Erie Otters 2018-19 Season Thread

[NOA]

Well expectations were low this year but 1-3 start coming home, but I'm just happy that they're back at the EIA tonight.
An early season game with Kitchener already matters let's go Otters!

actually if we are being technical they are 1-2-1. Last year erie started 1-3-0. Of course this team wont win 50 let alone 40 games but its so hard to judge most teams in the early going

All games on the road for a young rebuilding team, new coach, new faces. Not that terrible. An OT win away from being 2-2. And they have been close in these games. Have to get more scoring though.

I just wish Hartsburg would balance things out. You cant win with 1 line and Girhiny on your 2nd line. I can appreciate the effort from Girhiny but reality is that he is 140lbs with his equipment on..he cant be a 2 line player for you
I would just balance things out more

21-27-17
9-39-46
15-96-7
10-8-29/77/22

Give your guys more of a chance. Fellows at least has the experience, size, smarts to give Raddysh/Lodnia a chance to gel. Maksmovich has always been able to play with anyone. Stick him with Poddubyni. Cant expect Podd to do anything with Girhiny/Golod..and Podd is our 4th best forward but still raw/young, He needs someone to help him out..

 

[EON]

Sounds like Raddysh may be out with a shoulder injury, tough break for a team struggling for offense right now.

I agree that lines need to be balanced a little more. Once Raddysh is healthy, I would do:

Patry-Lodnia-Raddysh
Maksimovich-Poddubnyi-Robinson
Fellows-Gritz-Girhiny
Sproule-Edwardson-Yetman
Golod/Mack

That third line seemed to have some good chemistry, not sure why they broke it up. In the top two lines Erie should balance out their top 4 players (Raddysh, Lodnia, Maksimovich, Poddubnyi) with the two younger skilled players who are still learning the league a bit and need to realize their potential.

4th line, the rookies rotate around Edwardson.

Hoping for a good showing tonight on banner-raising night.

 

[EON]

Good effort tonight, just couldn't break through on some of their scoring chances. Felt like they outplayed Kitchener despite missing Raddysh and Gritz.

Timpano needs to be better, period.

First four game losing streak since March 2013.

 

[Roost]

I thought the boys played well. Easy to see they need more time together. Was really impressed with the G-Pod/Golod/Patry line. I thought Timpano played pretty good the 1st goal was a beauty and the 3rd goal went in off the defenseman I believe(I was at the other end of the rink). These boys will definitely compete and give teams a hard time.

 

[NOA]

agree on all points
tough to score without raddysh and gritz. reality is they need their best player, add to that a top 5 forward in the league..

timpano -- still shake my head with him. the first goal wasnt on him. the second, okay a nice play in front but not a top shelf shot. couldnt snag it. probably one you need to make. the 3rd goal. my god. i saw the Erie twitter account say it was a lucky bounce. no..no it wasnt. timpano cheated over and got way out of position. easy bank shot off his back/leg/skate whatever it was. dude as a 5th year guy you cant be gettting caught out of position like that.

here r the facts. 25+16 shots against the last 2 nights. 41 shots total in 2 nights. Timpano gave up 7 goals. That is gawd awful and reminiscent of last year. only difference is last year we pot 5-7 each night and win lol. have been impressed with the team defense so far. limiting complete meltdowns and turnovers. 41 shots in 2 nights. you should probably give up closer to 4 goals. not 7

pp has to be better but without raddysh, hard to judge tonight

 

[NOA]

if timpano is going to play .900 save percentage hockey again - erie is getting 1st or 2nd overall pick. facts. they need closer to .915. Williams of 2015. or timpano of the first half of last year. needs to be better

that being said -
positives -
Poddubyni is good. Size, skating, shot. all above average. incredible how raw i think he still is. could see another leap by next year with him. but he looks good. if he had the talent, he would be a point per game, 25-30g goal. He wont have the luxury this year though. but still he has improved.

Golod has good wheels. Think there could be something there in a year or 2. spark plug speed guy. but i would give him decent minutes this year.

