Connor Brown and Connor McDavid continued their impressive offensive play Friday night. But that wasn’t enough to keep the Erie Otters from their third straight loss, 6-3, to Western Conference-leading Owen Sound in front of 2,395 at Erie Insurance Arena.
Brown scored two goals, giving five goals in the past three games and a team-leading 12 on the season, and McDavid added a goal and assist for the Otters (4-9-1-2). But Daniel Catenacci and Gemel Smith had two goals and two assists apiece for the Attack (11-2-0-2), while Jordan Binnington stopped 20-of-23 shots for his eighth win in nine tries (8-0-0-1) against the Otters.
The Attack jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, as Holden Cook scored unassisted from in close 1:27 into the opening period. Then Jaden Lindo fired a wrist slot from the right wing past Otters goaltender Oscar Dansk at the 8:08 mark to build a two-goal lead.
However, Brown’s consecutive power-play goals – his 11th and 12th goals of the season, as well as fourth and fifth in the past three games – allowed the Otters to overcome a sluggish start and erase that deficit. Brown flipped a bad-angle shot from the corner off Binnington and inside the left post to move the Otters within 2-1 with 8:44 left in the period.
McDavid’s pinpoint pass to Brown in front tied the score at 2 with 5:59 left in the period. McDavid extended his point streak to 15 straight games. He has points in 15 of his first 16 career games. Yet the more experienced Attack gained momentum through their aggressive, attacking style. Owen Sound outshot the Otters 20-3 in the period, including Smith’s rebound in close with 4:11 left in the period that snapped the 2-2 tie. Dansk (32 saves on 38 shots) made several key saves, including on a shorthanded breakaway moments after the Attack took the lead. Owen Sound also began the third with 1:33 left on a power play. But moments after coming out of the penalty box, McDavid stole the puck at the Otters’ blue line and scored on an end-to-end rush to the the score at 3 at the 1:55 mark.
Yet the Attack responded quickly to take a 4-3 lead, as Catenacci scored on a rebound in front 1:05 after McDavid’s goal. Then Catenacci’s second goal of the night and 10th of the season, scored with 8:28 left, handed the Attack a two-goal lead. The Attack sealed the win on Smith’s second goal of the game with 4:17 left.
* News and notes: Troy Donnay left the game after appearing to block a shot with his right foot. His status for tonight’s game against the Attack is unknown. Adam Pelech was able to play Friday despite a bruised left ankle suffered while blocking shots in consecutive games last weekend. … Otters coach Robbie Ftorek altered his top two lines by moving Luke Cairns to the wing alongside McDavid and Brown on the No. 1 line and putting J.P. Labardo in between Connor Crisp and rookie Hayden Hodgson on the second line.

- Victor Fernandes

LONDON, Ontario – The Erie Otters produced an exciting and entertaining performance on national television Friday night.
Better yet, they produced a much-needed win. Connor Brown scored the only goal in a four-round shootout to hand the Otters a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in front of 9,046 fans at Budweiser Gardens and a nationwide viewing audience on NHL Network.
The Otters (3-6-1-1) snapped a four-game losing streak, as well as avenged a pair of earlier losses to the Knights – 8-2 in London Sept. 21 and 4-3 in Erie Oct. 6. In the last meeting, the Otters rallied from a two-goal deficit to force overtime before losing in a nine-round shootout. Erie also rallied from two goals down this time around to force overtime and a shootout.
London (5-3-0-1) took an early lead on Max Domi’s sixth goal of the season 46 seconds into the opening period. Then Josh Anderson’s goal at the 14:24 mark handed the Knights a 2-0 lead. But J.P. Labardo’s goal with 37 seconds left in the period sparked the comeback.
Connor McDavid and Troy Donnay assisted on the goal, with McDavid extending his point streak to 10 straight games. Then the Otters tied the score at 2 on Adam Pelech’s power-play goal 4:39 into the second period. After a scoreless third period and overtime, these Midwest Division rivals headed to a shootout. Yet it didn’t last as long this time, and the Otters enjoyed a better result.
Both teams failed to score on their first three shots. But Otters goaltender Oscar Dansk stopped Ryan Rupert to start the final round, and then Brown beat Knights goaltender Kevin Bailie for the winning goal. Dansk finished with 37 saves through regulation and overtime and four more in the shootout. Bailie stopped 34-of-36 shots in the first 65 minutes and three in the shootout.
Stephen Harper and Luke Cairns also had assists for the Otters, which head home to face Windsor today at 7 p.m. at Erie Insurance Arena.

