Barrie Shuts Down Niagara
March 23, 2025 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Barrie Colts News Release
The Barrie Colts and Niagara Ice Dogs each capped off their regular seasons with a tilt in Barrie on Saturday night. This, their sixth and final regular season meeting of '24-'25, preceded a postseason matchup between these familiar foes in the first round of the 2025 OHL Playoffs. With game one set for Thursday, March 27th, Saturday's contest was the last action either squad would get before entering a best-of-seven series against each other and would serve as a 'playoff preview' of sorts. Prior to game 68 of 68, Barrie had locked up the two-seed in the Eastern conference as the winner of the Central division. Niagara had a less prosperous season through 67 games, they sported a negative record and sat seventh in the East. Colts rookie Jonah McCormick made his OHL debut in this one, slotting into Barrie's bottom six alongside Jaiden Newton and Sam Black.
Niagara struggled to keep play out of their end in the opening minutes of the first, and Barrie had led in shots 5-1 through five minutes as a result. The Ice Dogs eventually thawed out, getting just their second shot on Ben Hrebik at the 11-minute mark, then scoring the game's first goal on their third shot a minute later. Hrebik would be steady throughout the back half of the frame, though, steering the Colts into safe waters and keeping Niagara from scoring any additional goals. Through 20 minutes, Barrie paced the visitors in shots 12-7 but trailed on the scoreboard 1-0.
Brad Gardiner got his Colts on the scoresheet four minutes into the middle frame, Brad's 17th on the season tied it at a goal apiece. Six minutes following Gardiner's tally, it was Owen Van Steensel scoring the go-ahead goal for Barrie, his 23rd of '24-'25 put his Colts up 2-1 with under 10 to play in the second period. Barrie continued their dominant stretch of play, scoring again four minutes later, this time Dalyn Wakely found twine. Wakely got assists from either of his linemates Anthony Romani and Owen Van Steensel, both of whom eclipsed 200 career OHL points on the goal. The Colts didn't let up there, Bertucci got his second on the night shortly after Wakely's goal, pushing the Colts' lead to 4-1, McCormick assisted on the goal, notching his first career point in his OHL debut.
Barrie continued to throttle their competition scoring just 20 seconds into the third period and again at 3:05 elapsed. The period's opening tallies came from Romani and Bertucci respectively, and made it six unanswered Colts goals. The scoring frenzy rolled on, with Romani potting his second of the night only 27 seconds after Bertucci did the same. Brad Gardiner joined the two-goal club in the dying minutes of the third and made it eight straight Barrie tallies and an 8-1 final.
Generally a low-scoring team, the Colts were in the goal business tonight potting eight tallies for the second time this season, their highest offensive output all year. Barrie will be pleased with their effort in this playoff primer game as it's difficult to imagine a better outcome for them. If the Colts can replicate even a fraction of this success in their upcoming dates with Niagara, they should have no problem beating the Ice Dogs in a best-of-seven series. Round one opens in Barrie on March 27th and 31st before moving to Niagara for games three and four.
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