Music: {allcanada} Colts, 67's wipe slate clean ahead of series

Dale Hawerchuk and Chris Byrne could agree on one thing: the slate is wiped clean when their two teams meet in Game 1 of their series on Friday Night Hockey.

Hawerchuk's Barrie Colts won three of the four regular season meetings against Byrne's Ottawa 67's this season. Two were decided in extra time with the largest margin of victory being Ottawa's lone win, a 6-4 decision on Dec. 17.

"They were all tight games," Byrne said. "(But) it was a while ago. I'm more concentrated on what they did in their series (against Mississauga) and where they're at right now."

"It's like a new year," Hawerchuk added. "You always look to see what teams are doing recently and same thing if you're playing a team in January -- you're not really scouting their September games. You definitely want to see what they're up to lately."

The 67's finished second in the Eastern Conference standings this season, but survived a scare from the No. 7 Belleville Bulls in the opening round. Ottawa took the first two games at home before the series wound up tied at two. The 67's prevailed in six games.

Byrne gave his team a day of rest on Tuesday after finishing off the Bulls on Monday. The rest should help a banged-up group of defenceman, with the overage Daniel Broussard potentially ready to return from injury. Marc Zanetti will return after serving his five-game suspension.

"He's going to take some minutes away from other guys and spread the minutes out a little bit and help on our power play and penalty kill," Byrne said of Zanetti.

The Colts advanced to the second round with a thrilling overtime victory over the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in Game 6 on Monday. Hawerchuk's players shouldn't lack in motivation.

"If you can't get recharged and reenergized now, you're in the wrong business," he said.

Which goaltender will step up?

Both teams are blessed with exceptionally talented European import goaltenders. The 67's rode the hot play of Czech sensation Petr Mrazek, whose play in Games 5 and 6 against the Bulls was one of the differences in their first series.

"(Mrazek provides) confidence in our players, knowing that they can make plays and if something happens or if we do give up a chance that he's going to make a big stop for us," Byrne said.

Barrie counters with rookie Mathias Niederberger. The 19-year-old German goaltender stepped up his play in the playoffs and is among the league leaders in playoff goals-against average (1.93) and save percentage (.938).

"He's been playing great," Hawerchuk said. "We've got a lot of confidence in him."

Which offensive star will have the biggest impact?

Similar to their goaltending is each team's healthy stable of offensive performers. The 67's are led by forwards Tyler Toffoli, Shane Prince and Sean Monahan with contributions also coming from defenceman Cody Ceci.

The quartet was Ottawa's top four point producers, with the trio of forwards contributing 14 of their team's 20 goals in the series against Belleville.

"Belleville played us very tight," Byrne said. "It wasn't easy for us to score in that series and I think anything we got, we had to work for. I thought our top scorers really came to the forefront and did a great job of finding ways to score."

The Colts are still missing Tanner Pearson, who broke his right fibula in the regular season finale against Brampton. Russian forward Ivan Telegin has been one of Barrie's top players since representing Russia at the most recent World Junior Hockey Championship. He led the Colts in scoring with four goals and two assists while Winnipeg Jets first-rounder Mark Scheifele had five points.

"(Telegin's) had a good second half," Hawerchuk said. "He's a big guy and he skates well. He's a big part of our team. Speed kind of rules this business and he definitely has that intangible in his game."

Which style will win out?

Three of their four regular season meetings were decided by games with nine or more goals scored with the other being a more defensive, 2-1 battle. Each team has the personnel in place for high-scoring games, just as it does for a more tightly-contested defensive battle.

With star quality players in offensive roles alongside two hot goaltenders, the makeup of this game and series could change quickly.

"You never know," Hawerchuk said. "All the games seem to take their own shape and form once they get going and that's why people come and watch. I think you have to teams that obviously have some offence, but you have two teams that understand you have to play well at both ends of the rink."

The Colts looked for weaknesses in Mrazek's game and found it difficult finding a flaw in the flashy goaltender.

"At the end of the day, traffic's always good, lots of shots," Hawerchuk said. "That's always a challenge whenever you're playing any team. You get through all their lines of defence and you still have to get through the last line, which is the goalie."

"Telegin and Scheifele are high-end players and we have to be aware of them on the ice," Byrne concluded. "Come playoff time, different players can be dangerous and different players get going. We have to be aware of all their players."

Asked if his team can contain Telegin's speed, which has been difficult at the best of times for any team, Byrne said simply: "I sure hope so."