Mack has good size/strength for rookie. If you can just look back to a guy like Betz in his 1st/2nd year. Mack seems to be a better skater. And similar size. Mack inch or 2 shorter but still a big boy with better skates. Another guy like Golod who could develop into a strong 2 way 3rd line guy.

Sproule seems quick. Rookie though. He had is rough patches. Didnt really notice Patry, still learning North America im sure

Didnt see Yetman/Gritz so curious with them. Especially Gritz.

I liked Golod the most. His skating was pretty solid. Robinson with a good frame and skates as well. Robinson just cant bury any chance he gets lol

Would agree they need to mix up lines
XX - Lodnia - Raddysh
Maks - Podd - XX
Fellows- Gritz - Girhiny

Probably with you EON.Keep that 3rd line. Girhiny cant play top 6 minutes. Fellows provides stability.

Between Golod, Patry, Robinson - 2 of those guys get top 6 minutes. I personally would go with Robinson/Patry for now but think Golod deserves more ice than 4th line. Maybe you rotate him with Patry a bit. But either way its time to balance things more and then stick with the lines for a few weeks. gives the kids time to gel

 

[NOA]

I thought the boys played well. Easy to see they need more time together. Was really impressed with the G-Pod/Golod/Patry line. I thought Timpano played pretty good the 1st goal was a beauty and the 3rd goal went in off the defenseman I believe(I was at the other end of the rink). These boys will definitely compete and give teams a hard time.

nope i was right there for the timpano goal. regardless of what it went off of, he was WAY out of position. 100% on him

 

[buzzworthy]

I agree with you all. Golod was impressive. Being as young as they are, with as much as they lost in talent from last year, I was impressed. Three things I need to add. I thought they played a pretty gnarly game for a bunch of youngsters against a bigger, older Ranger's team. Another thing I noticed was that Lodnia appears to be playing a bit of a selfish game. He had several chances to pass the puck to wide open players, and he elected to shoot. If he doesn't want to be here, I hope we can get good value for him. I had heard that his parents sold their house and moved. Headrick played a real, real solid game. My friend and I were discussing whether Fergus was the one to trade. After last night I think the Otters made the right decision. Overall, these kids will be entertaining this year.

 

[rabinsurance]

I thought the banner raising ceremony was beyond embarrassing. They could have shined the spotlight on the banner, but no they didn't and it got raised, slightly crooked, in the dark. Why they insist on killing the lights in the bowl and having the Otters skate out of the stupid inflatable for the second and third period is beyond me. The game opps is below bush league at the EIA. Certainly not worthy of the OHL champs, and the loyal Erie fans.

 

[bobber]

To put things into perspective the Rangers played 6 rookie yesterday. Five regular players missing.

 

[EON]

I think Girhiny is better than you give him credit for ottersguy, but I would prefer they keep that third line together for a bit of depth and use their big 4 to balance things out, giving the young guys time up there. He is still probably 10-15 pounds underweight but it doesn't stop him from working hard in the corners and in front of the net. He's improved each season, going from 0.16 PPG to 0.36 PPG, and now he has 4 points in 5 games thus far this season.

Golod does look pretty good so far, could be another nice late round find.

I'm not sure about Mack's offensive capability but he does skate well for a player his size.

I really want to like Robinson, when you watch him he skates reasonably well and displays good hands but he is just having a heck of a time finding the score sheet.

The potential for Poddubnyi is very high, he's still coming along. I'm not sure what to make of Patry or Sproule so far.

 

[Puck possession wins]

Word is there taking down all the '17 banners and are raising them all up when we play London the first time at home.

 

[buzzworthy]

Bobber, considering we were missing Taylor Raddysh due to an injury, along with Gritz, we did well, all things considered. Remember, we lost some pretty good players for this year. The Rangers, in my mind, will be or should be a top tier team. You should have lots to crow about this year.

