Otters trio enjoys remarkable finish

Sunday March 22, 2015

A triple-threat that filled scoresheets across the Ontario Hockey League this season, the 1997-born trio of Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat led the Erie Otters to a second consecutive 50-win season after Sunday’s 8-7 win over the Niagara IceDogs.

The Otters played to a record of 50-14-2-2 for 104 points to finish first in the Midwest Division and second in the Western Conference. Erie had the second most goals for in the OHL this season with 331 and ended the year on a 10-game winning streak.

Dylan Strome’s career-high six point effort (4-2–6) on Sunday propelled him past London’s Mitchell Marner for the OHL scoring lead. Strome finishes his sophomore season with 45 goals, 84 assists and 129 points in 68 games, surpassing Connor Brown’s 2013-14 total of 128 points to set a new Otters single-season points record. Watch Strome win OHL scoring title.

Strome had points in 58 of his 68 games this season, registering a total of 40 multi-point games. His 129 points are the most by any OHL player since Patrick Kane (145 points), John Tavares (134 points), Sergei Kostitsyn (131 points) and Tyler Donati (129 points) topped the list of OHL scoring leaders during the 2006-07 season.

Otters captain Connor McDavid finished his third OHL season with 44 goals, 76 assists and 120 points in just 47 games while also leading the OHL in plus/minus with a rating of plus-60. McDavid had points in 45 of his 47 games and strung together the league’s longest point streak of the season with a trend lasting 27 games from November 7 to March 8. He amassed a total of 67 points (26-41–67) in that span. Watch McDavid join 100pt club.

McDavid finished the year with a total of 2.55 points-per-game, eclipsing other notable marks set by Rob Schremp (2.54 points-per-game in 2005-06), Jason Allison (2.53 points-per-game in 1993-94) and Patrick Kane (2.50 points-per-game in 2006-07).

Seventeen year-old rookie Alex DeBrincat joined Strome and McDavid in the Otters’ 100-point club on Sunday with a goal and five assists against Niagara. The Farmington Hills, MI, native becomes the first rookie in Otters history to score 50 goals and reach 100 points in a season. He is the OHL’s first 17 year-old rookie since Plymouth’s David Legwand during the 1997-98 season to reach the century mark in points while scoring at least 50 goals. DeBrincat finished the year with 51 markers, 53 assists and 104 points in 68 games. Watch DeBrincat score 50.

The Otters join the London Knights (Marner, Dvorak, Domi) and Barrie Colts (Blandisi, Labanc, Mangiapane) as the third team to have three 100-point scorers this season, marking the first time since the 1984-85 campaign that at least three different OHL clubs have accomplished the feat.

The 1984-85 Belleville Bulls (MacLean, Linseman, MacIntyre), Cornwall Royals (Bukowski, Ferguson, Tomlak), Peterborough Petes (Teevens, Tottle, Burridge), and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (Groulx, Bonar, Felix) all had a trio of players reach the 100-point mark.

McDavid and Strome are both eligible for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft while DeBrincat will hit the scouting watch lists next fall as he’ll be elgible for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

The Otters embark on the 2015 OHL Playoffs with a first round series against the Sarnia Sting that begins at home on Thursday. The Otters and Sting have twice met in the first round of the OHL Playoffs, with Erie prevailing on both occasions in 2002 and 2004.

Take a look at the complete schedule for the first round of the 2015 OHL Playoffs.