BRANTFORD, ONT – The Titans returned home for the first game at the Gretzky Centre in 2025 against the 2nd place Ayr Centennials. It was the 2nd meeting of the season between Brantford and Ayr with the Centennials leading the season series 1-0.
Early in the first period, Tyler Oletic would get called for tripping giving Ayr their first power play of the game. Early in the man advantage, Ayr would turn the puck over at their own blue line as Ethan Szabo would intercept the pass and beat Ayr goaltender Xavier Bussiere to give Brantford a 1-0 lead 1:44 into the game. A few minutes later the Titans would get their own power play and they would take advantage. Kaleb Frank found a passing lane to the right side of the ice and Tyler Crisostomo fired it to the back of the net on the one-timer giving Brantford a 2-0 lead. The scoring did not stop there for the Titans in the first period as Tyler Crisostomo would get his 2nd of the game at 15:56 beating the goaltender Bussiere. Titans would lead 3-0 heading into the 1st intermission. Shots on goal through 20 minutes favoured Ayr 12 to 7.
In the 2nd, Ayr controlled most of the play as they outshot the Titans 14-3 in the middle frame. The Centennials would score the only goal of the 2nd period making it 3-1 after 2. Carter Vicente was putting on a show in front of the home crowd as he stopped 25 of 25 shots through 40 minutes.
To the 3rd, it would be a pretty uneventful period until mid-way through when Patrick Babin would send a point shot to the net on the power play off of a Centennial defender to make it 4-1. Less than 3 minutes later the Titans would get another power play opportunity and they would convert to make it 5-1 as Crisostomo would send the hats to the ice for his 26th goal of the season. Centennials would then make things interesting as they would pot 2 power play goals to make it 5-3 however, that as close as the would get as Vicente makes 35 saves for his 2nd victory in a Titans uniform.
The Titans improve to 11-18-4-0 and move 3 points ahead of Pelham and sit in 8th place in the Eastern Conference.
Finals shots would favour Ayr 38-16.
Photo credit: Ayr Centennials Hockey Club
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgK_gvHemhw