The Barrie Colts dropped a 5-3 decision to the league-leading Brantford Bulldogs on Thursday, missing a crucial opportunity to make up ground in the race for first in the Eastern Conference.
With the win, Brantford now sits three points up on the Colts in the East and still hold a game in hand. At 90 points, the Colts have already locked up the Central Division, meaning they can’t finish lower than second place in the conference.
Barrie only has seven games left in the regular season and will need some help to catch up to Brantford.
It won’t be easy, however. The Colts only play two teams below .500 and have dates left against the Ottawa 67’s, the Peterborough Petes, the North Bay Battalion and Niagara Ice Dogs, which occupy the third to six spots in the Eastern Conference, respectively.
Next up is a game on Saturday against division rival North Bay.
Brantford has a much easier test on Friday, taking on Saginaw, which occupies the final playoff spot in the Western Conference but sits eight games under .500 (not factoring shootout or overtime losses).
At 87 points, Ottawa is really the only team that can catch up to Brantford or Barrie in the race for first in the conference. But the 67’s suffered a setback on Thursday, losing 1-0 in overtime to Peterborough.
Ottawa hosts lowly Brampton on Saturday before closing out the weekend at home with another contest against Peterborough.
