BRANTFORD, ONT – For the first time in franchise history, the Brantford Titans have moved on to the second round of the Sutherland Cup playoffs after a game 7 win over the Ayr Centennials. Their next opponent will be the number one seeded St. Catharines Falcons.
St. Catharines won their first round series over the Hamilton Kilty B’s four games to one in their first round matchup. They outscored the Kilty B’s 24-9 through five games and have not played since March 21st when they eliminated Hamilton after a 5-1 win in game 5. As for the Titans, they would take a commanding 3-0 series lead after taking game 3 in overtime before the Centennials would come storming back to force a game 7 in their home barn. Tyler Crisostomo would score the eventual game winner, 7:06 into the 3rd period with Patrick Babin adding some insurance with less than a minute to go, firing the puck into the empty net, securing a 4-3 series win for the Titans.
Patrick Babin led the Titans in scoring in round 1 as he scored 2 goals and added 7 assists for a total of 9 points. Ethan Szabo and Kaleb Frank each scored 4 goals of their own against Ayr with Tyler Crisostomo and Kyle Henneberry each finding the back of the net twice. Carter Vicente was a brick wall in the Titans net against Ayr. He had a goals against average of 2.74 and a save percentage of .921 during the seven games against Ayr. He would record all 4 victories including a 29 save shutout in game 7.
Cameron Lowe led the Falcons in scoring during their five game series. He scored 1 goal and recorded 9 assists for a total of 10 points in 5 games against Hamilton. Brendan Grenville, Nathan Duplessis and Trent Gates each scored a trio of goals in the first round as the Falcons saw 12 different skaters find that back of the net in the opening round.
The schedule for this second round series is as follows:
Game 1: April 4th in St.Catharines (7pm)
Game 2: April 6th in Brantford (7:30pm)
Game 3: April 7th in St.Catharines (7pm)
Game 4: April 10th in Brantford (7pm)
*Game 5: April 11th in St.Catharines (7pm)
*Game 6: April 13th in Brantford (2:30pm)
*Game 7: April 15th in St.Catharines (7pm)
*If necessary
