Erie Otters 2019-20 Season Thread

[7D442]

Curious about the attendance at Saturday's game. OHL site lists it as 6,276 .. which would be amazing if true. OHL Arena Guide lists capacity as 5,500

Can anyone provide any insight?

Edit: This article backs up the attendance # .. WOW!! Great job!! Was this because of Hockey Fights Cancer night or was there something else going on?? Sopa Shines In Otters Debut As Erie Defeats Niagara 4-2 On Cancer Awareness Night – Erie Otters

I believe max and true capacity for Otters games is 6716..

was great to see that many people there to support Cancer Awareness Night .. Attendance was in large part due to that and to the fact that UPMC Insurance had a night where tickets were given to families who have UPMC Ins ..

I like the Sopa trade so far .. Seems to be a great addition and he has provided an instant spark to the team .. Gotta love a player who has grit and parks himself in front of the net like that ..

 

[Mata]

Curious about the attendance at Saturday's game. OHL site lists it as 6,276 .. which would be amazing if true. OHL Arena Guide lists capacity as 5,500

Can anyone provide any insight?

Edit: This article backs up the attendance # .. WOW!! Great job!! Was this because of Hockey Fights Cancer night or was there something else going on?? Sopa Shines In Otters Debut As Erie Defeats Niagara 4-2 On Cancer Awareness Night – Erie Otters

UPMC had a ticket exchange voucher for those in the Health Plan.

Epilepsy Awereness also had something going on.

There was the Cancer Awareness thing going on.

There were a lot of Junior hockey players/teams in attendance.

Those were my observations for the higher attendance. There could have been other contributors as well that I left out.

 

[Mata]

I believe max and true capacity for Otters games is 6716..

was great to see that many people there to support Cancer Awareness Night .. Attendance was in large part due to that and to the fact that UPMC Insurance had the subscriber night where tickets were given to families who have UPMC Ins ..

I like the Sopa trade so far .. Seems to be a great addition and he has provided an instant spark to the team .. Gotta love a player who has grit and parks himself in front of the net like that ..

That kid sits in front of the net when necessary, he is a playmaker with the puck, he has a decent shot. Not as fast as I would have thought, but overall an instant top 6 and hopefully he will just continue to get better as he settles in!

He is a bulldog of a player.

 

[Otto]

Thanks for the info guys .. .that's great to see!

 

[NOA]

Thanks for the info guys .. .that's great to see!

I will add to it that OHL Arena Guide never updated it after the major renovations.

Used to be about 5500 full capacity. Now it’s about 6500 for seating but max capacity is around 6750 with standing room. The 2017 game 5 OHL championship clinching game had 6780

 

[three dog night]

Do notLodnia past actions but players can change has they get older never notice a me only attitude in Niagara even with a struggling team this year

Leadership fits Niagara’s Ivan Lodnia to a ‘C’

 

[NOA]

NHL Central Scouting mid term rankings are out and Erie has 5 players listed:

Jamie Drysdale 3
Hayden Fowler 66
Austen Swankler 200
Brendan Hoffmann 217
Aidan Campbell 28 (goalie)

Marat Khusnutdinov 28 (international)

 

[Generalsupdates]

NHL Central Scouting mid term rankings are out and Erie has 5 players listed:

Jamie Drysdale 3
Hayden Fowler 66
Austen Swankler 200
Brendan Hoffmann 217
Aidan Campbell 28 (goalie)

Marat Khusnutdinov 28 (international)

Has there been any talk in Erie of Marat coming? Saw he scored nasty shorthanded goal in OT last night

 

[NOA]

Has there been any talk in Erie of Marat coming? Saw he scored nasty shorthanded goal in OT last night

No update on any of that but I would imagine him being NHL drafted will increase any chance Erie has of getting him to sign. Dave Brown said they will pursue him heavily again this offseason

 

[EON]

No update on any of that but I would imagine him being NHL drafted will increase any chance Erie has of getting him to sign. Dave Brown said they will pursue him heavily again this offseason

He is an absolute must-sign this off-season, they need to inject a top 6 C and higher-end talent into this lineup. A top 6 of Fowler/Yetman(OA)/Golod/Swankler/Khushnutdinov/Lockhart would be fun to watch.

 

[Mata]

He is an absolute must-sign this off-season, they need to inject a top 6 C and higher-end talent into this lineup. A top 6 of Fowler/Yetman(OA)/Golod/Swankler/Khushnutdinov/Lockhart would be fun to watch.

The only reason I hope we get out of round 1 of the playoffs this year would be to entice him into signing, Hartsburg can still go to waivers though.

 

[NOA]

The only reason I hope we get out of round 1 of the playoffs this year would be to entice him into signing, Hartsburg can still go to waivers though.

