What did the Erie Otters finally accomplish by the end of their 2023-24 OHL season?
The 2023-24 Erie Otters experienced a growth spurt that was collective and welcomed.
The Otters’ March 29 game at Kitchener was the opener of the teams’ Ontario Hockey League Western Conference quarterfinal. It ended the franchise’s longest playoff drought since its 1996 relocation to northwestern Pennsylvania.
Kitchener, highlighted by three overtime victories, won that series in six games. However, Erie still experienced hockey in April for the first time since its Robertson Cup-winning season of 2016-17.
This time last year, the Otters mulled whom to take with the No. 1 overall pick in the OHL’s priority selection draft.
Erie received that dubious honor in large part from its 2022-23 regular season record of 21-40-2-5, the conference’s worst and the second worst in the 20-team league.
Cut to this past season, when the Otters went from 10th place in to fifth (33-28-5-2) in the conference standings. That rise in fortune was enjoyable, coach Stan Butler said.
“Now,” he said, “the hard part starts. I told the guys (after the Kitchener series) they’ve got to learn from this. This summer, when they can go to a party on a Friday night or go to the gym to work out, maybe they should go to the gym. They’ve got to do the extra things.
“That’s the important stuff to learn.”
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The highs
Erie didn’t wait until the first day of last year’s OHL draft to announce who it would select with the initial pick.
Matthew Schaefer was introduced as the player who would hear his name called by Otters general manager Dave Brown during a formal in-person ceremony. The Stoney Creek, Ontario, native was a defenseman for the Halton Hurricanes of the South Central AAA Hockey League.
Schaefer, a point guard of sorts for the Otters, recorded three goals and 14 assists over 56 regular season games. He also assisted three times during their series loss to Kitchener.
Pano Fimis was the Otters’ most productive skater for 2023-24. The fourth-year center, in his first full season with Erie, was the team’s leader for assists (51) and points (76).
Fimis’ 25 goals were third overall. He trailed Carey Terrance’s 29 and Sam Alfano’s 27.
Terrance accumulated his goals over 56 games. The NHL’s Anaheim Ducks drafted the Akwesasne, New York, native before his third OHL season.
Martin Misiak netted 23 goals in 60 games for Erie. None were more memorable than the center’s last one.
The Otters, before more than 6,500 fans at Erie Insurance Arena, beat the Rangers 4-3 when Misiak scored 3 minutes, 22 seconds into OT. That dramatic victory, combined with a loss by the Guelph Storm, left Erie as the fifth seed for the conference playoffs.
Misiak’s goal also surged the Otters into the postseason on a season-high, five-game winning streak.
“I felt like we took a step a year before this one,” Erie team captain Spencer Sova said. “And, obviously, this year was a huge one. Now, we’ve got to keep climbing in the rankings.”
“We (went from) 19th to ninth. Now, we need to go higher.”
More: Martin Misiak caps Erie Otters' regular season with overtime goal
The lows
Rarely, if ever, has an OHL franchise experienced such a moment of clarity four games into a season.
However, that’s what Brown and the rest of the Otters’ front office dealt with last Oct. 7.
That night, the Owen Sound Attack beat the Otters 6-5 in OT. The loss left them 0-4 into what would be Butler’s first full season as their coach.
Butler, who recently surpassed 800 games as a Canadian Hockey League coach, replaced the fired B.J. Adams in January 2023.
Adams followed the fired Chris Hartsburg, which meant Erie was on its third bench boss since current Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch coached its 2016-17 team that won the OHL’s Robertson Cup.
The Otters’ winless start, multiple coaching changes and lengthy playoff drought meant something seismic needed to be done.
Brown did that last Oct. 10, when he dealt starting goaltender Nolan Lalonde and three draft picks to the Sarnia Sting. Coming to the Otters was overage goalie Ben Gaudreau, a former San Jose Sharks draft pick and owner of two world junior gold medals with Hockey Canada.
“Ben is someone we know will help lead this group,” Brown said in an Otters news release. “(He’s) someone with great character and someone we’re excited to add.”
The trade, at least for the next three months, was a successful one for Erie.
Gaudreau went 20-11-2-0 after his arrival. Even better, most of the Otters found themselves in playoff contention for the first time time in their OHL careers.
Then came a Jan. 21 game at Sault Ste. Marie.
