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Ayr Centennials claim Provincial Junior C Championship

May 12, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It was a long season, and after 62 games – 40 regular season and 22 playoff games – the Ayr Centennials have emerged as the Provincial Junior Hockey League (Junior C) champions.

This is the second year in a row the Centennials have won the Cup and the second time in two years they won the final over the Port Hope Panthers.

Ayr had an outstanding season finishing in the top spot of the Doherty Division of the South Conference of the PJHL with a 37-3 record in the regular season.

The team won the Division championship in a playoff run that saw them go undefeated in 12 games to earn the right to go on to the South Conference final.

The Centennials knocked out the Grimsby Peach Kings in a four game sweep to earn the Division title and get another shot at the Provincial crown.

The Port Hope Panthers came to the final after an equally exciting season that saw them finish the regular season in first place in the Tod Division of the East Conference with a 35-3-1 record.

After going through the quarter-final and semi-final rounds of the playoffs with a single loss, the Panthers won the East Conference championship with a win over the Lakefield Chiefs in a series that went six games.

They knocked out the Alliston Hornets in the semi-final round of the Provincial playoffs.

The final Provincial series saw the Centennials lose big in game one taking an 8-1 deficit to the Port Hope squad.

Game two of the series had Port Hope leading 2-0 after leaving the ice with a 4-1 win.

The Centennials turned the series upside down beginning with a 4-2 win in game three.

They followed up by winning three in a row to claim the Provincial championship with a 5-3 win in game six on Wednesday, May 3, in front of a hometown crowd at the North Dumfries Community Complex arena.

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