Luchuk the Hero in 5-4 OT Victory Against Former Club
An end-to-end rush in overtime by Aaron Luchuk capped off a 5-4 victory for the Colts in Windsor.
#91 grabbed the puck back in his own zone and wheeled around the goal. He would then work his way into the Windsor zone before moving around the visiting goal and danced in front and snapped it home for his 42nd goal of the season and to cap off a 4 point night. Dmitry Sokolov grabbed the lone assist on the winning goal.
Thursday night featured a rare and special night for the Barrie Colts. Not only was it a strange Thursday not being on home ice, but it also signified the return of Colts and OHL leading scorer Luchuk back to the place where he used to call home in Windsor. You knew it would be an emotional game for him and the boys would come to play for their teammate.
It wouldn’t take long for the opening goal of the game. It was the home team opening the scoring just over a minute into the game. Off a point shot a rebound popped out right onto the stick of Luke Kutkevicious who put it home for the 1-0 lead.
Barrie wouldn’t let that put them down. The former Windsor Spitfire, Luchuk would find his linemate, Dmitry Sokolov cross ice who sniped one home to tie the scoring. The goal was his 36th of the season. The assist by Luchuk also extended his point streak to 13 games. T.J. Fergus also assisted on the goal.
Score would remain the same until just over a minute remaining in the first period. Off a fanned shot by Luchuk, Chiodo took the rebound off of the boards and from behind the net banked it in off Michael DiPietro and in to give Barrie the lead 2-1. Luchuk’s assist tied him for the OHL lead in point with 89. Joey Keane tallied the second assist on the go ahead goal.
Not long after Windsor would end the period with a goal of their own to take the game into the break tied at two. A long stretch pass out of their zone sent Jake Smith on a partial break and he wristed a shot home to square things up after twenty minutes of play.
The second period would see both teams barely generate any chances until about seven minutes into the period. It was a scrambled puck that was sitting in the slot that Daniel D’Amico spun and put a blind pass to his right, right onto the tape of William Sirman who put it home into a wide open net to give Windsor the 3-2 lead.
It looked as if the Spits were going to be able to carry the one goal lead into the third period, but it was Sokolov who had different plans. With just over a minute to go in the second frame it was a two on one with Chiodo that had him send the puck over to the Russian sniper that he laid a stick on that redirected the puck into the back of the net to tie the game at three for his 37th goal of the season.
The Aaron Luchuk story would continue. He and the Colts powerplay would go to work early in the third period. Luchuk would hold the puck on the wing before putting it in front for Chiodo. He would then swing it to his right over to Jason Willms who one-timed his 23rd of the season home for the 4-3 lead. The assist put Luchuk alone for the OHL lead in points with 91.
Barrie kept the pressure on and were able to hold Windsor without a shot in the period for almost eight minutes, but the first shot by the Spitfires would find the back of the net. It was a broken play that found the puck bounce into the slot in front of the Barrie net and onto the stick of Matthew MacDougall as he snapped it home to tie the game at 4.
The game would end in overtime thanks to the rush of Luchuk who put a huge footprint on this victory in what looks to be his last visit to the WFCU Center in Windsor, a place he called home for most of his career.
The win extends Barrie’s win streak to three games and six of their last seven games.
Barrie is back in action this Saturday as they play host to the Niagara IceDogs at 7:30pm.
