Labour Day Game Goes the Distance, Colts Win 4-3 in a Shoot Out
The Barrie Colts faced the Owen Sound Attack for the first time this pre-season at the Barrie Molson Centre Monday night in the annual Labour Day game.
The battle between the Colts and the Attack wouldn’t be solved in 60 minutes, leading to a scoreless overtime period, and a 5-man shoot out. The Colts would ultimately come out with the victory, as Justin Scott and Lucas Chiodo started and finished off the shoot out with goals, while Mackenzie Blackwood shut the door on 4 out of 5 shoot out attempts he faced.
Both Cordell James and Brandon Prophet would score their first pre-season goals, while Finnish import Julius Nattinen would also add a goal, now having recorded a point in every game as a Colt.
The first two periods of tonight’s game were calm, with both teams scoring only once over 40 minutes of play.
The Colts got up on the board early in the game when Chadd Bauman broke up an Attack break out, allowing Chiwetin Blacksmith to grab the loose puck and feed James who was breaking in to the slot. James made no mistake and one-timed a shot home to put the Colts up 1-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Nearly six minutes into the second period, the Attack would tie the game up when Brett Hargrave squeezed one home. Nick Suzuki was credited with the assist on the play.
The Colts would regain the lead nearly eight minutes into the 3rd period on the power play. Prophet would jump into the play in the Attack end and put home a pass from Nattinen for his first of the pre-season. Roy Radke also had an assist on the power play tally to make it 2-1.
But with less than four minutes remaining in the game, the Attack would tie it back up and take the lead for the first time with two quick goals. Petrus Palmu scored off of a rebound from Connor Walters to tie it at 2-2, and less than a minute later, Suzuki put it home with assists from Jacob Busch and Santino Centorame to give the Attack the lead.
For the second time in two games, the Colts found themselves down late in the game, and once again, they found a way to come back. With one minute and twenty seconds left in the game, the Colts pulled Blackwood for the extra attacker. It would only take them forty seconds to find the back of the net a man up, as Nattinen put home his second goal of the pre-season off of a Michael Webster shot in tight. Andrew Mangiapane also registered an assist on the game-tying goal to force overtime.
Overtime, now being played in a 3 on 3 format, would solve nothing and a shootout was needed.
Justin Scott shot first for the Colts and made a fake to put it past Attack’s goalie, Jack Flinn. The first shooter for the Attack, Josh Sterk, would also score, but he would be the only one to beat Blackwood. Blackwood stood tall against the remaining four Attack shooters, shutting the door on each attempt. After Mangiapane, Nattinen and Radke weren’t able to score, Chiodo made a great head fake before putting it low right side on Flinn. Chiodo’s shoot out goal would end up being the deciding factor for the Colts victory.
The Colts outshot the Attack 37 to 34 over 65 minutes of play, while the Colts went 1 for 3 on the power play and didn’t give up a goal on four chances on the penalty kill.
The Colts are back on the ice to face the Attack for the second time this Wednesday, September 9th, as they travel to Owen Sound for a 7:00pm start. They return home to the BMC on Thursday, September 17th as they welcome the Sudbury Wolves. For tickets, click here or visit the BMC box office.