The Erie Otters rallied from two goals down on home ice for the second straight weekend. Yet they experienced the same result.
Dylan Smoskowitz scored his second goal of the night with 2 minutes, 20 seconds left in the game, as Mississauga handed the Otters a 4-3 loss in front of 2,483 at Erie Insurance Arena. Erie (2-5-1-1) lost for the third consecutive time despite erasing a 3-1 deficit.
Veteran defenseman Troy Donnay and Adam Pelech scored their first goals of the season four minutes apart midway through the third period to complete the comeback. Pelech collided with Steelheads goaltender Tyson Teichmann, a former Erie Otter, on the play. That sent Teichmann off the ice with an apparent leg injury. No. 1 Connor McDavid assisted on Pelech’s tying goal with 9:45 left to extend his point streak to eight games. But Smoskowitz followed with the game winner for the Steelheads (5-3-0-1).
Spencer Martin stopped all three shots he faced in relief of Teichmann to earn the victory. Otters goaltender Oscar Dansk took the loss after allowing four goals on 38 shots. Mississauga outshot the Otters 39-27. Yet Erie opened the scoring on Connor Crisp‘s third goal of the season 7:42 into the opening period. But the Steelheads tied the score on Josh Burnside‘s goal with 30 seconds left in the period.
Then Mississauga built a 3-1 lead in the second, as Smoskowitz scored the tiebreaker at the 7:47 mark and Spenser Cobbold followed with his first goal of the season less than six minutes later. The Otters overcame that deficit, much like they did in a 4-3 shootout loss to London at home last Saturday night. But just like in that game, the Otters couldn’t turn the comeback into a victory.
Crisp added an assist to his goal. Luke Cairns also had an assist for the Otters. Burnside and Cobbold had a goal and assist apiece for the Steelheads, while Riley Brace had two assists. The Otters return to action Thursday with a 7:05 p.m. game in Windsor.

The Erie Otters have three players with numbers over 40 on their sweaters – defenseman Troy Donnay (No. 57) and centers Dane Fox (No. 74) and Connor McDavid (No. 97). In contrast, three players combined had numbers over 40 in the franchise’s previous 15 seasons – Nikita Alexeev (No. 81), Jason Ward (No. 61) and Jeff Zehr (No. 55). Alexeev was the last Otter to do it in 2001.
Sherry Bassin, Otters managing partner and general manager, had maintained a strict rule about numbers all these years. He never understood why anyone needed numbers much higher, since there were many to choose from between 0 and 40. “You didn’t all those big numbers,” Bassin said.
Yet Bassin has relaxed on that rule since he presented No. 1 pick McDavid with No. 97 at the team’s OHL draft party in April. “Everybody’s got to change,” Bassin said. Now he said, “It doesn’t make a difference to me.”

- Victor Fernandes

The Erie Otters cut 5 more players from training camp today, leaving the roster at 28 heading into tonight’s preseason opener against Niagara at Morgan Firestone Arena in Ancaster, Ontario.
The latest cuts included 2011 draft picks Sean Darroch and Justin Maiolino, who had brief stints with the Otters last season, and free agents Aidan Muir, Sebastian Stangherlin and Lucas Venuto.
Here’s a list of the remaining players in camp:

