Ottawa 67’s fall to Barrie 3-2, now on the verge of elimination

Game 4 of the second round series between the Ottawa 67’s and Barrie Colts had its moments and saw some bad relapses creep back and rear its ugly face, along some moments where the team and fans saw success like in Game 3.

It was another solid start for the Ottawa 67’s. They used the home ice as fuel to fire off chances at Barrie and their goaltender Ben Hrebik. Ottawa seemed to be on track for what was a similar recipe to Game 3 where they took over the play.

Ottawa got complacent and allowed Barrie to control the point in the defensive zone which turns out wasn’t a great recipe for the 67’s. They also allowed Barrie to send guys to the net either unmarked or getting right in front of 67’s goaltender Ryder Fetterolf.

The 67’s after Game 3 preached trying to replicate that success and carrying over the same play but Barrie was prepared for it all and tightened up their game after that loss on Tuesday.

It would be Barrie who would strike not once, not twice, but three times to take a 3-0 lead, controlling the game.

Carter Lowe had his third of the playoffs and kicked off the scoring in Game 4, four straight games Barrie has done so. He was able to cash in an Emil Hemming rebound shot that bounced right to his stick and Ryder Fetterolf was already far out of the crease.

Emil Hemming scored his seventh of the playoffs and was able to give Barrie the 2-0 lead as he received a contested Cole Beaudoin pass right in front of the net and out-beat Ryder Fetterolf.

Joe Salandra cashed on the power-play for his second of the playoffs on a loose puck off a Calvin Crombie shot that he wrapped around the back of the net and slid under Ryder Fetterolf who was already down in his crease for the third goal.

The 67’s look absolutely dejected after the third goal and you could see the frustration build on the bench.

67’s head coach Dave Cameron never lets his players go down without a fight and you could see how much he wanted his team to keep fighting and not back down despite being down three to a strong defensive team in Barrie.

With just under five minutes to go in the third period Barrie’s Justin Handsor took a boarding penalty and chaos ensued which caused a massive momentum switch. The crowd was verbal all night long with the officials.

67’s veteran forward Nic Sima buried a power-play goal for his fifth goal of the post-season to get Ottawa to within two with a greasy goal in the crease put past Ben Hrebik off a Spencer Bowes shot.

A brawl ensued resulted in another Barrie penalty as Calvin Crombie threw a sucker punch to Ottawa’s Sam McCue.

Frankie Marrelli struck again, making Barrie pay on Ottawa’s power-play, after receiving a pass from Cooper Foster and ripping it top left corner past Ben Hrebik. You could feel destiny fall into Ottawa’s hands.

Frankie Marrelli saved an empty net goal and put Ottawa on the penalty kill. Ottawa pushed with the net empty shorthanded and missed a wide-open net to tie the game. 67’s forward Spencer Bowes couldn’t believe it and the crowd thought he had scored.

Ottawa fell to Barrie 3-2. They are now heading back to Barrie down 3-1 and are on the verge of elimination in Game 5.

67’s goaltender Ryder Fetterolf saved 40 of 43 shots for his third loss of the series and playoffs.

After the game, 67’s captain Cooper Foster talked about the push they made to almost tie the game after being down 3-0.

“I think we showed at the end what we’re capable of, so I think if we do that for a full 60 next game, it’s going to be a different result,” said Foster.

Foster also spoke on what they need to adjust in their game as they head back to Barrie.

“Yeah, I think again just being more discipline, like there’s a few penalties we could have avoided but it’s hockey, sometimes it just happens. So, I honestly think, like, we’re playing good hockey, I think the bounces are going to go our way and I think we just got to keep a good mindset going into next game,” said Foster.

67’s forward Nic Whitehead is looking for himself and his team to tighten up but also take late-game push as a high-heading forward.

“Yeah, well, we know we can beat them, they’re a really good team but you know we have a really good team too. Offensively we’re really good, we just showed we can score really quick, for us it was just too late. For us it’s we have to stay calm, stay poised and we’re going to be fine,” said Whitehead.

67’s head coach Dave Cameron has a positive outlook on Game 5 despite being down 3-1 in the series.

“I’d like us to maybe score a little bit earlier in the game and get Barrie back on its heels and give us a little bit of a boost. They’re a real good team, they’re going to be ready to come and stomp us out but we’re ready to accept that challenge and we’ll see what happens,” said Cameron.

Game 5 is April 18 at Sadlon Arena in Barrie.