Jan. 16/25 at North Bay: Highlights & Recap
The Battalion hosted the Colts on Thursday night for their third matchup this season, Barrie having won the two previous. This game harboured some pretty compelling narratives, like the reunion of a line that was dominant for North Bay last season. Dalyn Wakely centred Owen Van Steensel and Anthony Romani on a line that amassed over 300 combined points in 2023-24. They were split up, however, when the Battalion sent Wakely to Barrie via trade in October, but a follow-up deal months later sent the remaining members of the line to the Colts. Though complete, the line had yet to take the ice due to a lingering injury to Romani, until Thursday’s contest, where both Romani and the line made their Barrie Colts debut. In addition to Romani, Cole Beaudoin returned to the Colts from injury, his first OHL action since leaving for the World Juniors last month.
Barrie came out hot in this one, opening the game with the Romani-Wakely-Van Steensel line. They maintained pressure for a short while before taking a penalty and retreating to the kill. Discipline or Barrie’s lack thereof, helped shape the landscape of the first period, as the Colts would spend much of it killing penalties. The Colts were assessed three minor penalties to the Battalion’s one, as a result, North Bay heavily outshot Barrie 14-8 in the opening frame.
After a scoreless first, the Battalion opened the scoring to give the Battalion a 1-0 lead. Poor play from both teams themed the middle frame as not many opportunities were created at either end of the ice. Each team had a look at a semi-wide open net at some point throughout the period, but neither team was able to capitalize, either fanning on the shot or missing the net completely. Wigle’s early-period tally would be the lone goal, and Barrie was staring down the barrel of a fifth straight loss heading into the third down 1-0.
The final frame of play took on a similar form as periods one and two. Both teams appeared sluggish and somewhat disorganized, leading to a low-scoring and uneventful frame. The North Bay goaltender made multiple pretty saves, but ultimately it was the Colts’ lack of jump and flat play that sunk them in this one. North Bay would add an empty netter scored. The 2-0 loss marked five straight now for Barrie, this was also just the second time they had been shut out this season. The Colts now head back to Barrie to host the Windsor Spitfires, in a desperate attempt to get themselves out of this slump that has plagued them thus far in 2025.
