BRANTFORD — While Whitby and Peterborough have been matched up in the East, the Brantford Junior ‘C’ Warriors have been paired with the Fergus Thistles after defeating the Barrie Bombers in four games.
Game one went to the Warriors 12-11, while game two went to the Bombers 8-11. Then game three and four went straight to the Warriors 11-10 and 13-11, earning them the chance to move forward as the Thistles beat out the Wilmot Wild with a hectic five game series.
But in their final game, the Warriors took off in the first period with four consecutive goals by Jayden Drage, Ryan Dorr, Max Lewis and Dalton Thomas. This brought about just one answer from the Bombers.
Moving onto the second period, Caleb Wells went for his first while Dalton Thomas went for his second before the Bombers gave an answer. Then Connor Merritt and Caleb Wells went for singles just before the Bombers answered three times in a row.
A hat-trick goal by Caleb Wells closed the period 9-5.
Opening the this period, the Bombers went for another three buries while Jayden Drage went for one in between. Both teams then picked up as the score grew closer with another goal for the Bombers.
To reign the score in, the Warriors went for three consecutive goals themselves with Jayden Drage, Max Lewis and Trevor McDonald making the effort. As they mustered their last efforts, the Bombers were able to put away twice more before the end, but didn’t make the cut.
The game closed 13-11 for the Warriors.
On Monday, July 22, Peterborough and Whitby began their series with an evening game that ended in the favour of Whitby 21-8.
While the Thistles gave up game one and two to the Wild, they came back on top for the three consecutive games thereafter, winning game five with a close 7-6.
As both series will end the East and West Conferences, it is hoped that the Warriors will move on to face the east in the OJCLL Final.
Their next home showing for game one of the series will be on Wednesday, July 24 at 8 p.m., within the Wayne Gretzky Centre.