The Barrie Colts have swept away the North Bay Battalion in the OHL Playoffs.
The Colts, eliminated the past two playoff years by the Battalion, got some revenge on Thursday night with a decisive 6-0 victory and win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semi-final in four straight.
First star Andrew Mangiapane helped the Colts overcome a slow start with two goals and two assists, while Kevin Lebanc snapped up second star accoladeswith a goal and two assists.
“Feeling the defeat of the past two years I guess stung, but I guess this kind of makes up for it sweeping them here so I mean, they are a great team and it’s nice we get the momentum going into the conference finals here,” said Mangiapane, who was on the losing side in 2014 and 2015 to the Troops.
Mackenzie Blackwood played a big role in shutting the Troops down, stopping all 29 North Bay shots in his first clean sheet performance of the post-season.
The fight was there early as the Troops came out to a storming start, winning all battles along the boards and races to the puck and outshooting the visiting Colts 10-1 in the first half of the first period.
They pushed the horses back on the heels with two early power play opportunities too, but ultimately couldn't convert and it cost them.
Not long after, Barrie buried two goals before the first period was out to sprint to the early lead and added another in the early second period. The Troops switched to the high-risk, high-reward style that they needed to, but two more Barrie goals in the third period helped the Colts run down the clock to seal the series-deciding win.
The Colts will now face the Niagara IceDogs in the Eastern Conference final series, both having swept their second round opponent.
