Vince Scott
The Erie Otters will retire the late Vince Scott’s No. 18 sweater before the OHL club’s home opener this coming fall. Scott, who played for the Otters from 2003-07, died in an automobile accident on April 28.
Scott’s banner will hang in the rafters with Brad Boyes’ No. 16, the first number retired in the 14-year-old franchise’s history. Sherry Bassin, Otters managing partner and general manager, made the announcement during the team’s 15th annual Summer Awards Banquet at Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel on Sunday.
“That’s only the right thing to do,” Bassin said of Scott, one of the Otters’ most popular players. “I want to look up in the rafters all the time and look at that number and remember what he meant to us.” Left wing Brett Appio wore No. 18 this past season.
In other news, OHL commissioner David Branch, the banquet’s keynote speaker, emphasized the need for respect among players, as he did in November after suspending former Otter Michael Liambas for the rest of his final junior season for a hit that seriously injured Kitchener rookie Ben Fanelli. “No boos?” Branch jokingly asked the crowd after being introduced. Liambas wasn’t in attendance.
Right wings Anthony Luciani and Shawn Szydlowski will attend Chicago Blackhawks rookie camp later this summer. … The Otters introduced their 2010 OHL draft picks and 2009 prospects, including forward Mac McDonnell, 17, an Allen Park, Mich., native who had five goals, eight points and 18 penalty minutes in 23 games this past season with the North American Hockey League’s Motor City Metal Jackets.
