BRANTFORD, ONT. – The Brantford Titans closed out the home portion of the schedule in 2024 on Thursday as they welcomed Welland to town for the 3rd meeting of the season between the two clubs. This was the 1st annual teddy bear toss game for the Titans with all donations going to CHB. They are a local non profit helping fight children’s hunger in Brantford.
Tim Dolan got the call in goal for the Titans and he was busy in the 1st period stopping 14 of 15 shots. At the 11:10 mark of the 1st period, Ethan Szabo would send the fur flying as Kaleb Frank would send him in all alone where Szabo put a backhander upstairs past Ivan Kastelan to make it 1-0. The Jr. Canadians would answer late in the 1st as Ben Moccia would pot a loose puck home at the side of the net to tie the game at 1 after twenty minutes.
Welland would take an early penalty in the 2nd period and the Titans were able to convert as Kaleb Frank would send it across to Adam Stipan on the right side of the ice for his 6th goal of the season to restore the one goal lead. Dolan and Kastelan would then trade breakaway saves through the middle part of the period before Welland would once again tie the game. On the power play, Welland would hit 2 goal posts before Jackson Ryan would fire the puck top shelf with 1:05 to go in the 2nd.
Each team would trade chances throughout the third period however, there would be no goals scored as they would head to overtime tied at 2. Shots through 60 minutes favoured the Titans 36-29.
The fans at the Gretzky Centre were treated to some great 3 on 3 hockey to close out the final home game of 2024. Each team with multiple odd man chances however the goalies stood their ground until the 6:48 mark of OT where Jack Ryan would score his 2nd of the game and 23rd of the season to give Welland the 3-2 overtime victory.
Final shots would be 38-37 in favour of the Titans. Brantford will hit the road tomorrow before breaking for the holidays. Next home game for the Brantford Titans is on January 11th, 2024 against the Ayr Centennials.
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