Colts Win Big on the Road Against the Knights 8-4
In London to play the Knights on Groundhog Day, the Barrie Colts were able to avoid repeating the outcome from their first matchup earlier this season by dominating their Western rivals 8-4 with an extra spring in their step.
The Colts got the scoring started at 5:05 of the 1st Period when Zach Magwood fed the puck cross-crease to London-native Ryan Suzuki who potted past Joseph Raaymakers for his 10th goal of the season. Jaden Peca drew the secondary assist on the goal.
Less than a minute later the Knights were able to even things up when Evan Bouchard threw the puck on net and had it deflect past Kai Edmonds for his 17th of the season, with Tyler Rollo and Alex Formenton assisting on the play.
The Colts regained the lead with less than five minutes to go in the period thanks to Andrei Svechnikov. The Russian put on a stickhandling clinic in the Knights’ zone before his shot on net turned into a rebound for Aaron Luchuk to bury, netting his OHL-leading 38th goal of the year. For the initial pass, Lucas Chiodo registered his 28th assist of the year.
Jaden Peca earned his second assist of the night at 4:30 of the 2nd Period when he transitioned the puck over the Knights’ blueline for Zach Magwood, whose wrist shot from the top of the right circle allowed him to become the fourth Colt with 20 or more goals on the season.
Minutes later, Knight Cole Tymkin looked to reclaim some momentum when he engaged the Colts other London-native Justin Murray in a spirited fight.
The Colts seemed to benefit from the energy a few plays later as Zach Magwood turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and after passing it to Jaden Peca, had it fed back to him from behind the net for his second of the night and Peca’s third assist of the night. The goal chased Joseph Raaymakers from the crease in favour of Jordan Kooy.
A little over two minutes later, Evan Bouchard made it 4-2 when, shorthanded, Liam Foudy fed an odd-man rush with a backhand pass into the slot for the defenceman to roof his second of the night and 18th of the season.
Not to be deterred, Andrei Svechnikov restored the Colts’ three-goal lead soon after with his 28th of the year after some more great pressure down low. Aaron Luchuk and Tyler Tucker drew assists on the play.
When Justin Murray and Cole Tmykin took another round of offsetting penalties, Knight Jacob Golden used the extra space 4-on4 to get his first OHL goal, assisted by Sergey Popov and Shane Collins, to make it 5-3 at 15:15 of the 2nd Period.
Less than two minutes into the 3rd Period, Alex Formenton got his career-high 16th goal of the season when he bookended a pretty give-and-go with Evan Bouchard to get the Knights within one goal.
In quick succession, Ben Hawerchuk regained the Colts’ two-goal lead with a wrist shot ripped over Kooy’s right shoulder from the top of the left circle.
To pad the Colts’ lead, Dmitry Sokolov added some insurance with a power-play goal at 7:18 after a nice deke and dish by Lucas Chiodo to make it 7-4.
As if scripted, Ryan Suzuki ended things like he began them, getting some hometown luck after Zach Magwood dumped the puck in from center ice and had it bounce off a stanchion straight to the Colts rookie, who ripped his second of the game to make the final 8-4.
Barrie takes on the Windsor Spitfires Saturday looking to carry on the momentum.
