The Erie Otters sent a message to the rest of the Memorial Cup on Monday night, setting records in the process.
Otters’ captain Dylan Strome had a Memorial Cup-record seven points and the Otters had a Memorial Cup-record 12 goals in a 12-5 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs at the WFCU Centre.
After Windsor dominated Seattle on Sunday night, fans were expecting a bit of a closer battle between these two powerhouses. They got it for about six minutes.
Taylor Raddysh opened the scoring for Erie just 1:06 into the game. Saint John pressed, though, and tied it up at 5:43 thanks to Cedric Pare’s first of the tournament.
That’s as close as the Sea Dogs would get, though. Darren Raddysh added his first of the tournament at 6:40, giving Erie the one-goal edge. It got no better for Saint John as Strome and Kyle Maksimovich each added one by the mid-way point of the period.
There was no quit in the Sea Dogs, though, as Mathieu Joseph cut the lead to 4-2 at 13:32. Unfortunately, their energy was quickly snuffed out by Otters’ forward Anthony Cirelli, who put home his first of the tournament before the period ended. That chased Sea Dogs’ starting goaltender Callum Booth. He allowed five goals on 14 shots. After the first, the Otters had a commanding 5-2 lead and a 17-4 lead in shots.
Different Period, Same Story
Even with a goaltender change, the second period was another verse, same as the first. Erie planted four more on backup Alex D’Orio in the frame, with a Sea Dogs goal by Spencer Smallman into the middle of the action. All four goals by Erie came on the power play and they were five-for-seven on the night with the extra man.
It was business as usual for the Otters in the final frame. Ivan Lodnia scored his first of the Mastercard Memorial Cup just 22-seconds in. It was a power play marker. That was followed by Strome with his third and fourth of the game. Those markers gave him five goals for the tournament and seven points on the night.
Saint John did manage 11 shots in the period, two of which made their way past goaltender Troy Timpano. Pare scored his second of the night at 14:29 and Julien Gauthier got his first of the tournament a minute later, giving Saint John five for the night. While the offence was there, the Sea Dogs had no answer for the electric offence of the Otters.
Big Games, Historic Company
Strome’s seven-point outing breaks the old Mastercard Memorial Cup record of six points set by three players – Joe Contini (Hamilton, 1976), Guy Rouleu (Hull, 1986 twice) and Mike Mathers (Kamloops, 1992). The 12-goal performance by the Otters was one better than 11-goal performances by Quebec (1974) and Regina (1980).
While Strome had a big game, several Otters made waves on the score sheet. On top of Strome’s seven points, Taylor Raddysh added six points, while Cirelli, Darren Raddysh and Alex DeBrincat added four points each.
With the win, the Otters move to 2-0 in the Mastercard Memorial Cup. The Sea Dogs fall to 0-2, but have a chance to avoid elimination on Tuesday. They battle the Seattle Thunderbirds who are also 0-2. The winner moves on to the semifinal on Friday while the loser watches from the stands.
Erie is off until Wednesday when they have a showdown with the 2-0 Windsor Spitfires. The winner of that contest advances straight to the Mastercard Memorial Cup final on Sunday evening. The loser has a date in the semifinal with either Seattle or Saint John. Tickets for these games can be found on the Memorial Cup website.
Scoring:
First Period
Otters – T. Raddysh (1) – Assists: A. Cirelli, J. Sambrook – 1:06
Sea Dogs – C. Pare (1) – Assists: M. Green, T. Chabot – 5:43
Otters – D. Raddysh (1) – Assists: P. Fellows, D. Strome – 6:40
Otters – K. Maksimovich (1) – Assists: A. Cirelli, T. Raddysh – 8:33
Otters – D. Strome (2) – Assists: A. DeBrincat, W. Foegele – 10:11
Sea Dogs – M. Joseph (1) – Assist: T. Chabot – 13:32
Otters – A. Cirelli (1) – Assist: E. Cernak – 16:27
Second Period –
Otters – T. Raddysh (2) – Assists: D. Raddysh, A. Cirelli – 6:46 – PPG
Otters – D. Strome (3) – Assists: T. Raddysh, A. DeBrincat – 8:26 – PPG
Sea Dogs – S. Smallman (1) – Assist: M. Joseph – 17:52
Otters – A. DeBrincat (2) – Assists: D. Strome, D. Raddysh – 18:47 – PPG
Otters – D. Raddysh (2) – Assists: D. Strome, T. Raddysh – 19:52 – PPG
Third Period –
Otters – I. Lodnia (1) – Assist: K. Maksimovich – 0:22 – PPG
Otters – D. Strome (4) – Assist: T. Raddysh – 5:32
Otters – D. Strome (5) – Assists: A. DeBrincat, W. Foegele – 13:20
Sea Dogs – C. Pare (2) – Unassisted – 14:29
Sea Dogs – J. Gauthier (1) – Assist: C. Stewart – 15:22