The Hamilton Kilty B’s advanced to the Golden Horseshoe Conference Championship with a 4-3 win over the Fort Erie Meteors on Thursday night at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena.
The Kilty B’s were outshot 13-6 in the first period but killed doff two penalties to keep the game scoreless.
Things picked up in the second period when Hamilton’s Nathan Omeri scored his first of the playoffs just 21 seconds in. Connor Haynes set up Omeri for the one-timer from behind the net and he wired it home to take a 1-0 lead.
Liam Loftus tied the game for Fort Erie shortly after on a miscue in front of the net that wasn’t cover up by the goaltender.
Hamilton took the lead back on a goal from Chris Gjoncaj. Zach Vaillancourt took the initial shot that rebounded right to Gjoncaj who put it in.
The Meteors tied it once again a few minutes later on a goal from Nicholas Holomego. Holomego scored on a rebound that Hamilton’s goalie, David Egorov never saw.
Fort Erie then took a 3-2 lead thanks to Robert Schmidt. Joseph Macchione set up Schmidt on the left side where he put it past an outstretched Egorov.
15 seconds later, Hamilton tied it up at three on a similar play to their first goal. Ryan Woodburn had the puck behind the Meteors net then fed Vaillancourt in front who snipped his first postseason goal of the year.
In the third period, Nathan Phillips scored the game winning goal, his eighth G of the playoffs. Phillips backhanded a rebound in to send the B’s to the Conference Finals for the second straight season, this time with a 4-1 series win.
The Kilty B’s await the winner of the series between the St Catharines Falcons and the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs.
-Jarrett Matthews
