THE CANADIAN PRESS
Dominant in the Ontario Hockey League’s regular season, the Barrie Colts are proving just as tough to beat in the playoffs.
Luke Pither had three assists to help Barrie complete a four-game sweep of the Sudbury Wolves with a 6-3 win Wednesday in OHL playoff action.
The Colts, who finished first in the OHL regular-season standings with 116 points, are the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs. They lost only 11 times over the 68-game schedule — nine times in regulation and twice in shootouts.
Their Eastern Conference semifinal opponent is yet to be determined, but will likely be the winner of the series between No. 4 Kingston and No. 5 Brampton. Both second-ranked Ottawa and third-ranked Mississauga have 3-0 series leads in their respective Eastern Conference quarter-finals.
In other OHL playoff action, Kitchener beat Saginaw 4-1 and Plymouth defeated Sault Ste. Marie 5-3.
At Sudbury, Ont., Stephen Gaskin, Alex Pietrangelo, Alexander Burmistrov, Darren Archibald, Matt Kennedy and Bryan Cameron scored for Barrie, while Peter Di Salvo made 15 saves.
Josh McFadden, Kristoff Kontos and Jake Cardwell replied for the Wolves, while Andrew Loverock stopped 25 shots.
Rangers 4 Spirit 1
At Saginaw, Mich., Dan Kelly scored a goal and added two assists and Brandon Maxwell made 39 saves as Kitchener took a 3-1 lead over the Spirit in the Western Conference quarter-final.
Chris MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and Michael Catenacci and Jeremy Morin rounded out the scoring for the Rangers.
Vincent Trocheck had the lone goal for Saginaw.
Game 5 is Friday in Kitchener.
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Whalers 5 Greyhounds 3
At Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Tyler Seguin had two goals and two assists and Plymouth pushed the Greyhounds to the brink of elimination from the OHL playoffs.
The Whalers won their third straight game and now lead the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final 3-1.
Ryan Hayes had a goal and two assists and Phil McRae and Joe Gaynor also scored for Plymouth.
Vern Cooper, Myles McCauley and Tomas Rachunek replied for the Greyhounds.
Game 5 is Friday in Plymouth, Mich.
