Brandon Caputo
@BCaputo_AGM
After the first four games of the first series could have gone either way between Central Division foes, the Eastern Conference's second seeded Barrie Colts were able to come out on top of three of those, before sealing it with a Game 5 home victory at Sadlon Arena, over a young playoff inexperienced seventh seeded IceDogs group getting their first taste of postseason hockey since 2018-19.
The Colts would score two in the first period from Dalyn Wakely off a turnover and then Kashawn Aitcheson; before Beau Jelsma, Cole Beaudoin, and Tristan Bertucci added a trio more in the second.
For the second time in the series, the IceDogs would have big third period surges on the road as they would get going with superstar second-year forward Ryan Roobroeck scoring a pair on Ben Hrebik, who started his second game in the series after falling in Game 3 as his only other appearance over Sam Hillebrandt.
Minutes later 16-year-old rookie Braidy Wassilyn cut down the left wing and fired one off the shoulder of Hrebik and overtop to make it 5-3 and put a little doubt in the Colts.
Niagara would pull the goalie with 2:53 to play down a pair but Anthony Romani sealed it in the empty net after picking up the pass off a tough battle for the puck.
IceDogs overage goaltender Owen Flores, who would play his final game in junior hockey, stopped 46 shots to give his team a chance all the way to the final buzzer, while Ben Hrebik stopped 31 of 34 in a redemption victory after falling to Niagara earlier in the series.
Barrie will now advance to take on a strong Kingston team in the two versus three matchup with the Colts holding home ice advantage, looking for big things as a team that loaded up to make a run at the OHL Championship this season.
