Erie feeling for fans
Regional rooting interest greatest for the Erie Otters in Memorial Cup tournament
It’s Memorial Cup season, time again for Niagara to annex a 13th municipality.
This year Erie, Pa., will be added to the lineup of localities for the duration of the major junior hockey playoffs.
Regional rooting interest is highest for the Otters, and understandably so given the history of the much-travelled franchise. Since being established as the original Windsor Spitfires, the nomads made stops in St. Catharines, as the Fincups in 1976-77; and as well as in Niagara Falls, as the Thunder, from 1988 until the move to Erie in 1996.
With three players on the roster and an assistant coach on the staff, the Ontario Hockey League’s newest champion is also the closest thing Niagara has to a hometown hopeful in the four-team tournament that gets underway Friday in Windsor.
Forward Christian Girhiny, 18, of Thorold scored 12 goals and collected 13 assists in 68 regular season games in his second season in Erie. He has three assists and is a plus-6 in 22 games so far in the playoffs.
Goaltender Joe Murdaca, 19, of Niagara Falls earned two shutouts, compiled a 2.50 goals-against average and a 0.903 save percentage in 19 games in league play since he was acquired from Mississagua earlier in the season. He has allowed an average of 2.12 goals and a 0.944 save percentage in two playoff games.
Centre Carson Edwardson, 17, also of Niagara Falls, had two goals and two assists in 36 games during the regular season, his first in the OHL. He’s been a healthy scratch
In comparison, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs don’t have anyone from the region on their active roster, nor do the host Spitfires.
Ditto for the Regina Pats and Seattle Thunderbirds, who are locked in a battle to emerge as the representative from the Western Hockey League. Seattle is heading into Game 6 Sunday night in Regina leading the Pats three games to two in the best-of-seven final.
On Friday night the Otters scored three unanswered goals and edged the visiting Mississauga Steelheads 4-3 in overtime to capture their second league championship and first since 2002.
The team enjoyed a day off Saturday to celebrate, but it was back on the ice the very next afternoon to prepare for the final leg in a season-long marathon to bring a Memorial Cup to northwestern Pennsylvania.
Wes Wolfe, who assists head coach Kris Knoblauch behind the bench with offensive matchups and also does pre-scouting for the team, said it would be accurate to describe the 201617 season as “Memorial Cup or bust” for the Otters.
The 27-year-old from Niagara Falls said a loss to the Steelheads in the OHL final would have been a “major disappointment.”
“The slogan we had around here was ‘All In,’” Wolfe said in giving credit to general manager Dave Brown and Kris Knoblauch for building an organization that has put together a CHL-record four straight 50-win seasons.
“There were so many team and individual accolades along the way, but the one thing we haven’t been able to do is win the OHL championship and get to the Memorial Cup.”
Indeed, advancing to the Memorial Cup was the Otters’ No. 1 goal since the outset of training camp.
“(The date) ‘5-28-17’ has been written on the whiteboard in our room since the start of the playoffs, it’s on our playoff shirts,” Wolfe said. “We wanted to be there on May 28th, which is the Memorial Cup final. “That was our goal all along.” Like his fellow Niagaran, Girhiny is already starting to put the OHL championship in the rear-view mirror.
“It’s been an amazing journey for me personally, but our work is still not done,” said Girhiny, who is completing his second season with the Otters.
“We set a goal to win a Memorial Cup, and we will work as hard as we can to be able to hoist the cup on May 28.”
Still, winning the J. Ross Robertson Cup before a franchise-record 6,781 fans in Erie was highlight Girhiny won’t soon forget.
“It’s a great feeling to finally win an OHL championship, not just for the team but for the whole city of Erie,” he said. “It’s been a long journey for us, but we can call ourselves champions.
“Since the beginning of the season, we knew we had a team that would be able to do great things.”
Murdaca has come a long way since starting the season as a thirdstring goalie in Mississauga. He found describing the OHL title difficult to put into words.
“It’s probably close to one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt, and to know I had a pretty big role in it makes it 10 times better,” he said. “Erie gave me the opportunity no other team did, so I’m very thankful for that.
“Erie is a great city and the fans make the atmosphere second to none. I can’t wait to come back next year.”
Key additions as the trade deadline approached served to strengthen that roster and underscore the team’s commitment of being All In for 5-28-17. Centre Anthony Cirelli was acquired from the Oshawa Generals, centre Warren Foegele from the Kingston Frontenacs and forward Cameron Lizotte from the Barrie Colts.
It as Cirelli who netted the game-winning goal in overtime in the series-clinching victory over the Steelheads. Erie won the series four games to one.
Before joining the Otters coaching staff, Wolfe served as head coach of two junior B teams in Niagara: the St. Catharines Falcons and the Pelham Panthers.