Can Ottawa 67's rebound from 'sting' of Game 4 loss to extend OHL playoff with Barrie Colts?

Gabriel Eliasson (78) of the Barrie Colts and Teddy Spitznagel (24) of the Ottawa 67's battle for space in front of netminder Ben Hrebek in Game 4 of their Ontario Hockey League second-round playoff series. Photo by Tim Austen, Ottawa 67's /Handout

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On Friday at 10 a.m., the Ottawa 67’s embarked on a 457 km bus ride from TD Place to Sadlon Arena in Barrie, where they presumably would drop off their equipment before checking into a hotel.

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Hours before their departure, the most common three words spoken by those going on the trip to the “liked” ones they left behind were full of optimism.

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“See you Sunday.”

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For the 67’s to extend their season to a Game 6 in their best-of-seven, OHL second-round showdown with the Colts, they have to be considerably better than they were for all of about 14 minutes than they were in Game 4.

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They started decently and finished strongly in the defeat that leaves them trailing the series 3-1, but for much of the night, they were clearly the inferior team.

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“We know we can beat them,” said Nic Whitehead, a 5-foot-10, 167-pound winger who was tied for third in 67’s goal scoring during the season with 25, but has just one goal in eight playoff games. “They’re a really good team, but you know, we have a really good team, too.”

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For 68 regular-season games, the Ottawa 67’s proved themselves to be the third-best team in the Ontario Hockey League, one point ahead of the Colts.

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But they’ve mostly paled in comparison to their opponents in this series.

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What has been the difference?

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Excluding 67’s goalie Ryder Fetterolf, the Colts’ three NHL first-round draft picks have been the best players in the four games to date.

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Centre Cole Beaudoin (Utah Mammoth), a Kanata product who leads all OHL playoff scorers with 20 points in nine games, has one goal and eight assists in post-season play against his hometown team. He also has played the hard game that should translate into a solid pro career.

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Finnish winger Emil Hemming (Dallas Stars) has 15 playoff points, including three goals and three assists against Ottawa, and defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson (New York Islanders), who has 11 playoff points, has added a goal and five assists versus the 67’s while being a physical force.

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Meanwhile, the 67’s have been unable to duplicate the offence that produced the second-most goals in the OHL during the regular season.

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They have scored an average of just three goals per game — and that includes a five-goal outburst (which included three in the second period) in their lone win.

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On Thursday, they couldn’t stand their ground against a Barrie blueline group with an average height of 6-foot-2 and weight of 203 pounds to cause enough traffic in front of goalie Ben Hrebik.

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“They’ve got big players on their team … it’s hard to get inside,” said 67’s captain Cooper Foster, the team’s leading playoff scorer with 10 points in eight games. “It’s hard work. It’s hard to get in front of them, and in front of the goalie’s eyes.

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“We’ve just have to will our way through them. We just have to work our way into the front so the goalie can’t see some pucks. It’s tough, but we have the guys to do it. We’ve just got to bear down and work through.”