The Barrie Colts returned to the ice at Sadlon Arena on Monday night, kicking off their Ontario Hockey League (OHL) pre-season slate of five exhibition games prior to the start of the upcoming regular season.
The Colts beat the Owen Sound Attack 3-0.
Head Coach Marty Williamson says he is optimistic about the team’s chances this year.
“Niagara, Mississauga, and us, are very young,” he told BarrieToday prior to the game. “We’re the young teams of the group.
“We think we are extremely competitive, we’ve got a great core of older guys, our older guys are some of the tops in the league, and yet we’ve got talent with these young guys. We feel good about our team,” he added.
With a young team, the Colts will need to lean on players such as Beau Jelsma and Jacob Frasca to be their main leaders.
“Getting (Eduard) Šalé is a coup for us, so we’re excited about that .. and Cole Beaudoin won a gold medal in Hlinka, so we think that he’s ready to be an every night player and contribute every night," said Williamson.
“We picked up the (Riley) Patterson kid, who we think can do the same. We are obviously proud of Beau Akey on the back end, and Connor Punnett. These are guys who can really take a hold on leadership.”
Colts goaltending looks to be solid, according to the coach. “If we get Anson (Thornton) back, I think we’ve got one of the best goalies in the league, if not, (Sam) Hillebrandt is ready to take over,” he said.
And as for the younger players and new faces, Williamson is hopeful.
“The young kid, (Jaiden) Newton, has looked very good. (Shamar) Moses is a little banged up, but he’ll play on Thursday. The (Evan) Passmore kid on defence is big and strong, so we’re excited.”
“It takes time for these guys, it’s a tough league. We need to find out a little bit more about these guys through the exhibition schedule,” he added.
As for the competition, two teams stand out as the ones to chase this season, says Williamson.
“Sudbury. This is their year. We’ve been watching Sudbury for the last couple of years, they are a veteran team up there now. They’re going to be a handful.”
North Bay also gets a nod from the Colts coach as “they’ve got a real good lineup with five good defencemen and probably one of the top goalies in the league, and they maintained a few of their forwards from last year,” he added.
Some of the fans in attendance on Monday had a few opinions of their own about how the team looks heading into the new season.
Larry Sharer, of Barrie, reflected on the team's exit last season, saying he felt the team was simpy "tired out".
"They have a lot of potential and we’ll see what happens this year," said Sharer.
Morgan Ferguson, also from Barrie, said she likes what she sees in forward Beau Jelsma.
“He’s one of those sneaky good players that’s not really on any charts, so I think he’ll be really good. He’s probably going to be one of the leaders on the team this year.”
Her son, Tanner Thomas, 5, chipped in with his thoughts as well as to who the leaders on the team will be.
“I would say Cole Beaudoin and Beau Jelsma. I like them scoring goals," added Thomas.
And his outlook for the team’s chances this season?
“Very good, because I’m there. I’m going to be here for a lot of games,” said Thomas.
