WEEKEND PREVIEW: Early Start and a Three-in-Three

Erie, Pennsylvania — The Otters put and end to their four-game homestand before heading to Michigan to conclude a busy three-in-three weekend.

It all starts Thursday as the Otters welcome in the Guelph Storm for the annual School Day Game. Friday the Otters will take on the Saginaw Spirit for the final time on the road this season before heading to Flint on Saturday to conclude the three-in-three.

AHEC YEAH!

NWPA AHEC’s Weekend Preview brings the latest news, promotions, and what YOU need to know before YOU go further into the new year.

Northwest Pennsylvania Area Health Education Centre is a non-profit organization committed to helping communities in Northwest Pennsylvania meet their primary health care needs and enhance the quality of health in our region, especially the rural and underserved communities.

‘AHEC’ maintains partnerships with community, government, and educational agencies and institutions that will connect students to careers, professionals to communities, and communities to better health.

Head to nwpaahec.org to learn more or to apply!

 LAST TIME OUT

The weekend would begin on home ice Friday as the Otters would take on the SOO Greyhounds for the one and only time at the EIA this season. The Hounds would start the game on top and would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Erie would strike back with two in the second as Jake Murray and Michael Dec would tickle the twine for Erie. The Otters would hold strong through the third but a late equalizer for the SOO would send the game into overtime. A scoreless OT would see the game enter a shootout, Erie’s second in a week. In the skills competition, Mclean Agrette would score the winner for the Otters, snapping their nine-game losing streak and handing the win to goaltender Noah Tegelaar against his former team.

The London Knights would make their second of three visits to Erie Saturday as the Otters would look to sweep the weekend in a season series that had been dominated by the home team until that point. The Knights would strike first before Michael Dec would even the game for Erie, scoring in his third game running. The Knights would go onto score five-unanswered goals after this moment, with Jesse Nurmi scoring a hattrick and the Knights escaping Erie with a big win.

BUSY THREE-IN-THREE

Erie kicks off their weekend with a Thursday morning battle with the Guelph Storm for the annual School Day Game.

Friday sees the Otters head to Saginaw for the second and final time this season to take on the Spirit.

The weekend comes to an end Saturday with the Otters’ last visit of the year to the Dort Financial Center in Flint to battle the Firebirds.

WHO TO WATCH

A resurgent late-January for Michael Dec has seen him take games over and rise up the leaderboard as the Otters’ leading scorer. Dec now has points in his last five games and goals in three-straight, tallying six points over that stretch. The Mississauga, ON native and Cornell commit has been a star for the Otters, coming up with goals in clutch moments for Erie. The Otters will continue to rely on Dec as he hopes to continue this red-hot pace.

Since being acquired from Flint, Ulysses Lombardi has been a solid piece for the Otters once joining the lineup. Lombardi is coming off of another strong weekend where he scored in the shootout for Erie in a must-have situation. This weekend he gets to play in Flint, the building where his brother Amadeus called home during his OHL career. Lombardi is an interesting piece for the Otters and Erie is hoping he can continue to produce at this level and looks for this weekend to be another big step in that direction.

KNOW THE FOE

The Guelph Storm have an eye on next season, however their finish to this year matters a bunch as they hope to gain valuable experience ahead of hosting the Memorial Cup in 2027. The Storm are led offensively by veteran Ethan Miedema, but it’s younger players like Tyler Hopkins, Carter Stevens and Wil McFadden that Storm fans have eyes on as they continue to develop. In net, Zachary Jovanovski has been strong, playing night-in and night-out as the Storm make their playoff push. The last meeting between these two Midwest Division rivals was a good one, Erie hopes they can knock the Storm off of its path.

The high-flying Saginaw Spirit are next for the Otters as they make their final visit to mid-Michigan. Last time these two met, the Spirit took care of business in Erie and have won both games played between the two American foes this season. The top line of Nikita Klepov, Egor Barabanov and Dima Zhilkin lead the way up-front with a combined 167 points between them. Where the Spirit lack is in depth as this line accounts for about 45 percent of their total offensive output this season. The Spirit play and open fun style to watch, which can sometimes hurt them as much as it helps them, Erie hopes they can create more of the former.

The Flint Firebirds are all-in and they should be. A strong team led by Nathan Aspinall and Alex Kostov with a terrific goaltender in Mason Vaccari got even stronger at the trade deadline when they picked up forwards Kevin He and Jacob Battaglia respectively. With He especially playing terrific in the navy and orange, with points in all but three games so far in Flint, a total of 20 in the 13 games the Winnipeg Jets’ prospect has played in the Vehicle City. The Birds are all-in and looking to keep climbing as they chase the number one seed in the Western Conference.

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN, & FOLLOW ALONG

The new home of Otters hockey is Flo Hockey!

Delivering a high-quality viewing experience, Flo Hockey provides access to more than 700 OHL games, and games from the QMJHL, AHL, ECHL, and more, streamed across a range of platforms, including PC and Tablet on Safari and Google Chrome web browsers, as well as iOS and Android mobile devices.

Fans can also see the NHL’s stars of tomorrow on the Amazon Fire, Apple TV, V and Roku platforms – right from the comfort of their homes!

For more information, head to flohockey.tv!

:

• PC and/or Tablet on Safari and Google Chrome web browsers
• iOS / Android mobile devices.
• Amazon Fire
• Apple TV
• Roku platforms

Flo Hockey provides live game action all season long, plus free-to-access video-on-demand content and a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate. For more information, head to flohockey.tv.

 

LISTEN

Listen to Otters Hockey all across Erie County with iHeart Media Erie and the Otters broadcast network!

Every game can feel like a home game as a fan with the Otters Radio Network. With live-game broadcasts of all 68 Regular Season games, fans can always hear the action as it happens. Thanks to the Broadcast Home for Otters Hockey, iHeart Media Erie, fans can listen to every game LIVE on the iHeart App from ANYWHERE in the world! From Pennsylvania to Transylvania and everywhere in between, you’ll always be in range to hear Otters Hockey.

• iHeart Media(Erie, PA) is the Flagship Station for the Otters on WJET 1400 AM, and home to Otters Hockey in Pennsylvania. Games can be heard on terrestrial radio on 96.7 FM/1400 AM in Erie and the surrounding communities of NWPA, or can be livestreamed worldwide on the iHeart App.

FOLLOW ALONG

If you want to follow along in real-time to the weekend’s games, make sure you’re following the Otters on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. From live tweets of the action, scoring updates, photos, and highlights, the Otters’ social media is the best way to keep up with the team wherever they are.

UP NEXT

The Otters are back on home ice Wednesday as they take on the Owen Sound Attack, beginning a four-game week alternating home and road games with a trip to Brantford on Friday February 13, a home game against the Flint Firebirds on February 14 and a Family Day excursion to Guelph for a 2 P.M. puck drop on February 16.