Skip to main content

Erie Otters Vs. Niagara Ice Dogs March 3, 2017

Friday March 3, 2017 
Erie Insurance Center, Erie PA 
Erie Otters (44-12-3, 1st in the Western Conference) 
 Vs. 
Niagara Ice Dogs (20-29-10, 8th in the Eastern Conference) 
Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images North America

 This is a Matchup of two teams in almost polar opposite positions in the standings. Erie, who clinched a playoff spot almost two weeks ago to the day, is just coming off of a 14 game win streak but more recently has been struggling with lower seeded teams due to injuries and lack of motivation. Niagara, who on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs baring a late season surge, has been unable to find a way to consistently win more than one or two games in a row. I believe that this matchup will be closer than you think, as Erie is most likely going to coast into the playoffs while Niagara is still fighting for their playoff lives.

 Erie: 

 Taylor Raddysh (Tampa Bay Lightning 2016 2nd round pick, #58 overall)\
- Drafted by the Otters in the first round of the 2014 OHL draft (#19 overall)
- In three seasons with the Otters he has posted 196 points (81 goals, 115 assists)
- His brother Darren has been on the Otters for the past five seasons (Defenseman)

Anthony Cirelli (Tampa Bay Lightning 2015 3rd round pick, #72 overall)
- Traded from the Oshawa Generals for a prospect and five picks
- Has posted 17 points (5 goals, 12 assists) in 16 games this season with the Otters
- Has 146 total points (52 goals, 94 assists) in 3 seasons in the OHL

Niagara: 

 Ryan Mantha (New York Rangers 2014 4th round pick, #104 overall)
- Has 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists) in three seasons in the OHL
- Named as 2016-2017 Ice Dog Captain
- Enjoying career years in goals (13), assists (37), and points (51)

Aaron Haydon (Dallas Stars 2014 6th round pick, #154 overall)
- Five year veteran in the league, all seasons with the Ice Dogs
- In 269 games he has 80 points (31 goals, 49 assists)
- Taken in the first round of the 2012 OHL draft by the Ice Dogs (#20 overall)

Goaltenders: 

 Erie: 
Troy Timpano (Sudbury Wolves (OHL) 2013 2nd round pick, #27 overall)
- Recently coming off an illness that kept him from playing for over two weeks and lost 20 pounds
- Traded to the Otters by the Sudbury Wolves at the beginning of the season for 3 picks
- In 35 games this season he has a record of 30-5-0 with a 2.37 goals against average and .906 save %

Niagara: 
Stephen Dhillon (Niagara Ice Dogs (OHL) 2014 3rd round pick, #52 overall)
- From Buffalo, NY, less than 30 miles from where he currently is playing
- Three year veteran of the league, however this is his first season as #1 goaltender
- In 50 games this season he has a record of 18-23-8 with 3.26 goals against average and .917 save %

Last time they met: 

 The last time these two teams met the Erie Otters used a dominant all around team performance to beat the Ice Dogs 7-2 in front of 2,664 fans at the Erie Insurance Center. The Otters had a well balanced attack as 7 different otters each scored one goal (Sambrook, Debrincat, Petit, Fellows, D.Raddysh, Foegele, and Puddubnyi) and goaltender Troy Timpano posted 25 saves on 27 shots in his 60 minutes on the ice.

 Where to get tickets: 

Either at the box office of the Insurance Center or online here

Attendance and Score prediction: 

 Erie beats Niagara 7-1 in front of a crowd of 3,500 fans 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OHL Playoff Roundup: Round #2 Matchups

2016 OHL Champion London Knights Credit London Free Press  I'd like to start off this post by apologizing for not fully covering all of the first round matchup in their entirety, I haven't had the time to finish them off so I will briefly go over all of them right now: The Erie Otters were the first team to advance to the second round by sweeping the Sarnia Sting in four straight games. Peterborough was the next to advance to the second round with their four game sweep of the Niagara Ice Dogs. Sault St. Marie was the next team moving on to the second round of the playoffs with a four games to one victory over the Flint Firebirds. Owen Sound defeated the Kitchener Rangers in their first series four games to one. The Mississauga Steelheads doubled up the Ottawa 67's four games to two in order to move on to the next round of the playoffs. Oshawa won their first round matchup against Sudbury four games to two. Kingston  came away with a four to thre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Greyhounds' Offense Too much for Rangers, Rangers Fall 6-1

The Greyhounds from Sault Ste. Marie only needed 29 shots on goal to score 6 goals and defeat the Kitchener Rangers by a score of 6-1 in front of home crowd of 3,800 fans. The Greyhounds opened up the scoring halfway into the first period when forward Bobby Macintyre scored on the power play and left-winger Boris Katchouk scored a shorthanded goal, the first of two for Katchouk that would end up being the game winner. Rangers right winger Joseph Garreffa scored their lone goal with 3 minutes left in the game, but it was too little too late at that point. Greyhounds rookie goaltender Matthew Villalta saved 40 of the 41 shots he faced for the victory while Rangers goaltenders Luke Opilka and LukeRichardson combined to save 23 of 29 shots in the loss. This victory pushed the season series between these two teams to 3-1-0 in favor of Sault Ste. Marie and the 5-year series to 12-7-0 in favor of the greyhounds. The Greyhounds next game will take place on the roa...
Post a Comment
Read more

OHL in Primetime: Former Greyhound Murray proves invaluable to Penguins

Credit Hockeysfuture.com Near the end of the 2015-2016 NHL season the Pittsburgh Penguins were rolling into the playoffs when suddenly their star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury went out with injury. The penguins were left with a glaring opening in one of their most important positions in the game with playoffs quickly approaching. Enter Matt Murray … This 20 year old goaltender had played his last 41 games in the American Hockey League, posting a record of 25-11-3 including a goals against average of 1.54 and a .940 save % including a rookie record 12 shutouts that season. Before his jump to the pro ranks this relatively unknown goaltender played four seasons in the OHL with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and was drafted by the penguins in the second round of the 2012 NHL entry draft. Murray came onto the scene and absolutely tore it up, helping to lead the penguins to their fourth Stanley Cup in team history. This season, Murray has been bet...
Post a Comment
Read more