The Barrie Jr. Colts U14 team came within of whisker of capturing the OHL Cup on Sunday, dropping a 3-2 decision to Toronto Jr. Canadiens in Oakville.
Down by two goals early, Barrie tied the game in the second period on a goal by Ben Marling. But the Colts allowed a power-play marker soon after that eventually proved to be the difference. In the third, the Colts pressed hard for an equalizer, including on the power play late in the game, but couldn’t close the gap.
“We ran out of gas, In the end, JRC was just better than us,” said Barrie coach Neal Martin, referring to the Jr. Canadiens by their widely known acronym. “On our power play (late), our passes just weren’t as crisp and they really came at us hard … but as much as they may have been the better team on the day, it wasn’t like we were just hanging on. We had a number of good chances to tie it up.”
The loss was the second in as many weeks in a championship final for Martin’s team. Two weeks ago, at another facility in Oakville, the Colts dropped an overtime heart-breaker to Halton in the Ontario Minor Hockey League Association (OMHA) final.
“The OMHAs was harder,” said Martin. “But this was different. Our guys were just like, every game, every day, it was just another (opportunity) for us to stay together.”
Barrie had earned a spot in the final by winning the Stamkos Division on Friday with a win over the Soo Jr. Greyhounds and a tie against Ottawa Myers. That set up a quarter-final match-up with Huron-Perth, who the Colts dispatched 3-2 on the strength of two goals by Marling to advance to the semis against the Toronto Titans.
Led by two goals from captain Kaden Rolling, the Colts skated away with a 3-1 victory and a spot in the championship game.
Marling (6G, 2A), who had recently moved up from defence to forward, led the Colts in tournament scoring and was second overall behind Jax Pereira of the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. Marling and Pereira also tied for the tournament-high in goals.
“He’ll be playing forward from now on,” Martin said of Marling, half in jest. “The kid was a total truck out there.”
Beyond Marling and Rolling, Barrie got strong offensive production from Justin Campbell (1G,5A), Quinn Patton (2G, 4A) and Spencer Barbesin (4A).
Rolling added two more goals to give him four for the event, but was knocked out of the championship game late with an ankle injury.
“He must have blocked 20 shots, he took a hard shot down there and he just couldn’t go anymore,” Martin said.
The U14s finished the season with three podium finishes in elite level province-wide competition, the first coming in January when they won bronze at the Ontario Winter Games. In regular tournament play, Barrie won in London and were runners-up in the Jr. Canadiens' invitational event.
In regular-season play, Martin’s team were first in both their Eastern Ontario section standings and playdowns to qualify for the OMHAs.
The Colts finished the season with a final record of 56-13-6.
It is believed that the U14s are the most successful Barrie 'AAA' club in 45 years, since a team led by future NHL star Shayne Corson won the provincial peewee (12- and 13-year-olds) crown in 1978-79 and lost in the final of the Quebec Peewee tournament that same season.
“We were a 25K city, played all the 'AAA' cities and beat them all,” Corson remembered via text on Monday morning, making specific mention of beating an American team that included future NHL defencemen Kevin Hatcher and Al Iafrate in a Silver Stick tournament.
Decades later, and even though Barrie is a much bigger place now than when Corson grew up in town, Martin can relate.
Martin said that the more nuanced accomplishment of helping put Barrie in the same conversation as the more celebrated minor hockey associations is just as gratifying as all the hardware his team took home this season.
“That’s a nice feeling for sure,” he said.
