Shootout

HOCKEY UPDATE: Millcreek Township’s Sienerth commits to Miami

Victor Fernandes — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:57:10 +0000

Millcreek Township native Bryan Sienerth, who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite’s Under-16 hockey club this past season, has verbally committed to Miami University, a NCAA Division I school in Oxford, Ohio. Sienerth, 17, chose the RedHawks over scholarship offers from Dartmouth and Mercyhurst.
Sienerth also had interest from other schools both in and out of the Ivy League. “I pretty much fell in love (with the school) as soon as I got there,” Sienerth said of Miami. He credited advice from Justin Mercier, a Millcreek Township native and former Miami standout who has played professionally in the NHL (Colorado Avalanche) and overseas, for helping him make his decision. “Everything fell into place,” Sienerth said.
Sienerth would join the RedHawks as part of the incoming freshman class for the 2015-16 season or 2016-17 season, depending on how well he plays in the next two seasons. He will play for the Penguins Elite’s Under-18 team next season, and possibly some games for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Stampede, which selected Sienerth in the eighth round of the United States Hockey League draft last month. He hopes to play full time for Sioux Falls in the 2014-15 season.
The Erie Otters chose him in the 13th round of the 2012 OHL Priority Selection. He attended training camp in Ancaster, Ontario, last August as well as the club’s rookie development camp a month ago. He hasn’t ruled out the OHL in the future, since NCAA players can leave school to play at the major junior level.

- Victor Fernandes

OTTERS UPDATE: CHL banning goaltenders from future Import drafts

Victor Fernandes — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:04:04 +0000

Canadian Hockey League teams have one more chance to select goaltenders in the CHL Import Draft.
On Tuesday, the league announced goaltenders won’t be eligible for the annual draft of European-born players starting in 2014. Goaltenders born in 1994 and 1995 can be chosen in the first round of this year’s two-round draft, which will be held July 3. The decision, which was approved by the CHL’s Board of Directors at a meeting in May, is in apparent response to the need to create more opportunities for Canadian-born goaltenders at the major junior level.
“The goaltender position is the most important in our game,” CHL president David Branch, who also serves as Ontario Hockey League commissioner, said in a prepared statement. “In partnership with Hockey Canada, the CHL has identified the need to further develop Canadian goaltenders by providing increased opportunities for them to compete in our league and succeed at the next level.”
European-born goaltenders currently with teams in the CHL’s three leagues – the OHL, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League – or selected in next month’s draft can continue to play until their eligibility expires. The Erie Otters, who have the fifth overall pick in this coming draft, already have Swedish goaltender Oscar Dansk on the roster. The Otters selected Dansk third overall in the 2012 CHL draft. They also enjoyed past success with European-born goaltenders, including Jaroslav Janus (No. 2 overall in 2007) and Ramis Sadikov (No. 36 overall in 2009).

HOCKEY UPDATE: Jamestown’s NAHL club suspends operations

Victor Fernandes — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:50:29 +0000

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. – The Jamestown Ironmen hockey club has suspended operations for the 2013-14 season, Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena officials announced Wednesday. The Ironmen spent the past two seasons in the North American Hockey League, the largest USA Hockey-sanctioned Junior A league that recently completed its 37th season. They finished second in the North Division this past season with a 37-19-4 record, and then won the division’s playoff title before finishing fourth in the four-team Robertson Cup national championship tournament.
The roster included Erie native Nathan Ropelewski, 19, a forward who had four goals and seven points in 24 regular-season games and one point in eight playoff games.
“The team made a valiant effort at the Robertson Cup this season, and that effort was matched by some local people and business owners who worked diligently in multiple attempts to save the team and maintain operations for the 2013-2014 season,” Kurt Silcott, the arena’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Unfortunately those efforts ultimately did not come to fruition, and the team will not be playing in the upcoming season.”
In the statement, Ironmen owner Kenji Yamada said that “I am strongly looking forward to make the Jamestown Ironmen come back on the ice for the 2014-2015 season.”