Veterans: RW Nick Betz, RW Connor Brown, G Keinan Brown, C Luke Cairns, LW Anthony Cortellessa, C Connor Crisp, D Troy Donnay, C Mitch Eisenberg, C Jake Evans, C Dane Fox (injured), D Nathan Glass, LW Stephen Harper, D Liam Maaskant, LW Mac McDonnell, D Jimmy McDowell, RW Johnny McGuire, RW Sondre Olden (expected to join the team Monday), D Adam Pelech, G Devin Williams, D/LW Travis Wood

Prospects: G Oscar Dansk (signed), D Justin Felker (agreed to terms), RW Hayden Hodgson (agreed to terms), C Blake Jones, D Artem Kuleshov (unsigned, expected to join the team Monday), C Connor McDavid (signed), D Patrick Murphy (signed), C Kyle Pettit (signed)

CAMP ROSTER
(subject to change)
Goaltenders (5)
Oscar Dansk – 2012 CHL Import Draft (1st round), 2012 NHL Entry Draft (Columbus, 2nd round)
Daniel DeKoning – 2012 OHL Priority Selection
Jake Ireland – 2012 OHL Priority Selection
Nate Miller – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (9th round; Millcreek Township native)
Devin Williams – Veteran

Left defense (9)
Kyle Allan – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (15th round)
Greg Allen – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (6th round)
Travis Dermott – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (9th round)
Justin Felker – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (2nd round)
Kris Grant – Veteran
Artem Kuleshov – 2012 CHL Import Draft (2nd round)
Adam Pelech – Veteran
Sebastian Stangherlin – Free-agent invite
Travis Wood – Veteran

Right defense (10)
Troy Donnay – Veteran
Nathan Glass – Veteran
Nathan Kohler – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (14th round)
Liam Maaskant – Veteran
Jimmy McDowell – Veteran
Patrick Murphy – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (5th round; played 9 games with Erie in 2011-12)
Darren Raddysh – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (5th round)
Riley Robertson – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (3rd round)
Troy Saunders – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (12th round)
Francesco Tolfa – Free-agent invite

Centers (9)
Luke Cairns – Veteran
Jake Evans – Veteran
Blake Jones – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (14th round)
Justin Maiolino – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (13th round; played 2 games with Erie in 2011-12)
Connor McDavid – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (No. 1 overall)
Mac McDonnell – Veteran
Aidan Muir – Free-agent invite
Kyle Petit – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (2nd round)
Bryan Sienerth – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (13th round; Millcreek Township native)

Left wing (10)
Anthony Cortellessa – Veteran
Connor Crisp – Veteran
Jordan Dunin – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (7th round)
Mitch Eisenberg – Veteran
Nathan Feric – Free-agent invite
Dane Fox – Veteran (fractured foot; not expected to participate in camp)
Stephen Harper – Veteran
Quentin Maksimovich – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (11th round)
Lucas Venuto – Free-agent invite
Kurt Wolff – Free-agent invite

Right wing (7)
Nick Betz – Veteran
Connor Brown – Veteran, 2012 NHL Entry Draft (Toronto, 6th round)
Sean Darroch – 2011 OHL Priority Selection (8th round; played 7 games with Erie in 2011-12)
Hayden Hodgson – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (3rd round)
Thomas Lattavo – 2012 OHL Priority Selection (6th round)
Johnny McGuire – Veteran
Sondre Olden – Veteran

Erie Otters center Dane Fox stands 46th among North American skaters on NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, which was released Monday. Five teammates join him on the list, including first-tim selection Luke Cairns. The veteran center is considered No. 189 among North American skaters after not appearing on Central Scouting’s preliminary and midterm lists.
Right wing Connor Brown (No. 110 from No. 85 in the midterm rankings) as well as defensemen Adam Pelech (No. 120 from No. 54), Troy Donnay (No. 122 from No. 115) and Liam Maaskant(No. 195 from No. 134) slipped down the list.
Former Otters winger Chris Marchese, now with Windsor, stands at No. 122. Center Drake Caggiula, the Otters’ third-round pick in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection, appears at No. 185. Caggiula, who played for Stouffville in the Ontario Junior A Hockey League this season, has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey at North Dakota.
Sarnia’s duo of right wing Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk rank first and fourth, respectively, followed by Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci (sixth), Kitchener center Radek Faksa (seventh) and London defenseman Olli Maatta (eighth). Belleville’s Malcolm Subban (first), Saginaw’s Jake Paterson (third) and Kitchener’s Frank Palazzese (ninth) rank among the top 10 North American goaltenders.
The NHL draft takes place June 22-23 at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Check out the the complete rankings by clicking on the link.

