Reece Doumani / OHL in 60 Podcast
@reecedoumani / @ohlin60podcast
With London already punching their ticket to the OHL Championship series, the Oshawa Generals were looking to join them for the second straight season. As for the Colts, they were looking to repeat the Kitchener Rangers second round series against Windsor and begin their climb towards a reverse sweep.
It took all of 15 seconds for the Barrie Colts to get on the board. Or so they thought. The puck would enter the net behind Jacob Oster however, the play would get called back as the Colts were offside entering the zone so the game would remain scoreless. The two teams would trade opportunities throughout the opening period but neither team found the back of the net until the 13:35 mark and this one would count.
The Colts officially opened the scoring thanks to Cole Beaudoin potting home a loose puck out front. Tristan Bertucci and Bode Stewart collected the assist on the first goal. Generals would get the only power play opportunity but were unable to convert. Colts would carry their 1-0 lead into the first intermission and outshot the Generals 9-6 in the first period as Ben Hrebik started in place of Sam Hillebrandt in the Barrie net.
Exactly four minutes into the 2nd, Luca D’Amato would get the pass at the top of the slot from Callum Ritchie and D’Amato would snipe it top shelf to tie the game at 1. Beckett Sennecke would also get an assist on the equalizer. Just past the midway mark, the Barrie Colts would get caught puck watching, leaving Noah Powell all alone for a back door tap in to give the Generals their first lead of the game. Marrelli and Griffin recorded the assists on Powell’s 4th of the playoffs. Less than two minutes later, the Colts would strike back. There would be a scramble in front of the Oshawa net and Anthony Romani would find the loose puck, turn and fire one top shelf to make it 2-2. Van Steensel and Wakely collected the assists.
Less than a minute after that, the Colts found themselves on a 2 on 1. Emil Hemming would take the initial shot and have it stopped by Oster, but the juicy rebound would go right to Brad Gardiner who fired it to the back of the net for his 2nd of the postseason, putting Barrie up 3-2. Generals would get even a couple minutes later. Luca Marrelli would spring Owen Griffin in alone on Hrebik and Griffin would have his shot stopped but it would hit a Colts skater as they were skating back and it would get past Hrebik to make it 3-3. A combined 5 goals would be scored in the middle period and the two teams would head to the third tied at 3. Shots after 40 favoured Oshawa 17-16.
3:40 into the third, Matthew Buckley would block a point shot in his own zone and be off on a breakaway the other way. Ben Hrebik made the initial stop but Buckley followed up on the rebound and got his team back in front by 1. Not long after, the Generals would get a power play and with Barlow set up in the right circle, his teammates would get him the puck and he would one time it home to give the Generals a 5-3 lead. And just 25 seconds after that, Luca Marrelli would get in on the fun, scoring a goal of his own.
The Generals led 6-3 after scoring 3 goals in a span of 1:33. The Colts would find some life with 6:06 to play as Wakely would deflect Tiller’s point shot past Oster to make it 6-4. That would be short lived as Bertucci would fan on the outlet pass, putting it right on the stick of Owen Griffin who fired it past Hrebik to seal the victory for Oshawa. Ritchie would add 1 more and the Generals would complete the sweep with an 8-4 win, earning the Bobby Orr Trophy once again.
The Generals and Knights will meet in the OHL Championship series for the second consecutive season, with a trip to Rimouski on the line. The London will have home ice advantage in finals as they were the #1 seed in the OHL entering the playoffs, while the Generals finished 4th in the Eastern Conference.