OTTERS UPDATE: Former Otters broadcaster Jeanneret to join ESC

Victor Fernandes — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:44:18 +0000

The Erie Sports Commission has hired Mark Jeanneret, the Erie Otters’ former play-by-play broadcaster and media relations director, as its new events director. He joins a full-time staff that includes executive director Ron Sertz, who hired Jeanneret in 1996 while serving as minority owner and director of operations for the Otters. Jeanneret, son of Buffalo Sabres broadcasting legend Rick Jeanneret, spent 11 seasons with the OHL franchise before joining the AHL’s Portland Pirates in September 2009 as director of communications and play-by-play broadcaster.
Most recently, he was editorial project manager for Mainebiz, the online home for Maine Business News, since August 2012 and a freelance sports reporter in the Portland, Maine, area since September 2011.
“I am extremely excited to be offered this opportunity to return to the Erie sports scene,” Jeanneret said in a prepared statement. “Some of my fondest memories, both personally and professionally, took place in Erie.”

LAKER UPDATE: AHA expands schedule, number of scholarships

Victor Fernandes — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:25:35 +0000

Atlantic Hockey Association’s annual board of directors meetings ended in Waltham, Mass., this week with changes to league policies that begin taking effect in the 2014-15 season. The addition of two scholarships and one game to the conference schedule for each school headlined those changes.
Teams will play 28 conference games – 14 at home and 14 on the road – one more than they played this past season. Schools also will be allowed 13 scholarships – one more than in past seasons – starting in the 2014-15 season and a 14th scholarship in the 2015-16 season. The directors also determined that any supplemental discipline of two games or fewer cannot be appealed to the executive committee.
They also received AHA commissioner Bob DeGregorio’s proposal regarding the conference’s potential expansion following Connecticut’s move to Hockey East Association following the 2013-14 season. Two unnamed schools have expressed interest in replacing the Huskies.

OTTERS UPDATE: Otters’ McDavid featured in Sports Illustrated

Victor Fernandes — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:25:01 +0000

Add another major publication – Sports Illustrated – to the always growing list of media outlets throughout North America that have done feature stories on hockey phenom Connor McDavid since he joined the Erie Otters as a 15-year-old at the start of the 2013-14 OHL season.
Sports Illustrated has a four-page article in its latest magazine entitled “The Next Next Next One.” McDavid, the highly touted No. 1 pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection who’s already expected to be the top pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, also has been featured by media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today and ESPN.com, The Hockey News, Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail in Toronto) and Le Journal de Montreal.
McDavid, 16, a native of Newmarket, Ontario, finished second among all OHL rookies with 66 points in the regular season. He won a gold medal, and led all scorers with 14 points in seven games, with Canada in the IIHF U18 World Championship in Sochi, Russia.

OTTERS UPDATE: Erie’s Kaval, former Otters at World Championships

Victor Fernandes — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:01:05 +0000

There’s added local flavor on the ice in Helsinki, Finland today at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Erie native Keith Kaval is officiating today’s game between host Finland and Slovakia. Former Erie Otters goaltender Jaroslav Janus is on Slovakia’s roster, but he’s scratched for this game. He has an 0-2 record, 3.00 goals-against average and .875 save percentage in two games in the tournament.
Former Otters captain Ryan O’Reilly, a forward with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, is playing for Canada. He has a goal and three points in seven games.
UPDATE: Kaval will travel to Stockholm, Sweden to officiate in the tournament’s medal round.

OTTERS UPDATE: Bassin denies Otters’ relocation rumors (LATEST)

Victor Fernandes — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:50:06 +0000

