OHL Erie Otters

Otters round out road schedule

Published on March 4, 2004 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Erie Otters News Release


The ERIE OTTERS of the Ontario Hockey League will complete the road portion of their 2003-2004 regular season schedule this weekend when they head west to play three games in three days against Western Conference competition.

The OTTERS begin the weekend Friday night in Sarnia against the Sting. Saturday ERIE will swing into Michigan to face off against the Plymouth Whalers before ending their trip Sunday in Windsor against the Spitfires.

ERIE holds the sixth seed in the Western Conference standings with a 28-22-6-7 record and trails the Whalers (29-22-9-3) by one point for fifth. The OTTERS are four points up on the Owen Sound Attack (27-25-7-4) who owns the seventh spot in the Conference standings.

The OTTERS are coming off a grueling stretch in which they played eight times (4-3-0-1) in 12 days. The run finished Sunday night at the Tullio Arena when the OTTERS rallied from behind to shade the Kitchener Rangers 3-2. Rob Hisey paced the OTTERS in the win with a goal and an assist in a first star performance. The veteran forward is sixth in OHL scoring with 36 goals and 54 assists for 90 points in 58 games. With five games remaining in the regular season, the 19 year-old's production already ranks among the best single-season totals in OTTERS' franchise history (tied for third most in goals, third most in assists and tied for third most in points).

The Sting head into weekend action first in the West Division with a record of 35-19-4-4 and in need of one win in their final six games to clinch the Division title and second seed in the Western Conference. Sarnia has won three straight and seven of their last 10 games. Joey Tenute is coming off a week in which he collected two goals and seven assists for nine points in three games to earn OHL Player-of-the-Week honors. The overage forward is tied for 15th in OHL scoring with 19 goals and 50 assists for 69 points in 52 games.

Fellow overager Daniel Sisca is listed fourth in OHL scoring with 33 goals and 95 points in 62 games. The OTTERS are 2-0-0-1 against the Sting this season with Sarnia posting a 5-4 overtime win in the last meeting between the two teams on January 31st at the Tullio Arena.

The Whalers head into weekend action with slim hopes of catching Sarnia for first in the West Division. They trail the Sting by eight points with five games remaining. John Mitchell leads the Whalers in scoring with 74 points in 60 games while John Vigilante is the team's leading goal scorer with 30 in 61 games. The two previous meetings between the two teams this season were settled in overtime with each team posting a victory.

The OTTERS complete the weekend Sunday when they take on the Spitfires. Windsor is involved in a tight race with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The ‘Hounds lead the Spitfires by three points with Windsor holding a game in hand. Rob Hennigar leads the Spits in scoring with 30 goals and 41 assists in 62 games. The two teams have split the first two games of the four-game season series including a 4-1 win by the OTTERS on January 23rd at the Tullio Arena when Windsor was within three points of the OTTERS in the Western Conference standings.

All three games can be heard live on SportsRadio 1330 The FAN and at www.ottershockey.com (presented by the James H. Cross Company). Friday and Saturday the games begin with the pre-game show at 7:15 p.m. Sunday the pre-game show gets underway at 5:45 p.m.

The next OTTERS home game takes place Friday, March 12th when the Windsor Spitfires make a return visit to the Tullio Arena for a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets for the game are available at all Erie area TicketMaster locations as well as the Erie Civic Center Box Office.

Check out the Erie Otters Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 4, 2004


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