A remarkable but now completely ordinary scene took place just outside the visitor’s dressing room at Sadlon Arena about a month ago.
The Sudbury Wolves were in town and local boy Gavin Ewles emerged from the Wolves' room right around the same time as a U.S. college recruiter was asking for Kocha Delic, Ewles’s teammate. The Delic meet-up was arranged by Wolves assistant coach Drake Berehowsky, the former NHLer whose ties to Barrie go back more than three decades to the old Junior B Colts.
A U.S. college scout and a major junior player in a friendly chat, all being arranged by an employee of an Ontario Hockey League team.
A year ago, such a scenario would have been like a husband bringing his wife to dinner to meet his mistress, arranged by a divorce lawyer.
Strange days indeed.
But when the NCAA decided in November to lift the almost five-decade-long ban on former Canadian Hockey League players, OHL rinks suddenly became fertile recruiting ground.
Moreover, players no longer must spend a season or two in between minor hockey and college suiting up in Junior A somewhere in Canada, or in the United States Hockey League. They can play in the OHL, just like players who surrendered their college eligibility by doing so previously.
For players such as Ewles, who could be playing in his final OHL season, he has more options than trying to grind out an existence in professional hockey as an undrafted player or going to Canadian university.
“I’m going to have to talk to my parents,” the 19-year-old said after the Barrie game in question, adding that the new reality is still a bit too fresh.
There is another dramatically different reality taking place locally compared to 365 days ago: the Colts are suddenly one of the OHL’s best teams. A year ago, beset by injuries and a few other factors, they were one of the weakest.
During a post-deadline game last season between the Colts and Niagara IceDogs, not a single NHL-drafted player was in uniform on either team. That's extremely rare for any major junior match-up.
The resurgence this season wasn’t just a case of waiting/hoping for a handful of in-house players to get better, though that has happened as well.
Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson made one or two clever moves at last year’s roster deadline and a few more in the off-season that have led to the team having among the most NHL-drafted talent in the OHL this side of the London Knights.
Playing without four top players who were in world junior camps, and with Ben Hrebik in the crease on back-to-back nights, the Colts lost to the IceDogs in their final game before the Christmas break. The win allowed the IceDogs, amid their own dramatic turnaround, to leap over the Colts to top spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Hrebik is one of the reasons for such a lofty perch with 2025 looming, giving them solid goaltending in a league that needs back-ups to play 15 to 20 games a season.
Defenceman Evan Passmore is now a blue-line corps regular with three NHL-drafted players on it. Kashawn Aitcheson and Passmore will be drafted in June, at which time it is expected that Beau Akey and Tristan Bertucci will have graduated.
Bertucci and Gabriel Eliasson came to Barrie in the off-season, one of a few trades that brought in already drafted players by surrendering picks and defencemen Jack Brauti and Blair Scott.
Up front, Brad Gardiner was also acquired in a trade, Emil Hemming was added in the CHL Import Draft.
The maturation of Hrebik allowed Williamson to use an overage spot on Dalyn Wakely, rather than on a goaltender. That move meant Tai York left town, and with ice time tough to come by up front, Shamar Moses was a logical piece to go the other way to get Wakely.
Hrebik and Passmore are two dramatically improved depth players who have helped make the Colts a much better club by growing from within; Carter Lowe and Bode Stewart have come into their own up front, and Justin Handsor doesn’t look out of place as the team’s sixth D.
It all makes the Colts a classic example of how short-term pain in the OHL standings can change with the autumn colours the following season.
The key for Williamson is to read the tea leaves properly when the deadline falls on Jan. 10 to ensure that the Colts remain a force in 2025-26.
The Colts (21-9-2, 2nd in Central Division) host the North Bay Battalion (13-15-3, 5th in Central Division) tonight at Sadlon Arena, with puck drop shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Peter Robinson is a reporter at BarrieToday, covering courts and sports.
