The Ayr Centennials scored early, scored often and never looked back en route to winning the second Schmalz Cup in franchise history – and their second in as many years.
They did it in front of their home fans, downing the Port Hope Panthers 6-3 to win the final-round series in six games.
Ayr got off to a hot start with Riley Clipper, Alex Mutton and John Nay all scoring within the first nine minutes of play.
Zachary Masterson potted a second goal late in the period, and the Centennials went into the intermission with a 4-1 league.
Team captain Mitch Klie and Masterton added two more goals in the third period, which brought Ayr frequent power plays.
The win was the capper to a fantastic series for the Centennials, who won 37 of 40 games in the regular season. Successive playoff sweeps of Burford, Norwich and Grimsby came next, followed by harder-won battles against Essex and – finally – Port Hope.
The Schmalz Cup is given out annually to the best Junior C hockey team in Ontario.
Prior to Ayr’s back-to-back wins, the last team from this part of the province to capture the title were the Paris Mounties, who won it in 1996.