TORONTO – The National Hockey League will release the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s final rankings for the 2012 NHL Draft on Monday at 11 a.m. The rankings, featuring the top 210 skaters and 35 goaltenders in North America as well as the top 120 skaters and 11 goaltenders from Europe, will be available on NHL.com and media.nhl.com.
The 2012 NHL Draft will take place at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The first round will take place June 22, commencing at 7 p.m., and the subsequent rounds (two through seven) will begin at 10 a.m. June 23.
Five Erie Otters were listed among the North American skaters on Central Scouting’s midterm rankings released in January – forwards Dane Fox(No. 48) and Connor Brown (No. 85) and defensemen Adam Pelech (No. 54), Troy Donnay (No. 115) and Liam Maaskant (No. 134).

- From NHL release, staff report

The Erie Otters had a new goaltender in for the second straight game.

Keinan Brown, on emergency loan from Peterborough, made 33 saves in his Otters’ debut Saturday night at Tullio Arena. But that wasn’t enough, as the Otters lost to Kitchener 6-4 in front of 3,245 fans.

The Otters (10-48-3-3) are assured of setting a new franchise record for fewest wins in a season. They trail the 2006-07 club (15 wins) by five wins with four games left in the season.

The Otters (10-48-3-3) actually built a 2-1 first-period lead on goals from goals from rookie Jake Evans and Mac McDonnell. Evans scored 1 minute, 3 seconds into the game on assists from Sondre Olden and Troy Donnay – 44 seconds after Radek Faksa, the Rangers’ high-scoring rookie, opened the scoring.

Then McDonnell snapped the 1-1 tie on McDonnell’s goal with 7:41 left in the period. Connor Crisp and Mitch Eisenberg assisted on the goal, with Crisp earning his first point of the season in his first game at forward. Crisp, who missed the first five months recovering from shoulder surgery, made his season debut last Sunday as an emergency goaltender in a 13-4 loss at Niagara.

But 1:02 later, Brent Pedersen’s goal tied the score at 2 and sparked the Rangers’ decisive four-goal outburst that built a 5-2 lead. Tobias Rieder scored 10 seconds into the second to give the Rangers (40-22-1-1) the lead for good at 3-2. He scored again, this time on the power play, at the 2:30 mark of the period.

Faksa capped the offensive surge followed with his second goal of the game 5:19 into the period.

Anthony Cortellessa scored twice, with 8:17 left in the second and again 7:37 into the third, to move the Otters within a goal 5-4. But goaltender John Gibson, who stopped Otters forward Luke Cairns on a penalty shot midway through the second, and the Rangers’ defense held off the Otters the rest of the way.

Then Andrew Crescenzi scored into an empty net, his 24^th goal of the season, with 37 seconds to seal the Rangers’ victory. Rieder paced the Rangers with two goals and two assists. Ben Thomson had two assists while Gibson stopped 32-of-36 shots. Cortellessa (two goals), McDonnell (goal, assist) Donnay (two assists) and Eisenberg (two assists) led the Otters with two points apiece.

The Erie Otters have a rare winning streak.

The Otters captured their second straight win with a 7-4 come-from-behind victory against Brampton in front of 2,565 at Tullio Arena Friday night. The Otters (7-37-3-1) rallied from a 3-0 second-period deficit.

Erie was propelled by rookie Connor Brown’s first OHL hat trick and the power play’s four goals on five chances. Luke Cairns added three assists, as 12 different Otters contributed points.

