A chorus of boos didn't seem to faze Barrie native Barrett Kirwin when he scored what turned out to be the winning goal on a penalty shot to give his Owen Sound Attack a 4-2 win over the Barrie Colts on Thursday night at the Barrie Molson Centre.
With the loss, the Colts (21-26-2-1, 9th in the East) fall even farther back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference standings. Barrie does, however, have two games in hand on the Hamilton Bulldogs, but sits six points back. They are also six points back of the seventh-place Peterborough Petes.
It was also Georgian Grizzlies night at the rink, so there were plenty of clackers, but few occasions to make some noise.
The mat for the young anthem singers had barely been rolled up when the the Attack scored just 18 seconds into the contest.
They'd go up 2-0 at the five-minute mark on Kaleb Pearson's second of the game.
Barrie's Jacob Tortora narrowed the hap to 2-1 in the second period, but Kirwin was awarded his penalty shot just a minute later a capitalized on the opportunity. The 18-year-old forward now has five goals and four assists in 12 games since coming over to Owen Sound in a trade with the Guelph Storm.
With 10 seconds left in the second, Colts captain Jason Willms scored to make it 3-2 and give the crowd some hope.
But five minutes into the third period, Owen Sound defenceman Carter Robertson scored his second of the year to make it 4-2. Former North Central Predators 'AAA' star Aidan Dudas, a Parry Sound native, picked up an assist on the goal.
Barrie goalie Jet Greaves, who was coming off a pair of 50-save performances, stopped 30 of 34 shots he faced, but was saddled with the loss. Owen Sound's Mack Guzda was solid at the other end, making 29 saves.
The Colts host the Flint Firebirds on Saturday night at the BMC. Puck drop is set for shortly after 7:30 p.m.
