ROUND 2 GAME 3 RECAP: 67’s rally at home, win 5-2 over Colts
The Ottawa 67’s find a glimmer of hope, securing a 5-2 win over the Barrie Colts to put the series at 2-1 Barrie.
“The first two games in Barrie weren’t easy, but today was way better,” said Jasper Kuhta, who picked up two assists this game. “We were really confident in ourselves and still believed; it was a great win today.”
“It was fun to be out there,” said Frankie Marrelli, who tallied a goal and two assists for the first star of the game. “To get that win on home ice was huge.”
Heading into the game, the message wasn’t necessarily about the stakes of the game, but instead where the team needed to be sharp.
“We just talked about keeping our cool, discipline, and focusing on doing our thing,” said Spencer Bowes, who’d net the insurance goal.
The Colts would start the game pushing the pace on Ottawa, outshooting them 7-1 over the first five minutes. They’d continue to push, with 15 shots on Ottawa before finally landing their first goal, courtesy of Calvin Crombie.
The 67’s would start to get things going late, but ultimately the first frame would end with the Colts on top 1-0, while outshooting Ottawa 18-7.
Heading into the second period, it was clear something had to change.
“Didn’t like our first period,” said Nic Sima, who would go on to score the empty net goal. “Dave came in, just relaxed us, we were all kinda riled up,” he said.
Ottawa would get the second started with more energy, with an offensive push. The momentum shift would lead to a 5-on-3 power play for the 67’s. Frankie Marrelli would finish a pass from Nic Whitehead to tie the game with the man advantage.
The 67’s continued to roll with Marrelli finding Thomas Vandenberg to beat Ben Hrebik for the 2-1 lead.
“I think guys were just in the right spots,” said Marrelli of his offensive surge. “Kudos to the team; every guy played their game, played their role, and just made it easy on me to be in those spots and make those plays.”
Barrie would continue to let emotions run high as they’d get called for another penalty late in the second. Cooper Foster would fire another home in the remaining seconds of the period.
“We did a great job on the power play in the second, and then being able to stick with it there and turn it around in the last two periods was great.”
Barrie came out of the gates strong in the third, but Spencer Bowes would pounce on the counter-attack, picking up his own rebound off a breakaway.
However, Barrie would battle back, with Ben Wilmott giving the team life with his eighth goal of the playoffs to bring Ottawa’s lead to just two goals.
Once again, Dave Cameron’s words continued to reassure his group.
“Even when Bowes scored the fourth goal, the first thing he said was that we were good and to relax and that we still have eight minutes left,” he said. “We definitely feed off that.”
“We’re confident, relaxed, because our coach has our back and believed in us and wasn’t freaking out on us.”
Ottawa’s penalty kill would get tested late with a too-many-men call, and Barrie would pull the goalie, giving their potent power play a 6-on-4 opportunity.
Yet, Ottawa’s penalty kill and Ryder Fetterolf would stone them cold. Nic Sima would carry the puck the other way and attempt a wraparound on the empty net, not quite getting it in. However, he’d receive a little help from an unlikely source, ex-67s forward Brad Gardiner, who’d fumble the puck into his team’s net for the 5-2 decision.
The 67’s special teams thrived, scoring twice over three attempts on the power play while being perfect in the lone chance shorthanded and even picking up a juicy shorthanded goal.
“It feels good, the first two games we were definitely on the bad side of the special teams, always killing penalties,” said Bowes. “Today it was good to get a few on the power play and help the team out quite a bit.”
After 18 shots in the first period, the 67’s would close out the game, allowing 20 shots over the past forty minutes of play.
“I was proud of our D,” said Sima. “Us wingers and forwards sometimes give them a hard time getting back and being in position.”
“I think our defense got better throughout the game, and did a great job towards the end, just limiting their forecheck, breaking pucks out, and resetting in the neutral zone,” he said. “They played great.”
Discipline proved to be the key element in this game, as the 67’s held off on the penalties until late in the third.
“I think we were less physical this game than the first two,” said Sima. “In the first two, we were trying to do a bit too much physically, not worried about the puck just going in there, just trying to blow a guy up, and they’d just make a one-pop pass out of the zone.”
“I think coaching staff stressed that a lot,” he said. “You saw our first two games, we were all hyped up, all jacked up, and it kinda bit us in the butt.”
“It’s normal,” said assistant coach Norm Milley. “They are teenagers playing in a game that has such momentum shifts.”
“I thought we learned a lesson from that,” he said. “Usually, we are generally a disciplined team, but sometimes it gets the better of us.”
In the first period, the Colts were clearly trying to get under the Ottawa 67’s skin, with Kashawn Aitcheson and Cole Beaudoin both trying to get the Barber Poles to bite on a taunted punch and slash, yet Ottawa wouldn’t take the bait.
“Especially when you play a big, heavy team like Barrie; they grind you in the offensive zone… they are a playoff team,” he said. “It’s tough to stay disciplined against teams like that, because they get under your skin, but our guys did a really good job with that.”
“I think we did a good job with our sticks, settling it down, and knowing when to take big hits and pick your spots,” said Sima. “It’s a long game and a long series, we’ll have a lot of chances to hit their defense and forwards.”
Box score
| Teams | Score | Shots on goal | Power plays |
| Ottawa | 5 | 38 | 2/3 |
| Barrie | 2 | 37 | 0/1 |
First period
#16 Calvin Crombie (3) scores. #29 Cole Beaudoin, #11 William Schneid
Second Period
#8 Frankie Marrelli (2) scores. Assists: #10 Nic Whitehead, #34 Filip Ekberg
#37 Thomas Vandenberg (4) scores. Assists: #8 Frankie Marrelli, #22 Jasper Kuhta
#29 Cooper Foster (3) scores. Assists: #22 Jasper Kuhta, #8 Frankie Marrelli
Third Period
#12 Spencer Bowes (4) scores. Assists: #34 Filip Ekberg
#53 Ben Wilmott (8) scores. Assists: #77 Kashawn Aitcheson, #29 Cole Beaudoin
#16 Nic Sima (4) scores. Assists: #4 Kaleb Dietsch
Up next
The Ottawa 67’s will host the Barrie Colts for Game 4 on Tuesday, April 16th, 2026, at The Arena at TD Place, with tickets on sale for as low as $28. Check out Playoffs Central presented by Gabriel Pizza for that and much more.
