Game Preview: Windsor Spitfires @ Barrie Colts (Teddy Bear Toss Game). #OHL

Today is the Teddy Bear Toss at BMC as the Barrie Colts host the Windsor Spitfires for the final of two meetings this regular season. The first game saw Windsor take a 6-3 win in Windsor. Though they scored a few goals, the team should have had more success on the score sheet. 0 for 6 on the power play and only managed to generate 27 shots. Windsor managed to get a goal on 3 man advantages. Nizhnikov, Brassard and Finoro scored for the Colts. Carbonara had a strong game getting 5 shots on net and ending the night with a +2. Christian Propp got the start for the Colts but was pulled at the end of the 1st period after allowing 3 goals on 11 shots faced. David Ovsjannikov made 22 saves on 25 shots faced in his relief. Former Colt, Julius Nattinen put up a goal against his former team.

Windsor is coming off a 3-2 OT win Saturday night over the Saginaw Spirit. Evan Cormier kept the Spirit in the game making 40 saves on 43 shots faced. Special teams helped Windsor find success in this game scoring 2 goals on 3 man advantages. Julius Nattinen had a huge game for the Spits getting 3 assists and winning 15 face-offs which was about half the total wins for the team in the game. Sean Day was outstanding and put up 3 goals on the night. He got 9 shots on goal. The win was the second straight for a team who hasn't been playing as strong as they would hope to. 6-1-3-0 over the last 10 games which isn't terrible but isn't as strong as they would like to be playing this season. At least 3 of those losses were in OT so that is at least a few extra points for the team. They sit in 2nd place in the West Division with 40 points and will look to add to their 2 game win streak against a struggling Colts team.

Barrie is coming off of a 3-0 loss against the Sudbury Wolves. The only thing more gross than the Colts game was the green 3rd jerseys the Wolves wore for the game. Barrie managed to generate 44 shots on goal but couldn't solve Jake McGrath. Once again, power play struggles continue to haunt Barrie who were not able to score on 5 PP opportunities. Kade Landry had a good night and filled in for Brassard who was out of the lineup. He managed to get 7 shots on goal. This season the majority of the Colts shots have come from the back end. Propp started for the Colts and saved 29 shots on 32 shots faced. Overall, the Colts didn't have a terrible game. It was just one of those days where they ran into a hot goalie.

Keys to Success: The team has really had injury struggles this season. Radke being out for so long has been tough and Brassard being out makes matters worse. That being said, the team really needs to find a way to be more effective with the man advantage. They have done a great job of drawing penalties but they need to find a way to capitalize on the advantage. It is clear that the strategy is to generate shots from the point and if this continues they need to work on getting in front of the goaltender in an attempt to screen him, or get a possible redirect goal.

Players to Watch: Lucas Chiodo is in 2nd on the team for points. In the last 12 games he has matched his total point production from last season. He is skating hard and fast and really has been a great energy guy for the team. I would look for him to have a big game having been held off the score sheet the last two games.

Puck Drop is set for 7:30 tonight and DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR TEDDY BEARS!