November 29, 2016

The Erie Otters met Mississauga at the Erie Insurance Arena before their departure for a three-game road-trip to start December. The Otters featured the OHL’s two leading scorers in Taylor Raddysh and Alex DeBrincat, with goaltender Troy Timpano leading the league in wins, and Allan McShane ranked at number five in rookie scoring. The Otters dominated the Steelheads through three periods and came away with a 9-2 victory.

Erie’s star-power converted early in the first period. Otters captain Dylan Strome won his battle beside the net and chipped the puck to Kyle Maksimovich, who backhanded the puck past Mississauga goaltender Jacob Ingham to give Erie the 1-0 lead. Several shifts later, McShane blistered a shot into Ingham’s chest; Ingham was unable to smother the puck, and the Otters’ top defensive pair quickly fed Taylor Raddysh the puck. Raddysh swiveled and shot the puck over Ingham’s glove to put Erie up 2-0 before the halfway mark of the period. Darren Raddysh and T.J. Fergus picked up assists on the play. Then, on the penalty-kill, Taylor Raddysh scored a one-timer off a pass from Alex DeBrincat, his second goal of the game. Mississauga was unable to shut down the Otters glut of scorers: In the closing minutes of the period, Strome set up Darren Raddysh for a goal from the point, then scored one of his own on the power play to close out the first with a commanding 5-0 lead.

Jacob Ingham, who surrendered 5 goals on 12 shots, was replaced by Matthew Mancina in the Mississauga goal for the second period. The switch in net wouldn’t help the Steelheads, however, as DeBrincat scored his 24th goal of the season off a three-on-one rush less than two minutes into the second. Mississauga’s Owen Tippett scored on an odd-man rush in the final minute, but the Otters skated off for the second intermission with the dominant 6-1 lead.

In the third period, Alex DeBrincat scored twice within twenty seconds for the hat-trick to give Erie the 8-1 lead. Vili Saarijarvi shot through heavy traffic and scored shortly-thereafter, but Erie came right back on the power play as Taylor Raddysh scored his third of the game, giving the Otters two hat-tricks on the night. Erie won the game 9-2.

For Erie, both Alex DeBrincat and Taylor Raddysh had hat-tricks and two assists; Dylan Strome scored a goal and four assists; Darren Raddysh scored a goal and two assists; and Ivan Lodnia registered two assists. Troy Timpano was credited with his league-leading 17th win of the season as he made 30 saves on 32 shots.

Owen Tippett and Vili Saarijarvi scored Mississauga’s goals. In net, Jacob Ingham started the game but was relieved of duty after the first period, where he surrendered 5 goals on 12 shots; Matthew Mancina made 21 saves on 25 shots through the next two period.

The Otters begin December with a road trip: they’ll face the Guelph Storm on Friday the 2nd, and Owen Sound for a back-to-back contest on the 3rd and 4th.