The Fort Erie Meteors had to work overtime to complete a sweep of the Brantford Titans Friday.
Aiden Zimmerman’s goal at 9:02 of OT was the difference as the Meteors edged the Titans 4-3 to take their best-of-seven quarterfinal playoff series 4-0.
Zimmerman’s goal was his third of the series.
“Just a good cycle play,” Fort Erie coach/general manager Nik Passero said. “(Sam) Tonelli rolled up the high seam and threw it on net and Zimmy tipped it.”
Following a scoreless first period, the Titans took a 2-1 after two on goals by Tyler Clark and Quinton Kim-Lemay. Dylan Greenwald, who had four goals in a 9-2 win in Game 3, scored for the Mets.
Danny Adamo tied the game early in the third for Fort Erie before Lui Indzers scored with five minutes to play to give Brantford a 3-2 lead. Adamo then sent the game into overtime with a goal at 18:03.
“They played tight. I think it took us a little while to get into the game. Not super happy with our start but as the game got on I thought we played pretty well,” Passero said. “They were fighting for their lives. They gave us everything they had. In the end there our big guns got it done. They haven’t had to do that in the first three games. We’ve had a lot of depth so it was nice to win when we needed them to step up.”
Passero didn’t mind being challenged after some lopsided scores early in the series.
“As long as we’re healthy and playing the game the right way, that’s fine. I think there’s a lot of things we can take from that game and go build into Monday and have a good week here,” he said.
Passero said it will be business as usual as the Meteors prepare for the Falcons.
“They’ll have Saturday, Sunday off and come back Monday and it’s just a regular work week for us. Same thing we’ve been doing all year, so nothing really changes. Just a new opponent. We ’ve got a lot of homework to do here.”
