Anthony Camara

The play might have started with a bad bounce, but for the Barrie Colts, it ended in the game-winning overtime goal that pushed them through to the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

"It was just a bad bounce on the boards at the blueline," said Colts forward Anthony Camara who scored the winner with 27.2 seconds left in the first overtime period. "(Steven) Beyers picked up the puck and I was thinking about going behind him, but then I just said, 'Go to the net hard.'  I went (skating) head down with my stick on the ice and it hit my stick and went in."

The thrilling 3-2 victory gave the Colts a 4-2 series win in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

"It was exciting; it was great," said winning netminder Mathias Niederberger, who finished with 44 saves. "It turned out positive for us which makes it even better."

Catherine Ward (left) and Sarah Vaillancourt celebrate Canada's late tying goal (Chris Roussakis for Yahoo! Canada)

The women in black found a way without Wick.

Maybe the Livestrong uniforms were that jarring, but Team Canada looked out of sorts for a good two-thirds of the game that served as the real start of the road to Sochi 2014. Thirty-four-year-old captain Hayley Wickenheiser, who injured her knee early last month, left in the second period and Canada was chugging behind Team USA. The youthful Yanks, with only a half-dozen players who will be 26 years old — the average age of Canada's current lineup — by the time the puck drops at the Olympics next February, seemed to be in a higher gear.

Yet Team Canada crashed the net to fish out two greasy goals against U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter in the final 10 minutes, leading to Jennifer Wakefield burying the shootout clincher for a 3-2 victory in the two powerhouses’ opener at the IIHF women's world championship. It was a faith-restoring finish; seeing a father telling his young daughter, "see, that's why you never give up" as they headed for the exit confirmed how the effort went over with 9,052 flag-waving fans at Scotiabank Place.

That erased any impressions fostered by the opening 20 minutes, when Canada was a step slow and had only five shots while the U.S. scored two slick goals, one by Monique Lamoureux and the other by Brianna Decker off a deft defence-splitting pass from phenom Amanda Kessel. For a long while, Canada's situation was as scary as, well, The Woman In Black ("we were really on our heels," said defender Catherine Ward, who tied the game off a scramble with 1:47 left).

"The number of shots we had early in the game was unacceptable," said left wing Caroline Ouellette, the no-nonsense veteran. "But as the game went on, we became more connected as a unit of five players. Our passing wasn't up to the level it needed to be in order to beat the Americans, but it came together.

Saskatoon Blades centre Lukas Sutter (The Canadian Press)A year away from hosting the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup, the Saskatoon Blades went into the post-season hoping to send a message.

However, the message they sent wasn't the one intended. They were swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers. A couple games were close, but for the most part they didn't resemble a squad which is a year away from competing with the Canadian Hockey League's best.

Hearing the Blades underachieved in the playoffs is becoming more repetitive than a telemarketing call. They have made the post-season six of the past eight years and finished first in their division twice, including first in the entire league with 115 points last year. Yet they haven't made it passed the second-round once during that time.

These playoff woes go a lot farther back than the past eight years. The Blades have never won the Memorial Cup even though they're one of the original franchises in the Western Hockey League.

Saskatoon's hockey struggles are starting to take its toll on their fans. The volume of critical comments on columns on the Blades in the hometown StarPhoenix has increased of late.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Steve Ewen traces the Vancouver Giants' long slide down back to an 11-goal drubbing they took on Jan. 13. Brendan Gallagher and friends were bounced in Game 6 last night by Spokane, leaving Kamloops to wave the B.C. Division flag. (Vancouver Province)

The Brandon-Edmonton series offers a Team Canada reunion. The Oil Kings' Mark Pysyk will be trying to stop the Wheat Kings' Mark Stone. (Edmonton Journal)

Goalie Eric Williams was one of the three stars in all four of Spokane's wins over Vancouver. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)

The Tri-City Americans have lost forward Marcus Messier to a concussion. (Tri-City Herald)

Whatever, you say, Ty Rattie. The Portland Winterhawks star says he was just "lucky" to get 10 goals in the first round. (Portland Tribune)

The departing Calgary Hitmen veterans were uncomfortably numb after their playoff exit, writes Kristen Odland. (Calgary Herald)

New Jersey Devils goaltending prospect Scott Wedgewood had 35 saves on Sunday (OHL Images)

No. 1 star: Scott Wedgewood, Plymouth Whalers (OHL)

Wedgewood and Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Garret Sparks played a nice game of who-blinks-first for nearly 66 minutes on Sunday before Plymouth prevailed 2-1 in overtime to win the series in six games. Wedgewood was excellent with 35 saves, just as he was throughout the series. That goes for the first two games when Plymouth hardly looked like a contender for the J. Ross Robertson Cup.

