Round 2 Game 2: Apr. 12/25 vs Kingston: Highlight & Recap
The Kingston Frontenacs were looking for revenge in Barrie on Saturday for a date with the Colts in game two of their best-of-seven series. Barrie sat in the driver’s seat after taking game one in a 6-2 rout and looked to tighten their grasp on the series with another victory. The Colts have been hot offensively, they were coming off of three straight six-goal games before Saturday, and they’d get a boost as Brad Gardiner made his return to the lineup after missing the previous four games. Meanwhile, the Frontenacs looked to solve a Colts team that’s had their number all year, having beaten Kingston in four of five games this season. Sam Hillebrandt got the opportunity to guard the cage for Barrie after starting game one and stopping 38 of 40 pucks sent his way.
In a similar fashion to game one, Kingston scored early, getting on the board six minutes in on just their third shot of the night. The Colts responded with their first goal three minutes later, Emil Hemming authored the tally, his fourth of the playoffs. Less than two minutes after Hemming got his fourth, Anthony Romani got his ninth to put Barrie up 2-1. The Frontenacs then made it four goals in seven minutes when they found twine at 13:43 elapsed in the frame. Kingston’s second goal was the last of the opening frame and the game would remain tied heading into the first intermission.
The second period began with an onslaught of offence beginning with a Riley Patterson goal on the powerplay to make it a 3-2 game in favour of the Colts. The near-capacity crowd weren’t able to enjoy the lead long as the Frontenacs scored to tie it 52 seconds after Patterson’s goal. Patterson then fired back with another goal 69 seconds after Kingston’s, retaking the lead 4-3. The Frontenacs put the cherry on top of another action-packed stretch of play, making it four goals in four minutes to tie the game up a fourth time at four goals apiece. Grayson Tiller gave us a number other than four when he got his second tally of the playoffs, Tiller’s goal broke the tie yet again and made it a 5-4 game. Brad Gardiner gave Barrie the game’s first multi-goal lead, scoring in his first appearance since game two of round one. Brad’s goal made it 6-4 Colts and it would cap a wild period that featured a combined six goals.
The third was less eventful to say the least, though it’s hard to follow the firework show that was the middle frame. Barrie dug their heels in over the final 20 minutes, keeping the Frontenacs at bay with solid defensive play. In addition to playing sound defence, Sam Hillebrandt turned aside all 13 shots he faced in the final frame and steered the Colts into safe waters. Emil Hemming capped off an extraordinary game with an empty net goal, his second of the night, and this one went into the history books as a 7-4 win for Barrie.
To say this was a back-and-forth game would be a major understatement, ultimately Barrie had the last laugh. The Colts extend their streak of 6+ goals to four games and take a commanding 2-0 series lead in the process. Barrie has now won despite being outshot in two consecutive games, though it’s still early on in the series, they’ve quickly established that they can win in different ways. After successfully defending home ice through two games the Colts will head to Kingston for games three and four, on the 15th and 17th respectively.
