BARRIE – The Kitchener Rangers and Barrie Colts were knotted at two midway through the third period, a stalemate broken by Christian Humphreys who tipped-home a Carson Campbell point shot to put the Blueshirts in the lead for good en route to their fifth OHL championship in franchise history.
OHL Playoff MVP Sam O’Reilly would find the empty net to secure a 4-2 final in front of 4,367 at Sadlon Arena as the Rangers rule the OHL for the first time since 2008, finishing the postseason with a record of 16-2. The J. Ross Robertson Cup title comes 18 years to the day of their last triumph in 2008.
Luca Romano and Gabriel Chiarot put the Rangers in the lead 2-0 before Barrie battled back with a beautiful goal off the stick of Emil Hemming. Rookie forward Eamon Edgar’s first of the playoffs knotted the score before the Rangers pulled away in the third.
Members of the media voted O’Reilly as this year’s winner of the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award after he produced club-leading 28 points (17-11–28) over 18 contests. His presence down the middle was integral in helping Kitchener put together an 88.7% penalty kill in the postseason.
The Rangers outshot the Colts 34-20 as Barrie netminder Ben Hrebik stood tall with yet another 30+ save performance. He rounded-out the postseason with a league-leading 650 saves, maintaining a .922 save percentage accompanied by a 2.66 goals-against average for the Eastern Conference champions.
Kitchener teammates O’Reilly and blueliner Jared Woolley become the second and third players in OHL history (since 1980) to win three consecutive OHL championships, joining Scott Timmins who won in 2008 with Kitchener followed by back-to-back titles with the Windsor Spitfires in 2009 and 2010.
Rangers captain Cameron Reid was presented with the J. Ross Robertson Cup by OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford. Kitchener hoists the J. Ross Robertson Cup for the fifth time following previous titles in 2008, 2003, 1982 and 1981. Their path to supremacy included a four-game sweep of the Saginaw Spirit, five-game series wins over the Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires before a four-game championship sweep of the Barrie Colts.
The Barrie Colts finished the season as Central Division champions for a second straight year before claiming the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Brantford Bulldogs in seven games. They were missing key forwards in Cole Beaudoin and Joe Salandra to injury throughout the final series. Overage veterans Calvin Crombie, Brad Gardiner and Mason Zebeski played their final OHL contests while fourth-year veteran Kashawn Aitcheson, who has signed an NHL contract with the New York Islanders, likely played his final OHL game.
The Rangers will chase Canadian Hockey League glory at the 2026 Memorial Cup presented by Kubota Canada set to take place from May 22-31 in Kelowna, British Columbia. They hit the ice on Friday, May 22nd against the host Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League on TSN.
