Article courtesy of www.oshawagenerals.com

The first place Generals battled hard tonight when they took on the second place Barrie Colts at the General Motors Centre. After 57 minutes without a goal, this nail-biter of a game became even more exciting when Cole Cassels scored at 17:36 in the third period. His goal gave the Generals a 1-0 win over the Colts and another two points.

From start to finish, this game was evenly matched and full of back and forth play. A playoff spirit was in the air as the top two teams in the Eastern Conference took to the ice. The Generals found themselves on their first power play of the night at 6:15 after Blandisi was sent to the box for high sticking. Webster was next to the box with two minutes for cross-checking but the Gens couldn’t make anything of the opportunities. At 17:04, McCarron sat for slashing but the best penalty kill in the league went to work and shutdown the Colts on their power play. Good scoring chances were had by both teams in the first but neither team could put a goal on the scoreboard. The period ended with the Colts outshooting the Generals 16-14. The Colts dominated the first period to some extent but the Generals found their groove when they entered the ice for the second period.

Things continued to get heated between the two teams in the second. Only a couple minutes into the period, Daniel Robertson received two minutes for slashing but the Generals kept the game scoreless. Oshawa went to their first power play of the period at 8:40 as Brandon Prophet sat for high sticking. Barrie’s defense and Gibl were strong on the penalty kill, shutting down all chances for the Generals to get on the board. The two teams were hungry for a goal as things continued to get physical. Brent Pedersen and Michael Webster both sat for roughing halfway through the period. A tripping penalty to Sam Harding with only 1:09 left to go gave the Colts another power play but the second wrapped up with no score. Neither team could seem to find luck with the man advantage throughout the second. The shots were close at 25-23 in favour of the Generals.

As both teams were fighting hard to score a goal, tensions were high by the third period. Eight penalties were handed out during the third including five minutes each for fighting to Mermis and Lemiux with only four seconds remaining in the game. Barrie made defensive additions before the trade deadline and the Oshawa Generals had to push hard to get anything past them. The six leading scorers in the Eastern Conference were all on the ice tonight including Blandisi, Labanc, Mangiapane, Dal Colle, Lindberg, and Cassels. Even with all of these top scorers on the ice, no one could seem to put the puck in the net. A beautiful goal scored by one of these top scorers, Cole Cassels put the Generals on the board and ultimately secured their victory. Cassels goal was assisted by Michael McCarron and Bradley Latour.

Daniel Gibl made his 10^th start of the season for the Colts tonight as starting goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood was out sick tonight. He earned second star of the game after blocking 34 of the 35 shots that the Generals took. Ken Appleby had his fifth shutout of the season tonight, stopping all 33 shots taken by the Colts. His outstanding performance tonight earned him first star of the game.

Check out tonight’s game summary here.

Shots on goal: Generals (35) Colts (33)
Molson Canadian Three Stars: Appleby (1) Gibl (2) Cassels (3)
Final score: Generals (1) Colts (0)