I fear that if Erie somehow pulls off some first round magic, Hartsburg will be back. It’s a cheaper and easier thing to just bring him back and such a typical Erie move. At the same, I want this team to have that success because I think they are due for it, capable of it, and desperately need it

 

[NOA]

He is an absolute must-sign this off-season, they need to inject a top 6 C and higher-end talent into this lineup. A top 6 of Fowler/Yetman(OA)/Golod/Swankler/Khushnutdinov/Lockhart would be fun to watch.

There is no doubt he is

Will they sign him? My gut right now is about 30% they will. And that’s with the hope that the NHL team drafts him is all for him being here and pushes him here. Otherwise, I don’t have much faith in our recruiting of these types of players

Having him here though would be huge. Another skilled and speed guy that with Lockhart and Golod in the top 6 could be the makings for a pretty good offense

 

[HF92]

How do you guys feel about Justin Mauro?

 

[EON]

How do you guys feel about Justin Mauro?

Looks like he's having a good season in the NOJHL but he's 5'8" and likely doesn't have elite skating or he would have stuck around longer in camp this season. I'm not sure how translatable NOJHL success is either. (ex: NB just signed David Campbell, also an '02, who was 1.5 PPG in the NOJHL David Campbell at eliteprospects.com)

I hope he continues to develop though and lands himself a scholarship somewhere.

 

[NOA]

EON alluded to this earlier in the week but big weekend test for Erie. Sarnia tonight is a must win and then the hope is to split the LDN/WSR games. Getting 4/6 points would be big.

Especially considering 4 of the next 6 would be against OS (x2) and FLT (x2). Those are really the 2 teams they will have to fight with (SSM the third team) if they want the 6/7 seed. Flint has OTT/PBO this weekend and OS has GUE/OSH.

 

[HockeyPops]

Especially considering 4 of the next 6 would be against OS (x2) and FLT (x2).

I would suspect getting 10+ points over the next 6 games might vault them to 5th, while getting 2 or fewer in the same stretch might drop them to 9th.

Big stretch indeed.

 

[NOA]

With a jersey retirement tonight, it got me thinking about numbers Erie could eventually retire.

We all know McDavid will happen at some point

The question becomes, do Debrincat and Strome eventually join him? Both left a huge mark in Erie. Strome the captain of the team that won and really a big community supporter. He has always praised his time in Erie. Also leading franchise scorer. Debrincat one of the best Americans to ever play in the CHL. One of the best scorers I have seen.

Would you ultimately retire both of their jerseys if you the fans could decide? Or just one? Or neither?

 

[Puckit97]

With a jersey retirement tonight, it got me thinking about numbers Erie could eventually retire.

We all know McDavid will happen at some point

The question becomes, do Debrincat and Strome eventually join him? Both left a huge mark in Erie. Strome the captain of the team that won and really a big community supporter. He has always praised his time in Erie. Also leading franchise scorer. Debrincat one of the best Americans to ever play in the CHL. One of the best scorers I have seen.

Would you ultimately retire both of their jerseys if you the fans could decide? Or just one? Or neither?

I think they should retire both for the reasons you said.
Only Boyes and Scott have been retired in the the 20+ years of the franchise.

 

[NOA]

I think they should retire both for the reasons you said.
Only Boyes and Scott have been retired in the the 20+ years of the franchise.

Boyes was really the only one truly worthy given his career accomplishments and winning a title. Tim Connelly was a big name but only played here for 2 years. Same with Ryan OReilly. Vince Scott was simply retired for his young and untimely death

I would lean towards both too but hard to have 3 from one 4 year era. At the same time, it was the best era in Erie hockey

 

[EON]

McDavid, Strome, and DeBrincat all deserve to have their numbers retired for sure. McDavid is obvious, Strome is the all-time points leader and DeBrincat is the all-time goals leaders and helped Erie to their 2nd title. All 3 of these guys are easy decisions for me. I think the more interesting debate is does Darren Raddysh deserve to have his number retired? He's not going to be a top NHL player (might not even make the NHL), but he's 5th all time in games played, the all-time points leader for defenseman, and was a major component of the championship team.

 

[7D442]

Hoffman with another goal tonight ./ Seams the line change has helped his recent production and his confidence is back ..Nice to see

 

[Mata]

We handled the 3 games we should have, let's see if we can at least split the next 2 on the road before coming back home.

 

[NOA]

Saw David Branch was in London for the Kane jersey retirement. You think he or whoever is commissioner will come to Erie when McDavid is retired? Probably not

 

[OttersFan]

How long do you think Drew Hunter is going to be out (if at all)? Had a big hit last night so maybe they'd keep him off the ice for the remainder of the road trip for concussion protocol.

Atleast we have Kischnick as someone who could easily take Hunter's spot if he needs to be evaluated.


-update-
didn't see he was immediately back into the game