The Erie Otters didn’t start their regular season home finale like a team absent the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff bracket.
Nor did their crowd sound like one whose collective Robertson Cup hopes withered weeks ago.
The Otters, before a fan count of 6,444 at Erie Insurance Arena, scored twice within the first four minutes of their March 21 game and never trailed en route to a 4-3 victory against the Guelph Storm. Goaltender Noah Erliden (33 saves) and forward Andrew Kuzma (one goal) were notable contributors during the next-to-last appearances of their OHL careers.
Erie takes an 18-41-4-4 record into its March 22 finale at Niagara. It will end a season that saw general manager Dave Brown trade the team’s veteran talent as a calculated maneuver to nudge the league’s youngest roster in the direction of long-term success.
“This (season) wasn’t easy,” coach Kris Mallette said. “It definitely took some toll on us, but we understood the plan and the room stayed positive.
“The wins weren’t as many as we anticipated, but overall there was growth.”
Trio thanked
Erie, per tradition, honored its three payers whose league eligibility expires upon the conclusion of the franchise’s 2025-26 season. Their immediate family members also were present.
Besides Erliden, a native of Sweden, and Kuzma, whose due to start his college hockey career at Penn State University, the Otters also celebrated Jackson Schouten before the game’s opening puck drop. Erie signed the Webster, New York native amid its multiple midseason transactions.
Each player received custom-made wristwatches from Brown, plus framed game jerseys.
Erliden, 20, seeks to resume his hockey career upon return to his Nordic home of Jonkoping. He signed with the Otters as their first round pick for the league’s 2024 import draft, with March 21 his 100th OHL game.
“I really loved this (experience),” Erliden said. “I’ve had so much fun on and off the ice. Couldn’t have been happier.”
Kuzma, because of heart surgery, was a medical redshirt for Penn State’s 2024-25 season. He began this season with Kingston, which drafted him in 2021, and then signed with Erie on Jan. 7 after the Frontenacs waived him as an overager.
“This whole (season) has had ups and downs,” Kuzma said, “but getting back to playing hockey, more than in what league and team, was the goal.
“I’m just grateful to be playing.”
What’s next
Erie, regardless of its result at Niagara, will experience its worst season since the 2012-13 Otters finished 19-40-0-4. That team, the first with current Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid on the roster, fired coach Robbie Ftorek in midseason.
Ftorek was replaced by Kris Knobauch, who’s also McDavid’s current coach in Edmonton.
The Otters’ 2011-12 season (10-52-3-3) was their worst since the franchise moved from Niagara Falls, Ontario, to northwestern Pennsylvania in 1996.
Besides the Otters, March 22 also marks the end of 2025-26 OHL action for the Oshawa Generals, Sarnia Sting and Brampton Steelheads. Those four franchises will vie for the first pick in the league’s priority section draft when its draft lottery is conducted on a date to be determined.
The draft is scheduled June 12-13 at Kingston.
Erie Otters win home finale for challenging OHL season
