Friday Night Faceoff: Erliden provides calming presence for Otters
The Erie Otters experienced some goaltending turbulence in 2023-24, but are benefitting from the steadying presence of a new face in the Flagship City.
After vice-president and general manager Dave Brown made a splash with the acquisition of Ben Gaudreau, who came in last season and provided quality saves before running into injury challenges, the Otters brought in another, lesser known name that has quietly carried them along through the first half of 2024-25.
Noah Erliden, a 19-year-old from Jonkoping, Sweden, was taken with the 30th pick of the 2024 CHL Import Draft and he’s done everything asked of him through the beginning of January as the Otters sit fourth in the Western Conference and Erliden is 16-5-3-1 with a 2.88 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and two shutouts.
Long-time Otters fans would be familiar with other goaltenders chosen in the CHL Import Draft that came in and did solid work for the club including Jaroslav Janus, Oscar Dansk and Ramis Sadikov.
There’s a lot of fanfare in Erie around names like potential first overall NHL Draft pick Matthew Schaefer, former second overall OHL pick Malcolm Spence and captain Carey Terrance, but Erliden has played a big part in the team’s first half success.
“In football, they say a coach is only as good as his quarterback, in hockey, we say a coach is only as good as his goaltender,” said Stan Butler, the longest-serving active head coach in the Ontario Hockey League. “His track record of every level he’s played, he’s done really well. He’s given us really good goaltending and after coaching a team last year that went through 10 goalies, I’m quite happy that we have a goalie that every time we put him out there, we’re going to get a good start.”
Erliden has had his share of international success, winning silver medals for Sweden at both the World Under-18 Hockey Championship and Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He also claimed bronze at the World Junior A Challenge.
His calmness in the crease hasn’t gone unnoticed. Erliden has a knack for taking the wind out of the sails of the opposing offence at key points in the game.
“Any time we need a big save, whether it’s an odd-man rush or a scramble around the net, he seems to be really calm, ” said Otters assistant coach Wes Wolfe. “He comes up with the big save when we need it.”
The Otters will undoubtedly need some big saves tonight at the Aud against an always dangerous Kitchener Rangers opponent. Tonight marks the fifth of six meetings between the two clubs this season, with Kitchener having won the last three encounters.
The Otters hit the ice having won their last two games. Tune in to tonight’s #FridayNightFaceoff presented by Rogers tv and Cogeco showdown live at 7:00pm on OHL Live on CHL TV, YouTube, X and Facebook!
New year, exciting new announcement! 🎉
Introducing OHL #FridayNightFaceoff presented by @rogerstv and @cogeco with the best matchups, live for free across digital and social platforms every Friday night!
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— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) January 1, 2025
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