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Erie Otters

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Erie Otters

City: Erie, Pennsylvania
League: Ontario Hockey League
Conference: Western
Division: Midwest
Founded: 1996-1997
Home Arena: Louis J. Tullio Arena
Colours: navy blue, red, yellow and gold
Head Coach: Peter Sidorkiewicz
General Manager: Sherwood Bassin

2001-2002 OHL Champions, Erie Otters
Enlarge
2001-2002 OHL Champions, Erie Otters

The Erie Otters are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996 to present. They play out of the Louis J. Tullio Arena in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA.

Franchise Identities:

Contents

History

The Niagara Falls Thunder were relocated in 1996 from Niagara Falls, Ontario, becoming the Erie Otters. The team took its name from the otter, a common water creature to the south shore of Lake Erie.

The Otters' ownership partners are Ron Sertz, Jeff Fatica and Ray Irwin. Sherwood Bassin is the general manager and a managing partner of the team. Walt Wingfield is the head scout of the Otters.

The first three years in Erie were building years for the Otters, with the team eliminated in the first round of the playoffs each year. In the fourth year, all the hard work paid off with their first Midwest Division championship.

For the Otters it would be their first of three consecutive Midwest Division championships, culminating in an OHL Championship in 2001-2002. Dave MacQueen won the Matt Leyden Trophy in 2000-01 as the OHL Coach of the Year. Sherwood Bassin was awarded OHL Executive of the Year in 2001-02 for his role as general manager in building a championship team.

The Otters have fallen on hard times since then, not finishing higher than 4th in their division. The Erie Otters recently celebrated their 10th anniversary in the 2005-2006 season.

2001-2002 OHL Champions

In the 2001-2002 season, the Erie Otters became only the second OHL team based in the United States of America, to win the OHL Championship. The first were the 1995 champions Detroit Junior Red Wings (now the Plymouth Whalers).

After a disappointing loss to the Plymouth Whalers the previous year in the conference finals, the Otters used their experience and work ethic to push themselves through the playoffs. Otters players had a puck holder hung on the wall of the dressing room with sixteen slots to fill for the sixteen wins needed for the title. Erie earned that 16th puck defeating the Barrie Colts in game 5 of the 2002 finals.

The Otters had originally bidded to host the 2002 Memorial Cup, but were not successful in their bid, as they lost to Guelph. However, the Otters made it anyway, and played in the tournament that year as OHL Champions. The Otters ultimately lost out to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kootenay Ice.

Two-time OHL MVP Brad Boyes led the Otters as captain. Team members for the 2002 championship were:

T.J. Aceti, Chris Berti, Brad Bonello, Brad Boyes, Chris Campoli, Carlo Colaiacovo, Noel Coultice, Sean Courtney, Brandon Cullen, Scott Dobben, Jeff Doyle, Chris Eade, David Herring, Alex Karaulchuk, Mical Kokavec, Brian Lee, Thomas Lee, Chris Martin, Mike McKeown, Adam Munro, Cory Pecker, Mike Rice, Dave MacQueen (coach), Sherwood Bassin (GM)

Championships

Coaches

Dave MacQueen won the Matt Leyden Trophy in 2000-01 as the OHL Coach of the Year.

Multiple years in parentheses

Players

Since the franchise relocated to Erie prior to the 1996-1997 season, a total of 21 players have been selected at the National Hockey League Entry Draft including a five-year stretch from 1997-2001 in which seven members of the team were selected in the first round (1997 Jason Ward, 11th, Montreal; 1998 Michael Rupp, ninth, New York Islanders; 1999 Tim Connolly, fifth, New York Islanders; 2000 Nikita Alexeev, eighth, Tampa Bay and Brad Boyes, 24th, Toronto; 2001 Carlo Colaiacovo, 17th, Toronto and Adam Munro, 29th, Chicago).

Award Winners

NHL Alumni

Yearly Results

Regular Season

Legend: T = Tie (2004-05 & previous), SL = Shoot Out Loss (2005-06 & onward)

Season Games Won Lost T/SL OTL Points Pct % Goals
For 		Goals
Against 		Standing
1996-97 66 23 36 7 - 53 0.402 240 260 5th Central
1997-98 66 33 28 5 - 71 0.538 261 252 4th Central
1998-99 68 31 33 4 - 66 0.485 271 297 3rd Midwest
1999-00 68 33 28 4 3 73 0.515 224 229 1st Midwest
2000-01 68 45 11 10 2 102 0.735 264 171 1st Midwest
2001-02 68 41 22 4 1 87 0.632 246 218 1st Midwest
2002-03 68 24 35 6 3 57 0.397 181 248 5th Midwest
2003-04 68 29 26 6 7 71 0.471 221 212 5th Midwest
2004-05 68 31 26 6 5 73 0.500 186 207 4th Midwest
2005-06 68 26 35 3 4 59 0.434 219 266 5th Midwest

Playoffs

Uniforms & Logos

Erie Ottersthird jersey
Enlarge
Erie Otters
third jersey

The team mascot of the Erie Otters is an anthropomorphic otter named Shooter, who wears a home jersey. The Otters home uniforms are white background, and the road uniforms are navy blue background. Both have red, yellow & gold trim. The logo is an angry otter with a hockey stick.

For the 2005-2006 season (the team's 10th/Diamond Anniversary), the Otters unveiled a third jersey as part of the "All About Erie" campaign. The jersey has a red background with navy blue, white and gold trim. The third logo has "Erie" in big letters across the chest with "Otters" writeen beneath it.

Arena

The Erie Otters play home games at the Louis J. Tullio Arena (also the home of the AIFL's Erie Freeze) located in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania. Arena was built in 1983 and seats 5,500 spectators. The Tullio arena is likely the loudest in the league and good for home ice advantage. The arena is part of the Erie Civic Center Complex which includes Jerry Uht Park, a baseball stadium home to the AA Erie SeaWolves.

External links

Ontario Hockey League
Current Teams : Barrie Colts > Belleville Bulls | Brampton Battalion | Erie Otters | Guelph Storm | Kingston Frontenacs | Kitchener Rangers | London Knights | Mississauga IceDogs | Oshawa Generals | Ottawa 67's | Owen Sound Attack | Peterborough Petes | Plymouth Whalers | Saginaw Spirit | Sarnia Sting | Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds | Sudbury Wolves | Toronto St. Michael's Majors | Windsor Spitfires
Canadian Hockey League>CHL: | Memorial Cup | OHL | QMJHL | WHL

 

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