Four years later, the rink has become a second home to Grant, and he hopes tonight won’t be the last time he plays there.

Grant and the fourth-seeded Xpress will host No. 1 seed Metro in the first game of a best-of-three East Division semifinal series at 7 p.m.

“I don’t think too many guys know what a playoff game is like here. It’s really exciting to be a part of it again,” Grant, who played two postseason games with the Xpress in 2015, said Wednesday following practice. “To come back from where this team was last year to where it is now is a really good feeling.”

Game 2 will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Fraser Hockeyland in suburban Detroit with an if-necessary Game 3 at 12:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Michigan.

Brian Grant leads the Southern Tier Xpress in scoring by a defenseman. P-J file photo by Chad Ecklof

Grant’s career has taken a few detours since his rookie season with Southern Tier.

The 5-foot-7 defenseman was traded to the Pittsburgh Vengeance 25 games into the 2015-16 season before he played sparingly for the hometown Buffalo Regals during 2016-17 season.

Facing his final season of eligibility this fall, Grant was having a bad experience with the Regals and relayed those feelings to his former billet mother Amber Smith.

Smith, the coordinator of the billet family program with the Xpress, contacted Southern Tier general manager Travis Sanders, who was more than willing to work something out for Grant to return to the Xpress.

“My billet mom called me and told me to give Travis a call and talk to Lou (Santini),” Grant said. “They ended up bringing me back here, which I’m very thankful for.”

“Even though I didn’t have much of a personal rapport with him, there were a lot of people who spoke very highly of him from the past that had experiences with him,” Sanders added. “You can watch the tape, and hear good things. He’s somebody you want to bring in. That veteran presence on the back end, for how young our defense corps was, was pretty important down the stretch.”

It’s turned into a match made in heaven for the 21-year-old from St. Francis High School and the upstart Xpress.

In 34 regular-season games, Grant registered four goals and 15 assists to lead all Southern Tier defenders with 19 points. His performance, coupled with the acquisition of defenseman Austen Zimmerman admittedly gave Sanders comfort in trading former captain Ty Rickabaugh after 23 games.

“Knowing that we had somebody who could step into a role like that allows a little more comfort in moving some players,” Sanders said.

A 9-3-0 final 12 games to the season allowed Grant and three other Xpress players in their final years of junior eligibility the opportunity to qualify for the playoffs on the final day of the season with an 11-1 win over Roc City coupled with Wooster’s 3-0 loss to Peoria.

“It feels a lot like my first year. Just the way the guys are rolling and the way the coaching staff has been,” Grant said about Southern Tier’s late-season push. “The way the fans have backed us up is pretty awesome.”

While Grant, Hunter Kepple, Nick Wilcox and Mark Mezsargs are guaranteed at least two more games, a series win against the Jets would give them a crack at the winner of another semifinal between No. 2 Pittsburgh and No. 3 Lansing.

“It helps experience-wise, making plays, making decisions, making reads. Other guys can see what he does out there and see how he helps his team,” Xpress head coach Lou Santini said about Grant’s multiple years in the league. “You hear in pros how older guys help younger guys. It’s the same thing in juniors. It’s the same process helping one another out there. What Brian does in situations, guys can see that and feed off of it.”

Southern Tier has never won a playoff game, let alone a series, during its short tenure in the NA3HL.

“Every year I feel like they’ve had the same style of play. Going into it we’re familiar with them this year,” Grant said of the series matchup with the Jets. “Taking that game from them last month shows that we can beat them. If we play the right way we’re going to be able to take the series from them.”

Grant and his friends are glad to have the opportunity to change that.

“It would be absolutely unbelievable,” Grant said of potentially advancing in the playoffs. “Every single day I’ve come to the rink this week and last week I just didn’t want it to be over. To get one more week would be awesome.”

NOTES: Goaltender Ryan Pascarella (Lakewood) was named the Bauer East Division Player of the Week after winning a pair of games last weekend. Pascarella stopped 37-of-41 shots in a win over Toledo on Friday before turning aside 29-of-30 shots in a win over the Cherokee on Saturday. He finished the weekend with a 2.50 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. … General admission for tonight’s game — First Responders Night — will be $7 or $3 for season ticket holders. Chief Harry Snellings of the Jamestown Police Department, Chief Chet Harvey of the Jamestown Fire Department, Alstar EMS EMT Charles Piazza and Starflight paramedic Katherine Hutchinson will represent community organizations in a pregame recognition.