Live Blog: Preseason at Barrie
9:42 – Well, that’ll do it. For a shorthanded Otters squad, they sure put up one heck of an effort. Curtis and McDavid are your Otters goal scorers. Erie will be at it again Sunday afternoon at 2 pm agains Owen Sound. I’ll have the blog rolling again for ya. Until next time….
9:39 – Barrie adds one more for good measure. Brendan Lemieux tips a point shot over the right shoulder of Dekoning. That’ll be it for this one. Final is 4-2 Barrie
9:38 – Mangiapane gets his second of the game. He redirects a centering pass through the legs of Dekoning. 3-2 Colts with a minute left now
9:35 – Travis Wood was able to chip the puck behind the defense, skate in all alone to release a shot, but a big shoulder save by Gibl
9:33 – You have to wonder how much the Otters have left in the tank. Missing guys at times and have two natural defensemen playing at forward. They’ll have to make a push with four minutes remaining.
9:30 – Tie game…Andrew Mangiapane bangs home a loose puck in the paint on the power play. On a good note, Nick Betz is back out on the ice for the Otters
9:26 – Otters back in the box again. Jesse Saban the guilty party for tripping. Colts with a chance to tie.
9:24 – Nick Betz stays down on the ice after blocking a shot from the point. Hope he is okay, he went off the ice with head trainer Scott McLay. Otters already started this game short handed down a forward, now they lose another winger.
9:18 – Otters take the lead! Connor McDavid banks one off a defender from behind the net and the puck finds its way through Gibl. 2-1 Otters at theh 13 minute mark
9:16 – Okay, I think we’re up and running again. No change in score, still 1-1
9:13 – Live blog meltdown, not sure what happened with the internet here.
9:09 – Here we go, final 20 minutes of regulation, tied at 1. Colts have 34 seconds left on the power play to start the period.
8:54 – End of the second period. Otters get that one back short handed, it’s a tie game.
2nd period shots: Erie 11 (23 total) – Barrie 9 (17 total)
8:50 – There’s that pesky penalty kill again! Connor McDavid picks up a puck on the far side and sends it over to Michael Curtis who burries the shot. We’re tied at one! That’s Curtis’ first goal as an Otter!
8:48 – Back to the box the Otters go. Raddysh will sit for two minutes for delay of game.
8:45 – The penalty kill has looked strong during this two minutes. The Otters have had the better chances offensively, including a shot off the post by Travis Wood. That needs to transfer into even strength play.
8:42 – Yikes, a checking from behind call on Jesse Saban. Colts to the power play. With 5:07 to go in the second period.
8:37 – Matthew Kreis #15 for Barrie is giving the Otters fits. He’s used his speed a ton here to create some good chances. He just walked in all alone on Dekoning and put one off his mask.
8:35 – We’re halfway through the second period and it looks like the Colts will make a goalie change. Into the game comes Daniel Gibl.
8:32 – Dekoning answers right back with a stop of his own on a 2-on-1. Moved right to left to put a pad stop on Fawcett’s chance.
8:31 – Fotinus comes up big when he has to. Made a good stop on Pettit just now on the power play. McDavid ran the gauntlet and dropped the puck off in the slot to a wide open Pettit who put the shot right in the goalies chest.
8:26 – Barrie is doing a great job of holding their blue line and forcing Erie to dump the puck in. Not a ton of room out there to skate it into the offensive zone. Penalty expires and we are at 5-on-5 for a brief moment until the Colts take another penalty. There must be some kind of snack on the box that these guys keep heading back in there for.
8:23 – Power play expires after no real threat, but the Otters are headed back to the man advantage again. This time the Colts take a too many men on the ice.
8:18 – 1st period shots: Erie 12 – Barrie 8. Even with the lead in the category the Otters really have yet to challenge Fotinus, a lot of long range shots and not much else. That has to change and the Otters have the power play chance to work on it. About to drop the puck here for period two.
8:03 – Tempers flare here towards the end of the period. Betz didn’t like a late hit, that was the original penalty. He retaliates so he’s going to sit too. Betz gets 2 for cross checking. Brendan Lemieux will sit for 4 minutes. 2 for interference and 2 for unsportsman like conduct. That came with 16 seconds left in the period. So the Otters will have fresh ice for a power play next period. I’ll be back with more after the intermission.
8:00 – McDavid with a couple nice rushes on his own, just can’t get enough room to make the play. You can tell he’s adjusting with his new linemates. Has to be difficult without Brown on his right side.
7:57 – Maksimovich is headed to the box for two minutes, tripping is the call. Five minutes left here in the first period
7:53 – Aaron Ekblad takes an interference penalty now, Otters back on the power play. Great chance to tie here
7:51 – Uh, oh…a bit of controversy here. A puck slips behind Dekoning and rolls toward the goal line, but the ruling is that the whistle blew before the puck crossed the line. NO GOAL
7:47 – Well, count that as one Dekoning will want to have back. Tyson Fawcett sneaks one by him on the backhand to give the Colts a 1-0 lead. A penalty though shortyl after the goal, Otters to the power play and a chance to tie
7:45 – Otters best chance right there. Nick Betz stole a pass at the Colts blue line, walked in and fired a wrister. Goalie Alex Fotinus gobbled it up though. 0-0
7:42 – Dekoning is on tonight. He’s been square to every shot thus far.
7:40 – Otters slow to start this one. Barrie has controlled most of the play/zone time. Otters need to find their legs. Still early, just hit the 15 minute mark
7:36 – First shift the Otters get trapped in their own zone. Dekoning had to be sharp as Lebanc had a great chance from five feet out of the blue paint after a blocked shot. He was all by himself, but DD makes the stop
7:35 – Anthems done, teams are set, it’s time…to play…hockey!
7:28 – Colts Lineup: Joshua MacDonald – Tyson Fawcett – Kevin Lebanc
Brendan Lemieux – Justin Scott – Matthew Kreis
Cordell James – Dylan Corson – Andrew Mangiapane
Cray Roberge – Mitchell Klie – Josh Carrick
Jonathan Laser – Aaron Ekblad
C.J. Garcia – Alex Yuill
Michael Webster – Liam Maaskant
Alex Fotinus
7:20 – Otters Lineup: Michael Curtis* – Connor McDavid* – Nick Betz*
Quentin Maksimovich – Dylan Strome – Patrick Murphy
Travis Wood – Kyle Pettit – Blake Jones
Jesse Saban – Matt Marsden
Cory Genovese – Travis Dermott
Spencer Abraham* – Cole Mayo*
Justin Felker – Darren Raddysh
Daniel Dekoning*
* = starting
7:15 – Hello from the Molson Center here in Barrie. I’ll be live blogging from throughout this one. Warmups just ended and we have 17 minutes on the clock until puck drop, so stick around!
