‘That was a big oopsie’: Barrie Colts coach takes blame for bizarre postgame conference

(L-R) Dylan Smoskowitz, Colts head coach, and Kashawn Aitcheson, Colts co-captain, in the postgame press conference after Game 7 of the OHL Eastern Conference Final in Brantford, Ont., on Mon., May 4, 2026. (Source: FloHockey/YouTube)

The coach of the Barrie Colts is taking the heat for a strange postgame news conference.

The Colts were crowned the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference champions after they battled back from a three-game hole and blanked the Brantford Bulldogs in Game 7.

But despite the team’s stunning success, the postgame interview featuring the Barrie Colt’s head coach Dylan Smoskowitz and captain Kashawn Aitcheson drew attention for all the wrong reasons.

Whenever a question was posed to the duo, they responded with, “No one cares, work harder.”

McCormick joined TSN’s OverDrive on Tuesday and explained what happened.

“I had this grand idea after the win that I would bring [the team] in with me to the press conference and I thought it would be really cool to have all the guys in there with their hats on – their Eastern Conference championship hats, do the presser together instead of having one guy. Let’s have the brothers, the family,” Smoskowitz said. “The room was small. I was told it wasn’t going to work and instead of being an adult about it and being mature about it and saying, ‘OK, no problem, let’s go into the normal press conference as per usual,’ I kind of went the other way with it. It was a decision that I regret immediately. It took away from a really, really good game and a really, really good hockey series. That one’s on me. That was a big oopsie and something that I’ll learn from. You better believe it won’t happen again.”

Smoskowitz also said it was not Aitcheson’s idea to answer questions with the repeated phrase and the player was only following his coach’s lead.

The Barrie Colts are looking forward to what comes next; mainly the beginning of the OHL finals series against the Kitchener Rangers. Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.