 

[NOA]

I thought the banner raising ceremony was beyond embarrassing. They could have shined the spotlight on the banner, but no they didn't and it got raised, slightly crooked, in the dark. Why they insist on killing the lights in the bowl and having the Otters skate out of the stupid inflatable for the second and third period is beyond me. The game opps is below bush league at the EIA. Certainly not worthy of the OHL champs, and the loyal Erie fans.

odd you say that considering they put a light on it - about the same amount every other league or team would do. I saw it clear as day. Perfect view of it from the far end bowl

yep their inflatable thing is dumb to you - IS MONEY ALSO DUMB????????????????
you know why they have that thing in the 2nd/3rd periodd? Do you? im guessing clearly not. ITS CALLED SPONSORS. Marsha Marsh is the sponsor of that inflatable. And they paid for that entrance thing. Which im sure wasnt necessarily cheap. And by buying it they also said to erie "we want it used"---im sure they also pay for it to be used on a game by game or season by season basis.
you want X amount of money or XXX amount of money - by all means take over the management and make decisions like that and guess what - you will cost erie valuable money in a league where every $1 counts. If they can make even $1000-2000 more on the season just for inflating a thing up - why the HELL NOT.

im sick of fans like this. this is the OHL. 16-21 year olds. dude its not nhl here. but even if it was, there are at least a half dozen teams that dim their lights between each period. I know the STANLEY CUP champs LA Kings did it a few years back, probably still do.

I havent gone to visiting arenas very much. But i have watched visiting games. Half the league is crap. Erie is definitely average. Nothing special. Not "bush league" like you claim. They are solid. And considering the money they have, im not sure what you expect. The people running game day operations are high school - college kids doing internships or making min wage. You want to spend an extract $20,000-30,000 a year on employees, better props, then by all means go ahead. But that money can be spent better elsewhere where the players are benefited or needs met. Like the new bus design, the new jerseys, the new radio contract, the championship rings for the players, hiring of new scouts/coaches, the new marketing campaign they have pushed, etc etc etc etc etc

 

[NOA]

Bobber, considering we were missing Taylor Raddysh due to an injury, along with Gritz, we did well, all things considered. Remember, we lost some pretty good players for this year. The Rangers, in my mind, will be or should be a top tier team. You should have lots to crow about this year.

imagine erie with Fox, Neumann, McShane this year. Just some of the guys they had to trade in the last 3 years. have to give erie credit... the record isnt lovely but the effort is there. and they arent getting pushed around. just cant finish
agree with robinson -guy could have 2-3 goals this year. much like pettit. cant finish. looks solid in alot of other areas though

yea kitchener was missing plenty. 6 rookies i guess. but erie with patry,golod,mack,sproule,yetman,henry --they had their share. plus 2nd year guys in robinson,poddubyni, martin, wainman, edwardson. 18 skaters. 11 guys in year 1 or 2. if/when raddysh, sambrook are moved this is youngest team in league maybe by a mile

 

[digiblader]

DeBrincat made the Blackhawks roster! Strome, on the other hand, looks headed to Tucson..

 

[bobber]

imagine erie with Fox, Neumann, McShane this year. Just some of the guys they had to trade in the last 3 years. have to give erie credit... the record isnt lovely but the effort is there. and they arent getting pushed around. just cant finish
agree with robinson -guy could have 2-3 goals this year. much like pettit. cant finish. looks solid in alot of other areas though

yea kitchener was missing plenty. 6 rookies i guess. but erie with patry,golod,mack,sproule,yetman,henry --they had their share. plus 2nd year guys in robinson,poddubyni, martin, wainman, edwardson. 18 skaters. 11 guys in year 1 or 2. if/when raddysh, sambrook are moved this is youngest team in league maybe by a mile

Rangers GM was at that game with his scouts. Must have been evaluating an Ere player one would think.

