Joel Vanderlaan
@jovanderlaan
The Oshawa Generals opened the Eastern Conference Championship Series with a 3–1 road victory over the Barrie Colts on Friday night at Sadlon Arena. The loss was Barrie’s first at home during the 2025 OHL playoffs.
After a scoreless first period, where Oshawa outshot the Colts 14–8 and neither team had a power play opportunity, the Generals broke through in the second stanza.
Owen Griffin opened the scoring at 15:22, netting his team-leading 12th goal of the postseason off a feed from Anaheim Ducks prospect Beckett Sennecke.
Oshawa doubled their lead late in the period, as Matthew Buckley capitalized on the power play to send the Generals into the intermission up 2–0.
Midway through the third, Anthony Romani got the Colts on the board, finishing a play with Owen Van Steensel. Both forwards are appearing in their fourth consecutive Eastern Conference Final.
Barrie pushed for the equalizer but couldn’t solve Jacob Oster again. Generals star Calum Ritchie put the game out of reach with an empty-net tally with just over a minute to play.
Oster, who set a franchise record for most playoff wins last week, added another to his total with a 27-save performance. Sam Hillebrandt turned aside 36 shots in the loss for Barrie.
Game 2 of the series is set for Sunday evening from the Sadlon Arena in Barrie.
