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    Rowan McCarthy
    Rowan McCarthy
    Apr 16, 2025, 23:37
    In seven playoff games, Ben Pickell has scored four goals and added an assist for five points [Robert Lefebvre/OHL Images].

    Facing the dire prospect of going down 0-3 in the second round of the OHL PLayoffs, the Kingston Frontenacs found a way to win last night. They defeated the Barrie Colts 5-3 on home ice.

    "Down 2-0 at home, you need to win," said Head Coach Troy Mann. "It's not that you can't come back; there are multiple stories of teams coming back, but ideally, you win this game."

    Cedrik Guindon started the game quickly, scoring his team-leading eighth goal of the postseason a minute and a half into the game, bringing the anxious Frontenacs faithful roaring to their feet. 

    The Frontenacs have thrived early in all three games of this series, scoring the opening goal 100 percent of the time. Their follow-up up however, has not been what they would like. Elation turned to dread for Kingston fans as Owen Van Steensel scored a pair of goals before the end of the first to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. 

    From the moment they scored the goal, the Frontenacs seemed as though they were fighting an uphill battle. Their passes weren't connecting and Barrie's forcheck was giving them fits. 

    The brick wall posing as Ben Hrebik seemed unbeatable after the first goal. He was consistently a step ahead of Kingston, who ended up forcing him to make a few spectacular saves. 

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    "We talked about getting more net presence, and I thought we did that well tonight," said Mann. "Our D did a nice job getting pucks through and creating some rebounds and havoc."

    Guindon banged a puck past Hrebik on the Fronts' sixth power play of the evening to even the game at two going into the third. The greasy goal came after a point shot by  Emil Pieniniemi hit Gage Heyes in front and bounced onto Guindon's stick. 

    Barrie was much more efficient in the offensive zone through 40 minutes of play, scoring two goals in 14 shots while Kingston's pair of scores came in double that many shots on goal. 

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    Kingston fans are all too familiar with this outcome, seeing as the Frontenacs outshot the Colts by at least nine in games one and two. 

    "We are a team that usually outchances and outpossesses other teams, which I think was evident again tonight," said Mann. "We just have to stick with it. I thought Schenkel was fantastic tonight."

    The game changed completely in the third period. A mad scramble around the net initiated by Cal Uens ended with the puck bouncing to Pieniniemi who fired it past a sprawling Hrebik to give Kingston a 3-2 lead. 

    The previously fragile-looking Frontenacs picked up speed, creating chance after chance. Vegas Golden Knights prospect  Tuomas Uronen created a pair of breakaways on a single shift, only to be shut down by Hrebik on both opportunities. 

    The Fronts were not to be denied, and halfway through the period, Ben Pickell fed Gage Heyes on a 2-on-1 rush to score Kingston's fourth goal of the game. Both players leaped into the glass before staring up at the fans like a pair of conductors, leading them into a state of elation. 

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    Pickell scored an empty-netter late in the third to end the game with two points. He's a heart and soul guy that fans have latched onto. There were even a few people in pickle costumes standing in the audience.

    "I think I play a game that the fans enjoy," said Pickell. "It's absolutely incredible what the fans are bringing right now. The city is electric."

    The universal message coming from the Kingston locker room after the game was that it was time to reset and get ready for game four. The team is acutely aware that the job is far from finished. 

    "In my experience, there's no momentum from game to game," said Mann. "There's momentum within the game itself, but each game has its own identity ... We won tonight, that's great, now you take a deep breath and go back at it Thursday."