Brampton, ON 27 March 08 - The fifth and final game of the Brampton Battalion's Ontario Hockey League playoff series against the Barrie Colts went pretty much as three of the first four. The Troops carried the play, and Barrie won.

Goaltender Michael Hutchinson, stellar throughout the series, made 34 saves to backstop underdog Barrie to a 2-0 victory Thursday night, giving the Colts the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal four games to one.

Barrie, seeded seventh in the conference after a fourth-place finish in the Central Division, got third-period goals 47 seconds apart from Shawn Frank and Colt Kennedy in eliminating the Battalion from the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Barrie won a five-game conference semifinal in 2005-06 and swept a quarterfinal last year. The Battalion defeated the Colts in six games in the teams' other playoff meeting, a quarterfinal series in 2002-03.

Barrie now faces the Belleville Bulls in a conference semifinal. Belleville, the No. 1 seed, beat the Peterborough Petes in five games.

Hutchinson, who turned in a 62-save performance in a 2-1 overtime win in the fourth game, at Barrie on Tuesday night, ran a shutout streak to 136:50. Cody Hodgson scored the Battalion's last goal in the series at 3:00 of the first period of Game 4.

Goaltender Bryan Pitton made 29 saves for the Troops, seeded second in the conference after finishing first in the division, 26 points ahead of the Colts.

Battalion coach Stan Butler said Hutchinson, who turned 18 on March 2, was the difference.

"I thought our guys worked hard and competed, but when a goalie plays that well there isn't a lot of room for error. If there was a break to be had in this series, it wasn't coming our way."

Butler said he'd hoped the Troops would replicate their Game 4 effort.

"As coaches, our job was to try to get the guys back after that game. We tried to take positives out of that game and told the guys that if we put out an effort similar to the one in that game our chances to win would be good."

Said Butler: "I thought it was really important to score first and score in the first period. But you could see late in the second period we had a couple of power plays and we made decisions with the puck we haven't made all year. We were almost overpassing, looking for the perfect play. When Frank scored it rattled us.

"The disappointing thing is we had a good season and the kids worked extremely hard, but we just didn't get the job done."

Frank scored his second goal of the series at 5:37 of the final frame, beating Pitton on a shot to the glove side from the mid slot. Kennedy followed with his first OHL playoff goal, converting a pass from Mitch Lebar at the lip of the crease.

The Battalion outshot Barrie 16-8 in the first period. The Troops' best scoring chance came in the seventh minute, when Hutchinson denied John Hughes on the rebound of a Cory Emmerton shot. The Battalion applied sustained pressure in the 10th and 11th minutes but didn't put a shot on net.

The Colts held an 11-7 edge in second-period shots, with the Battalion producing the best scoring chance when Zack Shepley fired a left-point shot shot off the right post in the fourth minute.

Battalion scratches again were Ben Alavie, Matt Clark, Alexander Eriksson and Mike Lomas. Barrie was without Brett Halstead, Marcus Pepe, Adam Payerl and Cory McGillis.

BATTALION NOTEBOOK: Attendance was 2,480 … The Battalion was 0-for-5 on the power play. Barrie went 0-for-7. In the series, the Troops were 2-for-28, the Colts 1-for-27 … Barrie, which won both its home games in overtime, outscored the Troops 11-9 in the series … The Battalion outshot Barrie 230-161 in the set …The Battalion has an all-time playoff won-lost record of 25-39, including 13-19 at home … The Battalion is 6-14 all-time in the postseason against the Colts … The Battalion has won four of 12 playoff series in its 10-year history … The Troops were shut out in a playoff game for the first time since April 9, 2004, when the host Toronto St. Michael's Majors won 3-0 in the fifth and final game of a conference semifinal … Opening Battalion line combinations included Hodgson centring left winger Emmerton and right winger Jason Dale, Thomas Stajan working between left winger Graham McNabb and right winger Hughes and Matt Duchene centring left winger Luke Lynes and right winger Kyle DeCoste. Scott Tanski centred left winger Luke VanMoerkerke and right winger Kody Musselman … Hodgson led the team in goals and points with five. No other Battalion player scored more than one goal … Pitton made two saves on Daniel Michalsky on a breakaway in the 13th minute of the third period and got his right pad on an Alex Hutchings shot on a breakaway five minutes later … Alavie has a broken collarbone, while Eriksson underwent knee surgery in January. Lomas has a charley horse … Despite the Colts' continuing trademark clutch-and-grab tactics, they weren't assessed a penalty after a slashing call on George Lovatsis at 7:46 of the second period.