Barrie scored four first-period goals en route to a 5-0 shutout win Thursday night over Team NOHA to keep their undefeated record intact at the OHL Cup in Toronto.
With the victory, the Barrie Jr. Colts U16 AAA hockey team (4-0) didn't lose in the round-robin at the year-end showcase tournament. One of the top teams in the province, Barrie has been the No. 2-ranked team in Ontario for most of the season and came into the tournament as Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) champions.
The Colts will play at 10 a.m. this morning in a quarterfinal game against their OMHA rivals, the Oakville Rangers, at Scotiabank Pond.
On Wednesday night, the Colts took on Team NOHA from northern Ontario and didn't waste any time lighting the map, with two goals in the opening minutes.
Barrie's James Elliott scored his second goal of the tournament 1:24 into the game, followed by tallies from Brock Chitaroni and Logan Hawery before the four-minute mark had arrived.
Alex McLean made it 4-0 before the end of the first period and Troy Patton added a power-play goal early in the second to put the Colts up 5-0.
Defenceman Kent Greer had three assists in the game.
Goalie Jason Schaubel made 15 saves for the shutout and was named game MVP for his team. He has a 0.67 goals-against average and a .970 save percentage at the event.
“I think my job is pretty easy when you got the team in front of me that I do," Schaubel said on the OHL Cup website. "We got a lot of talented guys who make my job pretty easy to keep the puck out of the net.
“I think they always give us a good battle," he added. "It’s always a physical game when we play them. We’re just going to have to rest up and come prepared for a battle."
With the round-robin now in the books, the other quarterfinal match-ups today will be Toronto-North York at 10:30 a.m., Mississauga-Vaughan at 11:45 a.m., and Oshawa-Peterborough at 12:15 p.m.
Peterborough, Vaughan, North York and Barrie are all undefeated after the round-robin and clinched top spot in their division.
The semifinals will be played this evening at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., followed by the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mattamy Athletic Centre in downtown Toronto.
The 2024 OHL Cup got underway Monday in Toronto with three wild-card play-in games, along with 14 additional match-ups on the round-robin schedule. Teams were divided into four divisions of five teams each. Barrie's division included Mississauga, Elgin-Middlesex, NOHA and Ottawa Valley, whom they defeated by a combined score of 16-5.
The OHL Cup features the top U16 teams from around Ontario. The tournament is one last opportunity for scouts and fans to see many of the top U16 AAA players from across Ontario and parts of the United States compete in a best-on-best format prior to the 2024 OHL Priority Selection on April 12 and 13.
For more information on the tournament, including scores and a schedule, click here.