Sherry Bassin continues to deny reports of the Erie Otters’ impending move to Ontario. First, it was Hamilton. Now it’s the Chatham-Kent region.
“Absolutely no truth to it,” Bassin, the OHL club’s managing partner and general manager, said in response to a Chatham-Kent Sports Network report Tuesday stating that a deal has been reached to sell the franchise to a “prominent local businessman.”
Bassin previously has denied reports of the franchise’s potential move to Hamilton, including a report that he has spoken with Michael Andlauer, owner of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, about purchasing the Otters. “Everytime I turn around, I’m going to five different places,” Bassin said.
According to the Chatham-Kent Sports Network report, an announcement regarding the Otters likely would be made following the Memorial Cup, the CHL’s annual championship tournament, which begins Friday and runs through May 26 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Bassin said he continues to receive inquiries about the Otters. “That’s it,” Bassin said, referring to not moving any closer to selling the franchise. Bassin said franchises can’t be sold and moved without approval from the OHL through a lengthy league-mandated process. “The process is so complicated. It’s so involved,” he said.
David Branch, OHL commissioner and CHL president, wasn’t immediately available for comment Wednesday, since he was traveling to Saskatoon.
Bassin, who moved the franchise to Erie from Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1996, has one year left on a two-year lease agreement with the Erie County Convention Center Authority, which operates Erie Insurance Arena. The Otters are set to play the 2013-14 season in a newly renovated arena.
Chatham-Kent Sports Network reported that a recent meeting between the Otters and “the organization that operates their arena” to work on a new lease had been canceled twice in the span of a week. Bassin said he has had no meetings scheduled with the ECCCA. “We’ll look at that. We’ll see how things go,” Bassin said of pursuing a lease beyond next season, referring to waiting to evaluate the final arena renovations and community response toward the team next season. Casey Wells, ECCCA executive director, didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message Wednesday.

- Victor Fernandes

OTTERS UPDATE: Bassin denies Otters’ sale, relocation rumors

Victor Fernandes — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:59:42 +0000

Sherry Bassin continues to deny reports of the Erie Otters’ impending move to Ontario. First, it was Hamilton. Now it’s the Chatham-Kent region.
“Absolutely no truth to it,” Bassin, the OHL club’s managing partner and general manager, said in response to a Chatham-Kent Sports Network report Tuesday stating that a deal has been reached to sell the franchise to a “prominent local businessman.”
Bassin previously has denied reports of the franchise’s potential move to Hamilton, including a report that he has spoken with Michael Andlauer, owner of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, about purchasing the Otters. “Everytime I turn around, I’m going to five different places,” Bassin said.
According to the Chatham-Kent Sports Network report, an announcement regarding the Otters likely would be made following the Memorial Cup, the CHL’s annual championship tournament, which begins Friday and runs through May 26 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Bassin said he continues to receive inquiries about the Otters. “That’s it,” Bassin said, referring to not moving any closer to selling the franchise. Bassin said franchises can’t be sold and moved without approval from the OHL through a lengthy league-mandated process. “The process is so complicated. It’s so involved,” he said.
David Branch, OHL commissioner and CHL president, wasn’t immediately available for comment Wednesday, since he was traveling to Saskatoon.
Bassin, who moved the franchise to Erie from Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1996, has one year left on a two-year lease agreement with the Erie County Convention Center Authority, which operates Erie Insurance Arena. The Otters are set to play the 2013-14 season in a newly renovated arena.
When asked about pursuing a lease extension with the ECCCA, Bassin said, “We’ll look at that. We’ll see how things go.”

- Victor Fernandes

OTTERS UPDATE: London, Knights to host 2014 Memorial Cup

Victor Fernandes — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:35:13 +0000

The city of London, Ontario, and the OHL’s London Knights will host the 2014 Mastercard Memorial Cup, the league announced Tuesday.
The Knights earned the right to hold the CHL’s annual tournament, which includes champions of the OHL, WHL and QMJHL and the host club, over the Barrie Colts and Windsor Spitfires. Officials from all three clubs made formal bid presentations to the site selection committee this past April 17.
The Knights’ potential roster, which has more than 22 players eligible to return from a team that won a second straight league championship Monday, proved to be in the Knights’ favor. “The site selection committee determined that while all three clubs possess sufficient elements for a suitable host city,” OHL legal counsel Gord Kirke, a committee members, said in a statement, “it is the projected quality of the London Knights Hockey Club next season that is the decisive factor.” The 96th annual tournament will be held at Budweiser Gardens in London May 16-25, 2014. The Knights begin play in the 2013 Memorial Cup Friday in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, against the host Saskatoon Blades.