Colts Win Series Opener 3 – 1 Over Kingston
The Barrie Colts and Kingston Frontenacs opened up the OHL playoffs at the Barrie Molson Centre. In a tight contest, the Colts pulled out a 3-1 victory over Kingston behind strong goaltending from Mathias Niederberger and team penalty killing.
The Kingston Frontenacs opened the scoring early in the first period as Ryan Kujawinski scored to give the Frontenacs an early 1-0 advantage. Samuel Schutt and Billy Jenkins collected the assists on the goal. The shots were 17-14 in favour of Kingston as the Colts trailed 1-0 through one period of play.
The Colts offence clicked in the second period as they scored two quick goals to give them a 2-1 lead. Colts forward, Steven Beyers scored to tie the game at 1-1 as he took a nice backhand pass by line mate, Andreas Athanasiou and buried his shot in the back of the net.
At the 3:55 mark of the period, Mark Scheifele ripped a hard wrist shot from the blue line that got by Frontenacs goaltender, Mike Morrison. The goal was scored on a Colts power play with Ryan O’Connor and Steven Beyers earning the assists.
In the third period, the Frontenacs were putting the pressure on the Colts to try and tie the game up. However, Colts goaltender, Mathias Niederberger stood tall as he stopped every shot he faced the rest of the way finishing the game with 33 saves. The Colts finished the game perfect on the penalty kill as they killed off all seven Kingston power plays.
Colts forward, Anthony Camara would add an empty net goal to give the Colts a 3-1 win and take Game 1 of the series.
The Colts and Frontenacs will continue their series on Saturday March 23rd, as Game 2 will be played at the Barrie Molson Centre. Puck drop is at 7:30.
SCOTIABANK 3 STARS
1) Andreas Athanasiou
2) Mark Scheifele
3) Mathias Niederberger