The Storm, whose valiant effort more than warranted a slow clap, had at least a half-dozen chances to break through for a second goal. Wedgewood, who was recently signed by the New Jersey Devils, simply would not let it happen, particularly when he shot out his left pad in the third to deny Guelph's Cody McNaughton from point-blank range.

New York Rangers first-rounder J.T. Miller scored Plymouth's series-winning OT goal (OHL Images)Canadian world junior goaltenders Mark Visentin and Scott Wedgewood pulled out all the stops to close out their teams first-round series on Sunday night. That leaves the Belleville-Ottawa and Mississauga-Barrie saw-offs as the only issues to being settled in an opening round that's been more tense than those to the east and west, where sweeps have been the rule more than the exception.

On with the post-game questions:

Plymouth 2 Guelph 1 (overtime; Whalers win Western Conference series 4-2) — Kitchener-Plymouth again? Between the big names, the fresh memory of going seven games last spring and the friction between Plymouth coach-GM Mike Vellucci and Rangers skipper Steve Spott, who used to work with the Whalers, the matchup should sell itself in both cities.

The top three scorers from the first round, the Whalers' Stefan Noesen and Rangers' Michael Catenacci and Tobias Rieder, are all involved. Each team has a key player — Whalers centre Alex Aleardi and Rangers defenceman Max Iafrate — who used to play for his opponent. Throw in the matchup of world junior netminders with Wedgewood and Anaheim Ducks second-rounder John Gibson in Kitchener's net and there shouldn't be many dull moments.

Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Dalton Smith (OHL Images)When Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Dalton Smith got a checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct on Friday after levelling Daniil Zharkov in a Belleville-Ottawa playoff game, many presumed a suspension would soon follow. No matter that it was inconclusive at best whether the Ottawa 67's forward made contact with Zharkov's head, let alone targeted the Belleville Bulls right wing's noggin.

Say whatever one wants about the Ontario Hockey League's disciplinary actions and whether double-digit-game suspensions are a true deterrent, but not suspending Smith shows it has not become totally inflexible. In a season chock full of lengthy bans for headshots, the league has exonerated Smith, a repeat offender.

That doesn't mean it's sitting well, especially in Belleville where there was confusion recently when Bulls forward Alex Carnevale for got an eight-game ban for an open-ice check where it appeared he did not nail London's Bo Horvat in the head.

From veteran Bulls beat writer Paul Svoboda:

Replays clearly show Smith raising his arms to make contact with Zharkov's head. Referees were in the correct position to make the call — five for check-to-the-head and game misconduct.

They got it right.

Now, here's where it gets muddy. Smith is a two-time repeat offender, with a pair of prior OHL suspensions under his heavyweight belt, including 10 games in September for a blatant elbow to the head of Belleville goalie, Malcolm Subban.

Plus, the OHL, whether you like it or not, has made it abundantly clear it wants to eradicate its game of any kind of contact to the head or borderline legal hits to players in a vulnerable position.

So Smith gets squat for this?

Unbelievable. (Belleville Intelligencer)

Did Smith "rais(e) his arms to make contact with Zharkov's head," though? The Sportsnet replay, collected by the indispensable Kats Jean, shows that Zharkov's upper torso was the principal point of contact as Smith thrust his forearms into the Belleville forward.

Top prospect Nail YakupovThe playoffs will go on without Alex Galchenyuk and Nail Yakupov, whose team was bounced in six games by the Saginaw Spirit. Meantime, home teams won all three Game 5s on a busy Saturday. On with the post-game questions.

Saginaw 3 Sarnia 1 (Spirit win Western Conference series 4-2) — How long does the disappointment linger in Sarnia? It will come down to whether Galchenyuk andor Yakupov move up too the NHL to say and how the younger players coach-GM Jacques Beaulieu sacrificed pan out with other teams. The Sting selling the farm and getting a total of three home playoff dates is nowhere near as adject as the Sault St.e Marie Greyhounds missing the playoffs after being eight-piece trade for goalie Jack Campbell. The Sting battled injuries all season, plus loading up on older players made sense for a team which could not count on the dynamic duo returning once they are selected. Plus, as you know, Galchenyuk and Yakupov were in the lineup together only six times all season — the six playoff games.

In the final analysis, what element did the Sting lack besides having their two stars healthy? For all the wheeling and dealing Beaulieu made, the Sting's defence corps probably was sufficiently physical with Saginaw, whose M.O. is personified by good-sized skilled forwards such as Brandon Saad (series-high 12 points) and Josh Shalla (second with eight). Phoenix Coyotes first-round choice Connor Murphy has a bright future, but as independent scout Ryan Yessie pointed out, he's more about positional play than pushing around foes.