 

[NOA]

Rangers GM was at that game with his scouts. Must have been evaluating an Ere player one would think.

available, worth wild, top guys erie would be willing to sell and others would want
lodnia
raddysh
sambrook

raddysh didnt play and though its possible that is who they are interested in, they made a mistake coming to see him in a suit
maybe they wanted to see erie raise the banner - lol i joke

that leaves sammy and lodnia. Lodnia has had previous rumors to kitchener. though some dont want erie to trade him this year, i dont mind erie shipping him off if the right offer is made. if he doesnt want to be here (possible since his agent hinted he would be moved sooner than later) and erie is going to only win 1 of every 4/5 games anyways, i see no point in holding onto him
in other words, if we are going to be sitting around as a 9-10 seed with lodnia, raddysh, sambrook - why not sell them and bring in young guys that can grow and want to develop.
Sambrook is a big piece but since Kit already addded Stanley, not sure what type of interest would be there
erie needs forwards imo - eric guest or riley damiani are the only ones i see that erie would have interest in. And Lodnia/Raddysh will demand a player in return imo.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Rangers GM was at that game with his scouts. Must have been evaluating an Ere player one would think.

or his D-man and PK coach!

 

[buzzworthy]

Former Otter Greg McKegg played last night for the Pens. We were at the game, and he did very well. I didn't see him lose a single face off.

 

[EON]

Taylor Raddysh back tonight, hopefully this sparks a little more offense.

 

[Naz]

Can some Erie fan tell me what the situation with Joesph Murdaca I noticed he is not on your roster. Thanks in advance

 

[NOA]

Can some Erie fan tell me what the situation with Joesph Murdaca I noticed he is not on your roster. Thanks in advance

I dont think any Erie fan on this site has all the answers. Sounds like mostly rumors. The rumors I have heard was that something happened (or multiple happenings) that made erie question his character. I dont want to speculate but one would think it was personally just Joe who did something that had him fall out of favor. But i think erie tried to trade him, no dice.

I still wonder if it impacted his status in the playoffs/mem cup. Murdaca played 4 games in the playoffs. 2 in relief. Overall he faced 96 shots. Had a .938 SV% and a 1.64 GA. Was stellar in 2 relief games vs London. 1 GA on 31 shots faced in those 2 outings. His GA was a 6 on 4 situation. So much pressure in both situations. Basically was asked to come in and give up no goals. He pretty much did just that. Knoblauch never should have turned away from him.

Either way dont give me that the decision was based on age/experience. Joe is just 1 yr younger. Neither played in playoffs prior to last year.

Erie made a mistake keeping Troy this year. Joe seems better anyways. Plus extra year of eligibility. Not sure what the net will be next year but could be UGLY if Oberio doesnt pan out. .870 SV% this year from troy. Joe could have at least done that. So hopefully we dumped him because of some legit reason and not a pride thing.

 

[Naz]

I dont think any Erie fan on this site has all the answers. Sounds like mostly rumors. The rumors I have heard was that something happened (or multiple happenings) that made erie question his character. I dont want to speculate but one would think it was personally just Joe who did something that had him fall out of favor. But i think erie tried to trade him, no dice.

I still wonder if it impacted his status in the playoffs/mem cup. Murdaca played 4 games in the playoffs. 2 in relief. Overall he faced 96 shots. Had a .938 SV% and a 1.64 GA. Was stellar in 2 relief games vs London. 1 GA on 31 shots faced in those 2 outings. His GA was a 6 on 4 situation. So much pressure in both situations. Basically was asked to come in and give up no goals. He pretty much did just that. Knoblauch never should have turned away from him.

Either way dont give me that the decision was based on age/experience. Joe is just 1 yr younger. Neither played in playoffs prior to last year.

Erie made a mistake keeping Troy this year. Joe seems better anyways. Plus extra year of eligibility. Not sure what the net will be next year but could be UGLY if Oberio doesnt pan out. .870 SV% this year from troy. Joe could have at least done that. So hopefully we dumped him because of some legit reason and not a pride thing.

Thanks for the info. If there were no trading partners was he ever put on waivers or Erie still own his rights ? Again thanks in advance

 

[NorthHockey]

Erie got him for a conditional 14th round pick which turns into a 7th or 8th if I recall.

My guess he's on the trading block as the Otters draft cupboard is empty.

Possibly has the best trade value of the goalies so expect a trade sooner or later.

Any idea if Raddysh or Lodnia will be traded soon for more picks