Mar. 20/25 vs Owen Sound: Highlights & Recap
The Barrie Colts hosted the Owen Sound attack on Thursday for the sixth and final time this regular season. Barrie entered this game as the two-seed in the Eastern Conference, while Owen Sound sat in 8th place in the West. With under a week remaining in the regular season, this contest would prove pivotal in determining seeding on either side of the bracket as a bevy of teams continue to joust for positioning. Before Thursday’s tilt, the Colts had come away with overtime victories in each of their previous two games, and they looked to make it three straight victories against the Attack. Before puck drop, the Colts presented goaltender Ben Hrebik with the Gord ‘Bones’ Memorial Trophy, recognizing him as this season’s most improved Colt. It was Sam Hillebradnt between the pipes against Owen Sound, though, as the two netminders continued to split starts down the stretch.
Both teams opened the game rather sloppily, looking out of sync and disorganized at either end. The leisurely beginning of the period saw a combined shot total of five and a goal total of zero through 10 minutes. The Attack began to gain momentum after the 10-minute mark, scoring the game’s first goal at 13:38. After taking an early 1-0 lead Owen Sound kept their foot on the pedal, racking up a staggering 23 shots over the latter half of the opening frame. The Attack’s goal was the lone score of the period, and the visitors owned Barrie in the shot department through 20 minutes leading 26-8.
Roles reversed in the second period, with Barrie getting off to a hot start, putting 14 shots on Owen Sound netminder Carter George before the halfway mark of the frame. Barrie would go on to register a whopping 23 shots by the end of the period, but all were turned aside by George, who’d stopped 31 of 31, all before the final 20 minutes.
Kashawn Aitcheson kicked off the final frame of play with a timely goal, finding twine just 1:18 into the period to tie the game at one. His latest tally made it 26 on the year for Aitcheson, which is good for the current team lead. The game remained tied at one for the majority of the third and it wasn’t until the final four minutes that the scoring resumed when Owen Sound scored to take a 2-1 edge with time expiring. The Colts failed to muster up any of their patented last-minute magic and the Attack was ultimately victorious, sealing a 3-1 final with an empty netter.
Owen Sound gets in the win column in this wacky high-opportunity yet somehow low-event game. Both goaltenders deserve a ton of credit as they saved a combined 82 of 85 total shots excluding the empty netter. This win will go a long way towards the Attack punching their ticket to the postseason. For the Colts, they remain neck and neck with Kingston, who has games in hand, for the second seed in the East. The Colts’ final regular season game comes this Saturday at home against the Niagara Ice Dogs.
