BRANTFORD, ONT – The Brantford Titans hosted the Ayr Centennials for game 4 of their first round series on Sunday looking to advance to the second round of the Sutherland Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Titans were coming off a 3-2 overtime win on Thursday thanks to Kaleb Frank’s winning goal which gave them a 3-0 series lead. For this fourth game, the Titans were without their two leading scorers from the regular season, Ethan Szabo and Tyler Crisostomo who both left game 3 with injuries.
Titans would get into some early penalty trouble with Zachary Gratton and Seth Vreugdenhil both were given minor penalties 1:04 apart giving Ayr a 5 on 3 man advantage. Carter Vicente continued his stellar play in the net keeping Ayr off the scoresheet allowing his club to kill off both penalties. Ayr would continue to press and that would lead to them scoring the first goal for the fourth straight game. Tyler Graham scored his second of the series at 6:50 with Macerollo and McHattie assisting. The Titans would then get a their chance on the man advantage as Ayr would take back to back minors. Titans were unable to convert and Ayr remained out in front 1-0. With less than five minutes to go, Ayr would extend their lead as Austin Keleher buried his third of the series to make it 2-0. Krawchyk and Baker would pick up the helpers. Kaleb Frank would ignite the home crowd late in the first period as he ripped a shot top shelf past Hartwick to cut the lead in half. Stipan and Pancoe recorded the assists. Ayr would head into the intermission up 2-1, outshooting the Titans 18-2.
The Centennials would continue to apply all kinds of pressure in the middle frame, sending everything but the kitchen sink at Carter Vicente. 7:34 into the period, Jack Weiser would restore the two goal lead for Ayr. Darrian and Berehowsky assisted on Weiser’s second of the series. Joshua Currie would respond with his first of the playoffs as he received a perfect pass from Jack Pancoe with Currie driving the net. The score would be 3-2 Centennials midway through regulation. The lead would be extended back to two with Ethan Stover beating Vicente to send Ayr to locker room up 4-2. Shots after two periods favoured Ayr 32-10.
It would be more of the same in the third period as the Centennials would limit the Titans to just two shots in the period for the second time in the game. Austin Keleher would grab his second of the game 11:15 into the third which would essentially put the icing on the cake helping Ayr avoid elimination and force a game 5 back in Ayr. The Centennials would outshoot the Titans 46-12 in the hockey game. The Brantford Titans now lead this best of seven series three games to one.
Game 5 will take place on Thursday in Ayr with puck drop just after 7:00pm.
Game 4 highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxEaor-0reQ
