67’s crushed 7-1 by the Colts

Andreas Athanasiou netted his 4th hat trick of the season to lead his Barrie Colts to a 7-1 drubbing of the Ottawa 67’s tonight.

Despite arriving back in Barrie late last night after a three-game roadtrip, the Colts still managed to open the scoring early in the first period.  Nick Pastorious tallied his 3rd goal of the season just 2:56 into the game.  Andreas Athanasiou scored the Colts’ lone powerplay goal to give them a 2-0 lead midway through the first.  The 67’s threw 14 shots at the net, but only Sam Studnicka was able to get one past Mackenzie Blackwood who was nearly perfect throughout the game.

“They're great team. I can't say enough about their speed and their skill over there. They have a lot of great players over there and they play well as a team. They move the puck well,” commented Erik Bradford on his former team. 

The Colts kept improving as the game went on while a rested Ottawa team appeared to have the bus legs instead.  After allowing 4 goals on 15 shots, Philippe Trudeau was pulled in favour of rookie netminder Liam Herbst.  Herbst made 22 saves with the Colts combining for another 3 goals including an odd one on a penalty shot.

The blade on Herbst’s right skate fell off and in attempts to get the officials attention Herbst intentionally dislodged the net during play resulting in a penalty shot for the Colts.  Trudeau finished the game in nets while Herbst’s equipment was being attended to.

One of the hottest players in OHL since the trade deadline with 38 points in 22 games, Erik Bradford was held off the scoresheet.

“I'd trade in all the points for the win right now. I came here to make the playoffs.  I didn't come here to worry about my individual stats,” said Bradford in a first intermission interview.

The 67’s still sit in 8th place 2 points back with a game-in-hand on the Mississauga Steelheads.  Unfortunately, they now sit tied in 8th place with the Niagara IceDogs beating the Sudbury Wolves 5-2 earlier tonight.

“It's team first and hopefully we can get a few wins down the stretch here and get into the playoffs. There's no secret, we're in a battle here and every game's huge for us.”

The 67’s will get another chance this weekend to gain some ground tomorrow afternoon against the Brampton Battalion.  With four teams fighting for the final two spots, its sure to be a dog fight until the end.

Game sheet here.