Erie lost 6-2, but more devastating was the foot injury Gaudreau suffered. It would be his last OHL regular season game, as he never healed and recovered from it until midway through the Otters’ series vs. the Rangers.
What followed between Jan. 21 and the playoffs for the Otters was a revolving door of goalies.
Lalonde included, Erie started eight different players at that position throughout the regular season. Three of them, Sergei Litvinov, Boe Piroski and Easton Rye, each made one start when Brown summoned help from the junior leagues.
The Otters’ situation was further complicated by the fact Gaudreau’s injury occurred after the league’s trading deadline.
“We’re working day-by-day to resolve this,” Brown said, “but it’s something we wish we didn’t have to deal with right now.”
Erie went 8-13 between Jan. 26, the date of its first game after Gaudreau’s injury, and March 13. The Otters still clinched a playoff berth despite its lull.
Gaudreau made an emotional return to Erie’s crease on April 2, when the third game of the Otters-Rangers series was held at EIA. He averaged 34 saves over his four starts, which included a 47-save performance during the fifth game at Kitchener.
Gaudreau was voted the game’s first star, even though the Otters lost 3-2 on an overtime goal by the Rangers’ Trent Swick.
Erie’s 0-3 record in extra time wasn’t the only reason Kitchener advanced.
The Rangers also counterpunched throughout the series. They scored five goals within the ensuing three minutes of an Erie score.
The Otters also lost the series’ third game despite an early 3-0 advantage. Kitchener rallied for a 4-3 victory on Justin Bottineau’s game-winner in OT.
“Our inexperience showed,” Butler said after that game. “You take a shortcut here or there and the next thing you know, we’re going to overtime. These are all learning things.”
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Who’s gone?
Although Gaudreau wasn’t with the Otters at their start of their season, he represented their greatest loss by the end of it.
The overage goalie, who turned 21 on Jan. 11, departed the league with a regular season career record of 74-54-10-5 between Erie and Sarnia. He had a 3.53 goals-against average and recorded three shutouts.
Brett Bressette was Erie’s most significant graduate as a skater. The left winger, whom the Otters chose in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, scored 52 goals over an OHL career interrupted by its 2020-21 season that was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Defenseman Owain Johnston and goalie Ethan Fraser, who went 6-1-1-2 during Gaudreau’s absence, also wore Erie sweaters for the last time.
Spence thanked the overagers for their contributions in getting Erie out of its playoff dormancy.
“There was a culture change in the room,” he said. “We took a major leap (forward) and grew as a team. Hopefully, we can carry that into next year and have another great season.”
Who’s due back?
Goal production shouldn’t be an immediate concern for the 2024-25 Otters. Terrance, Alfano, Fimis and Misiak are each expected to return.
Not on that list is Dylan Edwards. The Erie right winger (22 goals) became a force over the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. He had a team-best six goals during the series against Kitchener.
Who has the unenviable role of following Gaudreau will be the top question going into the Otters’ training camp.
Jacob Gibbons is the early leader. The team’s 2022 second round draft pick went 5-7-1-0 over 20 starts.
Rookie Charlie Burns went 2-4. A 23-save shutout during Erie’s 3-0 victory vs. Guelph on Feb. 1 highlighted his cameo role.
“I hope the fans are still excited going forward,” Butler said. “We have a lot of good, returning players.”
‘Don’t feel my age’
The playoff loss to Kitchener concluded Butler’s first full season as an OHL coach since he guided the 2018-19 North Bay Battalion. The East York, Ontario, native, accepted an advisory role with that franchise early in their ensuing season.
That concluded a coaching tenure Butler began in 1998-99, when the team was located in Brampton. The Battalion advanced to two Robertson Cup finals (2009 and 2014) in the interim.
Butler, who turned 68 on Feb. 2, recently surpassed 800 games over 27 seasons as a Canadian Hockey League coach. Before the Battalion, he was with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals for two seasons and the Western Hockey League’s Prince George Cougars for one.
Butler admitted after last Tuesday’s game he’d been under the weather throughout the series. He joked how he’s the only OHL coach on the Canadian Pension Plan, that country’s version of social security.
However, Butler confirmed he will return for a second full season as Erie’s coach.
“I don’t feel my age,” he said, “and I never have. I have a commitment here for next year. As long as I have my health, the energy level is there.
“I’m not a person who likes to stop doing a job until it’s done.”
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Highs, lows and everything in between for 2023-24 Erie Otters
