Tylor Spink celebrates after putting the puck past Travis Wilkins during a 7-1 Colts victory over the Stallions Sunday in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

PHOTO CREDIT - Robert Lefebvre/www.icelevel.com

Cornwall - Mar. 13, 2011 - The Colts thumped the Kanata Stallions 7-1 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their opening round playoff series.

For the Stallions, the loss was also felt in the crease as starting goalie and Game 2 hero Scott Shackell left the ice less than one minute into Game 3 at the Cornwall Civic Complex.

Colts player Mark Borkowski ran into Shackell on a play for the puck, and the goalie laid still on the ice for several minutes before a pair of teammates helped him off the ice. Borkowski was given a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.

Seconds before that, Jacob Laliberte scored his first of three goals on the night to give the Colts an early 1-0 lead.

By the middle of the second period, the Colts had extended their lead to 5-1, and by that point the game had already turned into one of the wildest junior hockey games in Cornwall in recent memory.

At times, the game seemed more like a circus show than a playoff contest thanks to a heavy dose of stickwork, near fights and post-whistle skirmishes. In all, 31 offences and 110 minutes of penalties were handed out by the referees during the game.

Emotions boiled over in the third period for both teams, and it lead to some players being ejected. Stallions centre Ryan Bradley gave the Colts fans in attendance a one-finger salute as he headed off the ice after being tossed from the game.

Meanwhile, Stallions backup goalie Travis Wilkins lost his cool and smashed his stick on the net after the Colts went up 7-1 in the third period. That gave the hecklers plenty of ammunition, and Wilkins later played along by throwing his hands in the air to salture the crowd as they jeered him for making some easy saves in the final minutes of the game.

Colts defenceman Matthew Zanardo was also tossed from the game in the final minutes when he went after Stallions forward Brandon Bussey.

Tyson and Tylor Spink, Billy Ulrick and Sean Blunden also scored for the Colts to go along with Laliberte's hat trick, while Spenser Cobbold had the lone marker for Kanata.

The two teams will have a day to cool off before the series resumes with Game 4 on Tuesday night in Kanata (7:30 p.m.). Game 5 will go Thursday night in Cornwall.