The Battalion (27-14-3-6), which entered the game near the bottom of the OHL with 147 goals scored, took control with two goals in the opening 7 minutes, 20 seconds.

Matt MacLeod scored off a scramble in front 1:57 into the game. Jamie Lewis and Jordan Auld assisted on the goal. Then Brandon Robinson scored off assists from Brett Mackie and Patrik Machac 7:20 into the opening period for a 2-0 lead.

Brampton extended its lead to 3-0 on Robinson’s second goal of the night 7:04 into the second period.

But Brown’s tip-in on the power play 8:48 into the second ignited the Otters’ three-goal comeback. Fellow rookie Stephen Harper poked a rebound of Kris Grant’s shot past Battalion goaltender Keegan Wilson 1:20 later to pull the Otters within 3-2. Then Adam Pelech’s blast from the point, which briefly lifted the net off its moorings, tied the score at 3 with 1:59 left in the period.

Meanwhile, Otters goaltender Ramis Sadikov overcame his struggles earlier in the game to stop 20-of-21 shots in the middle period. The Otters entered the third tied despite being outshot 36-17. Sadikov finished with 47 saves to offset Brampton’s 51-30 shot advantage.

Both teams took a conservative approach through the opening half of the third. But the Otters capitalized on the power play for the second time, this time from an unexpected source – Mac McDonnell.

He scored his first goal since Dec. 10 and fifth of the season on an assist from Troy Donnay to snap the 3-3 tie with 9:26 left. The Battalion tied the score at 4 with 6:13 left on Sam Carrick’s 26^th goal of the season.

But the Battalion’s second penalty for delay of the game – and the fourth such penalty overall – led to Brown’s tiebreaking power-play goal with 3:13 left. McDonnell’s second goal iced the victory.

- Victor Fernandes

SUMMARY

Otters 7, Battalion 4

Brampton  2  1  1  —  4

Erie  0  3  4  —  7

1^st Period — 1. Brampton, Matt MacLeod 7 (Lewis, Auld), 1:57. 2. Brampton, Brandon Robinson 11 (Mackie, Machac), 7:20. Penalties — Maaskant (E) delay of game, 13:56; Pelech (E) delay of game, 3:48.

2^nd Period — 3. Brampton, Robinson 12 (Machac), 7:04. 4. Erie, Connor Brown 16 (Grant, Cairns), 8:48 (pp). 5. Erie, Stephen Harper 16 (Grant, Olden), 10:08. 6. Erie, Adam Pelech 2 (Fox, McDowell), 18:01. Penalties — Mackie (B) interference, 7:40; Pelech (E) tripping, 14:29.

3^rd Period — 7. Erie, Mac McDonnell 5 (Donnay), 10:34 (pp). 8. Brampton, Sam Carrick 26 (Goodrow, Miller), 13:47. 9. Erie, Brown 17 (Wood, Cairns), 16:37 (pp). 10. Erie, McDonnell 6 (McCarthy), 17:13. 11. Erie, Brown 18 (Cairns), 19:42 (pp-en). Penalties — Wind (B) tripping, 1:04; Carrick (B) delay of game, 8:41; Watters (B) delay of game, 14:55; Carrick (B) cross checking, 18:25; Donnay (E) roughing, 18:25; Miller (B) roughing, 18:25; Carrick (B) 10-min. misconduct, 18:25.

Shots on goal — Brampton, 15-21-15—51; Erie, 9-8-13—30.

Goaltenders — Brampton, Keegan Wilson 9-5-3-2 (29 shots, 23 saves); Erie, Ramis Sadikov 4-18-3-1 (51 shots, 47 saves).

Power plays — Brampton (0-3), Erie (4-5).

Referees — Keith Kaval, Joe Celestin. Linesmen — Ryan Holmstead, Jesse Wilmot.

Attendance — 2,565.

Three stars

* Connor Brown, Otters (3 goals) ** Mac McDonnell, Otters (2 goals) *** Ramis Sadikov, Otters (47 saves)