went 4 for 10 on the power play tonight, while forcing the Bulls to go 0 for 8. Over three periods, the Colts outshot the Bulls 34-25.
The Colts are back in action on January 2nd against the Kingston Frontenacs at 7pm.
