While the Kitchener Rangers celebrated their first OHL championship since 2008 on the Sadlon Arena ice, an emotional Carter Lowe stood outside the Barrie Colts office trying to fight back tears.
Just minutes after the Rangers had completed a series sweep of the best-of-seven final with a 4-2 win Tuesday night, the realization that the season was over was hitting the Barrie Colts veteran winger hard.
“I think the most upset I am at this moment is that I don’t get to come here and play with my friends anymore,” said Lowe. “I wouldn’t trade this year for anything.
“Everyone stepped up as much as they could, but things just didn’t go our way.”
Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz believed his team left it all out there on the ice in the series.
“These guys not only poured their hearts out tonight. They poured their hearts out every single day for me,” he said. “As a first-year coach, who was just trying to find my bearings this year, to be welcomed to the league, and to begin my coaching career with this group, I was so spoiled.
“I am so proud of this group. The disappointment I feel for losing is not even near the disappointment I feel that I won’t be able to come out and hang with these guys tomorrow. I wouldn’t trade this year for the entire world.”
Looking to capture only the second OHL title in franchise history, the Colts couldn’t overcome the loss of captain Cole Beaudoin and Joe Salandra to earlier season-ending injuries. Especially facing a deep Rangers team that lost just twice in 17 playoff games.
In Game 1 in Kitchener, Barrie held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, only to fall 5-2. In Game 2, they fell 4-3 in overtime and then were put on the brink with a 4-3 loss in double overtime in Barrie on Sunday.
A couple of fortunate bounces, and the series might still have been going on.
“That’s it. It’s the game of hockey,” said Colts co-captain Kashawn Aitcheson, who logged over 40 minutes of ice in almost every game. “We get those two bounces in OT, and we’re coming back here up, 2-1. You can say the ‘what ifs,’ or all the hypotheticals you want, but it is what it is at the end of the day.
“You know what? Every one of these guys should be so proud of themselves. From the top guys to our fourth liners, or the scratches, everyone was ready. We had our ‘next man up’ mentality. We had a lot of guys step up through the playoffs. Every single player, from top to bottom, stepped up and pulled their weight. We can only be proud of this group, and it’s going to be a team I remember forever.”
After the game, it was revealed that Beaudoin, who injured himself in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final against the Brantford Bulldogs, had suffered a 9 cm tear in his oblique.
“He can’t laugh. He can’t sneeze. He can’t turn a certain way,” said Smoskowitz of the Utah Mammoth prospect, who would have missed the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, B.C., had Barrie won the OHL championship. “It’s going to be a long recovery for him.”
Despite the early exit from the playoffs, Beaudoin would lead all playoff scorers with 29 points (10-19).
Salandra, who suffered a broken fibula in the opening game of the finals, returned from New Jersey after having an MRI. The good news is that it was a clean break, and no surgery will be required. His recovery time is expected to be six to eight weeks.
As it had been all series, the Colts once again were right there in Game 4, only to suffer late heartbreak.
In Games 2 and 3, the Rangers would pull out overtime wins. Last night, the Colts battled their way back from a 2-0 deficit, tying the game at 8:08 of their third when rookie Eamon Edgar fired one past Christian Kirsch in front.
The sellout crowd in Barrie would hardly have time to celebrate, though. A little more than two minutes later, Christian Humphreys would score the championship-clinching goal when he tipped Carson Campbell’s point shot past Ben Hrebik.
Sam O’Reilly, who would be awarded the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, fired his OHL-leading 17th post-season goal into an empty net with 16 seconds remaining to apply the dagger.
It came just seconds after Kashawn Aitcheson, who had sent the two previous games into overtime with goals in the dying seconds, nearly did it again.
Left all alone in front, the puck found the Colts’ captain, but this time it hopped over his stick.
“Every time it seemed we got one, they got another one to extend the lead. But that’s how hockey goes,” said Colts’ rookie blueliner Cole Emerton. “The bounces don’t go your way, but we’ll be back next year. Better and stronger, and more motivated.”
That was Barrie’s forte all season long, said Smoskowitz.
“We would never go down, or if we did, we would get one back right away, and they kind of turned the tables on us this series,” he said. “Especially at home. You get the crowd going, and it’s tied up, and all of a sudden, the wind gets taken out of your sails.
“They (Kitchener) defend so well, and for our team, we had to find different ways to manufacture offence in this series. Then you finally get one, and they give you that gut punch by getting one back. It’s mentally tough to come back from, but our guys never quit. I can’t say our guys ever stopped or slowed down.”
Giving up shorthanded goals also didn’t help. Barrie gave up two in the series. In Game 2, Campbell scored one that tied the game early in the third.
Then last night, with Kitchener already up 1-0 on a Luca Romano goal in the opening period, Gabriel Chiarot walked in alone and beat Hrebik to double the lead.
“They were big, and you have to give credit to them,” said Smoskowitz of Kitchener. “They pressure, and they are ready to jump on short-handed opportunities. They did the same thing to Windsor. It was a concern of ours coming into the series, but when you’re good, you’re good, and those guys knew what they were doing.
“They executed their game plan, and you have to tip your hat to the Kitchener Rangers. Their penalty kill, their tenacity. That’s a good team over there. I think they’ll do damage at the Memorial Cup.”
Emil Hemming would get the Colts going late in the second. Trying desperately to get his team back in the game, the Dallas Stars first-round prospect danced around three defenders before walking in and beating Kirsch to cut the lead to 2-1.
“He would have gone through a wall tonight to give his team a chance to win tonight,” said Smoskowitz. “Jaiden Newton would have done the same. Eamon Edgar would have done the same.”
Still, it wasn’t enough.
“Any of those games could have been ours,” said Crombie. “Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way. You can just try to fight through it, and I thought we did a great job of fighting through it.”
All season long, the Colts had found a way. Brantford had them down 3-1, and they fought back to win the series in seven games.
Even without two of their top six forwards. Even with only one day off between the conference finals and league finals, the Colts believed they were right there despite the sweep.
“We’re talking double overtime and overtime. Even tonight, it was a one-goal game, and it was right there,” said Lowe. “Sometimes, it just doesn’t go the way it should, or the way we want.”
Kitchener opens the Memorial Cup tournament on Friday, May 22 against the host Kelowna Rockets. Game time is 6 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Former Colts in attendance included Beau Jelsma and Ethan Cardwell. . . Kitchener outshot Barrie 34-20. . . The Colts were 1-for-2 with the man advantage, while the Rangers were 0-for-2. . . Aitcheson led all OHL blueliners in scoring with eight goals and 27 points.
