Titans searching for spark after tough start to playoffs

George Le Gresley

Sports Correspondent

It’s playoff time in the PJHL, and the Titans drew the Tavistock for the first round of the best-of-seven series. During the regular season, the Titans had beaten the Braves only once in their four regular-season games.  Last Friday, the Titans began their series at Tavistock in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Frankly, the team looked unsure in this environment, not finishing their passes and not in synch with each other. 

The Titans opened their series in Tavistock and the Braves opened the scoring early at the 3:30 mark to lead 1-0. A minute later, the Titans had a power play opportunity but couldn’t take advantage of the man advantage. In the last six minutes of the period, the Titans took two penalties that the Braves couldn’t capitalize on, leaving Tavistock with a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. In just over a minute in the second period, a Titan found his way to the penalty box; in fact, in total, the Titans gave the Braves a total of six power plays! Amazingly, the Titans had two power plays negated by taking a penalty on the same play, which, after the play was called, put a Tavistock and Paris player in the penalty box at the same time! In the end, the Braves scored four goals to shut out the Titans. Again, the Paris goaltender, Colton Thomson, was the best player on the ice, making 40 saves, many of them against Braves players attacking the net alone.

Saturday evening, the series moved to the Brant Sports Complex for game 2 of the best-of-seven series. Tavistock outshot the Titans 14-7 and at the end of the first had a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Tavistock scored a power play goal 15 seconds after the opening puck drop. From that point on, the Titans took a measly 4 shots on goal, as opposed to the Tavistock’s 18, and gave the Braves four power plays, one of them a double minor for “Roughing,” giving the Braves a five-on-three advantage for two minutes. The Braves scored five more goals. The Kersey brothers got the Titans on the board with Cole and Jack assisting on Blake’s goal. Jack Kersey, whilst on the ice to kill a penalty, stole the puck off a Braves player and scored a nice goal short-handed. At the end of the second period, the Braves led 7-2. In the third period, the Titans were down quite a bit, but I thought that the Switzer brothers had good performances, with Aiden forechecking and Owen using his size on defence. The Braves made the scoreboard first, followed by a Ryan Gardner-O’Keefe goal, where Ben Easson and Jake Semiwolos assisted. The game’s final score was 8-3. 

The Titan’s next game was on Monday at the Brant Sports Complex, followed by a game in Tavistock Wednesday and Friday. Should the Titans survive the week and not be eliminated, they will play Game 6 at the Brant Sports Complex on February 28 at 7:30 PM.