April Recap

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OHL Barrie Colts

April Recap

May 7, 2025 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Barrie Colts News Release


April was a busy month, chalked full of playoff hockey for the Barrie Colts. They played 13 playoff games against three different teams and continued to battle against the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference Finals heading into May. Their most recent month of play was a microcosm of the highs and lows the Colts faced all regular season. Barrie showed resiliency and resolve in their efforts to remain alive and continue to advance. The team reached the third round of the OHL Playoffs for the first time since 2016, when they fell in four games to the Marty Williamson-led Niagara IceDogs.

This time around the IceDogs and Colts met in the opening round of the postseason, the series kicked off at the tail end of March when Barrie played host for the first two games of the series. Niagara (29-31-4-4) finished seventh in the Eastern Conference and drew a Colts squad (42-22-2-2) that finished as the second seed.

Barrie took games one and two on home ice before travelling down to Niagara for the next two installments of the series. Games three and four are where the series became interesting, the IceDogs staved off a potential three games to none series deficit with a win on home ice in game three, and nearly knotted up the series in game four until a big play from Tristan Bertucci changed the tides of the entire series.

It was all Colts from there on out, Barrie shut the door on a potential comeback, winning games four and five to win the series in a gentlemen's sweep.

The Colts then drew the Kingston Frontenacs as their opponents in round two. The Frontenacs (40-20-5-3) finished with the same amount of points (88) as the Colts did, but Barrie held home ice advantage as the winners of the central division. Of their four meetings in the regular season, the Colts were victors in three.

Kingston dropped the opening two games as the visitors in Sadlon Arena before taking the series home for a two-game stint where they'd knot it right back up. The teams then returned to Sadlon arena for a game five tilt that became an incredibly pivotal matchup with the series tied at two games apiece. In dramatic fashion, a tight-checking game five carried a 1-1 tie into overtime, the biggest period for either squad to this point all season. The game was ended by who else but the always-clutch Kashawn Aitcheson, who snuck home a wrister from the point, putting his team within one game of an Eastern Conference Finals berth.

The Colts squandered an opportunity to close out the series in game six, another overtime finish, and were forced to head back to Barrie for an attempt to win a game seven for the first time since 2016. Similar to the series as a whole, the series-deciding game was a back-and-forth affair, but one that the Colts eventually won 6-4, again on the back of Aitcheson, who scored twice including the game-winner. Home ice advantage may just have been the difference in the series against the Frontenacs as the home team won every game. Barrie would retain home ice heading into their third-round matchup.

The Eastern Conference Finals seemed to be a matchup in the making all season. The Colts' opponent, the Oshawa Generals, had eliminated them a season prior and provided a hostile environment each time they'd hosted Barrie during the regular season. Like the Frontenacs, the Generals (41-21-4-2) also finished the season with the same amount of points as the Colts, 88. This series marked an incredible feat for Barrie's 'Troops line' of Anthony Romani, Dalyn Wakely and Owen Van Steensel, as this was their fourth consecutive Conference Finals appearance, the previous three coming as members of the North Bay Battalion.

Despite entering the series with a perfect 7-0 home record these playoffs, the Colts dropped both games one and two at Sadlon Arena and would travel to Oshawa down 0-2. A heartbreaking game three loss in double overtime was too much for this Colts team to recover from, and Oshawa never looked back, punching their ticket to the OHL Championship in an 8-4 victory in game four on May 1st.

Although it concluded with a disheartening loss, this season is one that each member of this Colts team can and should look back on fondly. A truly dominant season in which they reached heights not seen in nearly a decade. A year full of positive storylines, like the emergence of three young players who will likely hear their names called at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft in Kashawn Aitcheson, Ben Hrebik and Evan Passmore.

The Barrie Colts would like to congratulate their veterans who have now graduated from the OHL. Congratulations to Beau Jelsma, Dalyn Wakely and Owen Van Steensel on their illustrious OHL careers.

The '24-'25 Barrie Colts will not soon be forgotten, as many of its members will go on to have lengthy pro hockey careers, and will forever be beloved by the Barrie faithful.

Thank you for another amazing season Colts fans!

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