BRANTFORD, ONT – The Brantford Titans had another opportunity to put away the Ayr Centennials on Saturday afternoon as the series shifted back to the Gretzky Centre for game 6. The Titans came in off back to back 5-2 losses in games four and five after going up three games to none in the series. Nothing changed in net for either side as Elliot Hartwick got the call in goal for Ayr while the Titans countered with Carter Vicente.
It was a very tight opening period to begin the game. Each team would get an opportunity on the man advantage however, neither team could find the back of the net. Carter Vicente saw the majority of the shots in the first period as he turned aside all nine shots that Ayr fired his way, while Elliot Hartwick stopped the four shots, Brantford recorded. It would be a scoreless frame to begin game six heading into the first intermission.
In the second period, it would be the visitors controlling most of the play with the puck spending a ton of time in the Titans zone. They would continue to fire everything they could at Carter Vicente but the Titans goaltender would not bite. It would be a clean period of hockey in terms of penalties as the teams would play five on five for the entire middle frame. At the 15:10 mark, Mitchell Ferras would walk out from behind the net and fire a sharp angle shot past Vicente to open the scoring. It would be his second of the playoffs with Blair Krawchyk assisting on the goal. That is the only tally we would see through forty minutes meaning Ayr would take the 1-0 lead heading into the second intermission. Shots after two periods favoured Ayr 21-9.
The Titans would get an early power play in the third period as Jack Weiser is called for interference. Titans would work the puck around in the offensive zone however they could not beat Hartwick. Immediately following the kill for Ayr, Weiser would step out of the box and pot his fourth of the series to give his team a 2-0 lead. Ferras and Krawchyk would collect the assists. Titans would then get into some penalty trouble throughout the middle of the third as they would give Ayr seven minutes of power play time including a five minute major to Adam Stipan. He gets called for checking to the head and receives a game misconduct as well as the five minute major. Titans would kill it off and have just over two and half minutes to try and mount a comeback. With Vicente out of the net, the Titans would cut the lead in half as Kyle Henneberry would deflect Patrick Babin’s point shot past Hartwick. The lead for Ayr was 2-1 with 1:05 to go. Titans would get numerous looks on net but they could not get the equalizer as the Centennials would hang on for the victory, forcing a game 7 on Sunday. Final shots favoured Ayr 24-13.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hK0uVJLdBw
