BRANTFORD, ONT. – The third meeting of the season between the Brantford Titans and Pelham Panthers took place Thursday night at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre with the Titans coming off a 1 and 1 weekend in Caledonia at the GOJHL Showcase.
Ben Rossi made his 2nd straight start between the pipes for the Titans looking to rebound after a 5-1 loss to Sarnia. The Panthers are the 2nd most penalized team in the GOJHL and it showed in the first period as they took 4 minor penalties however, the Titans could not capitalize. The Panthers potted a pair as Evan Norris scored 5 on 5 and on the power play for his 3rd and 4th of the season to give Pelham a 2-0 lead after 1.
In the second, the Titans would begin the period on a 5 on 3 power play where they would strike for 2 goals in 1:06 to tie the game at 2. Adam Stipan scored his 5th of the season from Kaleb Frank and Patrick Babin and then Tyler Crisostomo potted his 21st of the season from Ethan Szabo and Kaleb Frank. The parade to the penalty box would continue in the 2nd period as the teams combined for 5 minor penalties in the middle frame. Pelham would retake the lead as Mason Goodfellow would follow up on the initial shot by Nathan Pratt-Vallier and beat Ben Rossi to make it 3-2. Harrison McCallum would then answer at the 15:32 mark of the period as he and Adam Stipan would streak into the zone on a 2 on 1. Stipan with a tape to tape pass to McCallum and he would send it to the back of the net to make it 3-3.
Head to the 3rd and it would take only 1:39 for Pelham to retake the lead. Caleb Macleish would score a wrap-around goal short handed to give Pelham a 4-3 advantage. That goal would end up being the game winner as Pelham would score a couple more off the sticks of Nicholas Gilby and Owen Hunks (EN) to defeat the Titans 6-3. Final shots on goal would favour Brantford 35-29. Logan Snyder picked up the victory with a 32 save performance while Ben Rossi would suffer the loss making 23 saves.
The Brantford Titans are back on the ice Saturday in Cambridge to play the Redhawks before returning home one final time in 2024 with the Welland Jr. Canadians coming to the Gretzky Centre on December 19th.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTxzpCNq9fo
