On one of the winter's stormiest nights the Athens Aeros withstood a late flurry from their southern rivals to win 3-2 and the St. Lawrence Junior B Hockey League series four games to one on Thursday.

The Aeros held the advantage over the Brockville Tikis in firepower all season and in the end it was their biggest weapon that made the difference in a game that could have went either way early on.

After killing off the first penalty on a five on three advantage for the Tikis, Daniel Lacroix snuck behind the Tikis defence and beat goaltender Ethan Wright five minutes into the the third period to give Athens a 3-0 lead.

The game could have been a lot closer late, as it was through the first 36 minutes, but the Tikis took a long time to finally get something past Aeros goaltender Randy Yee, right after after Lacroix scored.

Tikis captain Shane Melcher deftly deflected a shot from James Hurley that beat a defenceless Yee on the stick side.

A bit of luck, after finding none through two periods, fell the Tikis way when a innocent play turned into the clubs second goal barely a minute after their first. Melcher flicked a puck to the front on the net and when the Aeros' defenceman went to turn he kicked it in past Yee.

Although the Tikis applied plenty of pressure the remainder of the game, including pulling the goalie in the last minute, the Aeros withstood the charge.

"We gave them all they could handle right down to the end," said Tikis head coach Adam Folco. "We just didn't execute very well when we had the chances."

Shots through the first period were 10-9 in favour of the Tikis but they had double the chances to score as Athens got off to a scrambling start.

"We talked about that and talked about how to manage it," said Dancy of his club not taking charge when it should. "You can't sit back. It's just a tendency for teenagers and junior A hockey."

The Aeros Dave McGlade was one player who didn't sit back in the second and kept driving into the Tikis zone.

McGlade broke open the scoreless contest 12 minutes into the second when he crossed the blue-line and used Ethan Robert as a screen to rip a shot over the shoulder of Wright.

Seven minutes later, with less than a minute left in the period and on a similar play, McGlade use another defenceman as a screen and beat Wright between his blocker an pad.

"Dave McGlade showed his veteran presence," said Dancy. "I'm very happy with the win. After being down 1-0 in the series it kind of put things in perspective."

On the Tikis part, Folco said the club just didn't muster the offence it needed to keep up with Athens.

"All series the goals weren't coming easy against them," he said.