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http://www.ottershockey.com/ Official Site

History of the Otters

The Niagara Falls Thunder were relocated in 1996 from Niagara Falls, Ontario, becoming the Erie Otters. The team took its name from the otter, a common water creature to the south shore of Lake Erie.

The Otters' ownership partners are Ron Sertz, Jeff Fatica and Ray Irwin. Sherwood Bassin is the general manager and a managing partner of the team. Walt Wingfield is the head scout of the Otters.

The first three years in Erie were building years for the Otters, with the team eliminated in the first round of the playoffs each year. In the fourth year, all the hard work paid off with their first Midwest Division championship.

For the Otters it would be their first of three consecutive Midwest Division championships, culminating in an OHL Championship in 2001-2002. Dave MacQueen won the Matt Leyden Trophy in 2000-01 as the OHL Coach of the Year. Sherwood Bassin was awarded OHL Executive of the Year in 2001-02 for his role as general manager in building a championship team.

The Otters have fallen on hard times since then, not finishing higher than 4th in their division. The Erie Otters recently celebrated their 10th anniversary in the 2005-2006 season.

In the 2001-2002 season, the Erie Otters became only the second OHL team based in the United States of America, to win the OHL Championship. The first were the 1995 champions Detroit Junior Red Wings (now the Plymouth Whalers).

After a disappointing loss to the Plymouth Whalers the previous year in the conference finals, the Otters used their experience and work ethic to push themselves through the playoffs. Otters players had a puck holder hung on the wall of the dressing room with sixteen slots to fill for the sixteen wins needed for the title. Erie earned that 16th puck defeating the Barrie Colts in game 5 of the 2002 finals.

The Otters bid to host the 2002 Memorial Cup, but the Guelph Storm were chosen instead as hosts. The Otters earned a berth in the tournament as OHL Champions. The Otters ultimately finished in third place.