For the Ottawa 67’s, Game 3 on Tuesday night was a make-or-break affair. After dropping two undisciplined losses away from home, the 67’s returned home to TD Place for the first time since their Game 2 victory against the Frontenacs in Round 1 of the OHL Playoffs.
After a sloppy first period, the 67’s found a way, taking a decisive 5-2 victory.
Early on, it looked like the Barrie Colts had once again solved Ottawa. Barrie began the first by executing a suffocating defensive 2-2-1 trap, and pelted the 67’s with fourteen shots to just three from Ottawa, before Calvin Crombie wired a shot top-shelf on a breakaway to give the Colts the 1-0 lead midway through the first period.
“The first period again, we came out a bit shaky. We weren’t making plays, we looked like we were planning (playing to) not make mistakes,” said 67’s assistant coach Norm Milley postgame.
“They established their forecheck, and we had trouble catching up.”
The first period ended with Barrie up 1-0 and leading in shots 18-7. Despite giving up a goal, Ottawa goalie Ryder Fetterolf looked strong with his 17-save period.
Fetterolf came up big several times in the second frame. “He gave us a chance to have the second period we did. Without him in that first period, maybe we’re down three goals,” Milley said.
Fetterolf’s performance helped the 67’s flip the script in the second, launching a fiery offensive performance on Barrie.
Midway through the second period, William Schneid took a slashing penalty to put the Colts shorthanded. During the kill, Kashawn Aitchison, New York’s 17th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, was called for interference, giving Ottawa a two-man advantage.
Frankie Marrelli and Nic Whitehead played catch-up top before Whitehead returned it to Marrelli in the right circle, where he one-timed it into an open net. The passing sequence froze Barrie’s goalie Ben Hrebik and left the right side exposed, as Marrelli’s second of the playoffs tied the game 1-1.
Marrelli wasn’t done there. With just under four minutes to go in the period, he passed the puck from just outside the top of the right circle to Thomas Vandenberg, who was wide open at the bottom of the left circle, scoring a snap-shot short side to put Ottawa up 2-1.
Late in the second period, the Colts fell into penalty trouble again, and the 67’s capitalized.
Cooper Foster scored from the top of the left circle on a delayed pass from the right faceoff circle from Jasper Kuhta, extending Ottawa’s lead 3-1.
The second period ended with the 67’s outshooting Barrie 18-8.
“At some point in that second period, we started to shift, we started to get some poise, make some plays, feed off each other, and then the energy built,” Milley said.
Four minutes into the third, Flip Ekberg cleared the puck up the middle of the ice under pressure, finding Spencer Bowes to send him on a short breakaway. Hrebik made a pad stop on the initial shot from Bowes, but he buried his own rebound to pull Ottawa ahead 4-1.
Just over two minutes later, the Colts responded. Ben Wilmott fired a shot from the top of the left circle as Barrie entered the zone and scored to cut the 67’s lead to two with plenty of time left in the third period.
The Colts pressed on as Fetterolf stood tall.
“You need goaltending, and the teams that go far in the playoffs — it’s the goaltending that makes the difference,” Milley said.
The Colts pulled their goalie with 3:03 remaining, but just 29 seconds later, the 67’s took their first penalty of the game, a costly bench minor for too many men.
Barrie pushed with a six-on-four advantage but couldn’t capitalize. Kaleb Dietsch cleared the puck in the final minute, and Nic Sima chased it down for an empty-net chance before former 67’s player Brad Gardiner knocked it into his own net, sealing a 5-2 Ottawa win in Game 3.
The series continues with a pivotal Game 4 at TD Place on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Featured image by Simon McKeown
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