After a strong playoff run, the Barrie Colts’ season has come to an abrupt ending, as the junior hockey team lost four straight games in the OHL’s eastern conference finals.
The Colts had home-ice advantage over the Oshawa Generals in the series, but dropped back-to-back games in Barrie before losing games three and four on the road.
The Generals now advance to the OHL finals, where they will face the western conference champion London Knights.
Barrie has not won the Bobby Orr Trophy, given to the eastern conference champions, since 2012-2013.
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Throughout the conference finals, the Generals exposed holes in Barrie’s defence, scoring at least seven goals in three of the series’ four games.
In total, the Colts only scored 11 goals in the series, compared to 25 for the Generals.
As such, it was a particularly tough stretch for Colts goaltenders Sam Hillebrandt and Ben Hrebik. While both netminders posted save percentages over .900 in the regular season, neither could muster better than .892 in the playoffs.
In particular, Hrebik, a 19-year-old from Milton, Ont., struggled in the postseason after a solid rookie campaign. In the deciding fourth game of the conference finals, Hrebik allowed eight Oshawa goals on 30 shots.
That being said, Hrebik, along with defencemen Kashawn Aitcheson and Evan Passmore, are among the Colts players eligible to be selected in the upcoming NHL entry draft, scheduled to take place next month in Los Angeles.
According to a release issued by the team, three Colts players have aged out of junior hockey and will be ineligible to play next season, including Dalyn Wakely (an Edmonton sixth-round pick in 2024), who co-led the team in playoff scoring with 24 points in the first three rounds.
Beau Jelsma (undrafted) and Owen Van Steensel (undrafted) have also played their final game of major junior hockey.
