Huntsville’s community team, the Junior C Otters, are taking the start of their 2019-20 season game by game, working to bring their young team together.
The team’s home opener, their second game of the season, was on Friday, September 13 against Stayner. It was a special one with honorary Otters captain Jake McIntyre dropping the ceremonial puck for the beginning of the Huntsville Minor Hockey Ambassadors program. At each game this season, two young local players will welcome the Otters starting lineup on the ice and join them on the blue line for the singing of O Canada.
Otters head coach, Marc Gagnon, said, “It was nice to see the two Atom players participate with the home opener and I look forward to having them every home game.” Even though the Otters took their first loss of the year, it was an evening to bring the community together to kick off hockey season.
The following weekend, the Otters had a successful game three on Friday, September 20 against Caledon. Huntsville took the lead and kept control of the puck to win the game 4-1. On Sunday, September 21, the stands were filled once again as the Otters met Midland on-ice. It was a close game but Midland managed to sweep by and take the win 6-4.
The Otters met Stayner again on September 27 and came out playing hard. “The team came out flying and on top 3-0 after one period. It was our period of the season. Everyone was rolling,” said Gagnon. But it seemed they ran out of steam before losing the third period. “Once we started the second period, we ran into penalties and Stayner capitalized and we could never regain our first period form.” The Otters ended the game with a loss, but enjoyed a highlight when newcomer Adam Ostiopak scored his first PJHL goal.
“Everyone battled hard. We’re a very young team and the commitment from the players to learn structure has been incredible. We’re a young hungry team who wants to better itself every week and I love working with that mentality,” said Gagnon.
On Saturday, September 28, the Jr C Otters played in Orillia with a very short bench. “Orillia pounced quickly with two fast goals and we could never rebound back. The game only saw us take one minor penalty. Brock Cooper notched his first junior goal in Orillia,” Gagnon said.
Junior C Otters captain, Cody Jones, said, “Now that the first few games are in the books we can sit down and look at what we need to work on structurally and what we can do to succeed this year. We have a lot of young guys this year and it’s a big jump from Midget to Junior hockey. From what I’ve seen in practice and a couple games there isn’t much to be worried about once we get structure and systems down. With everyone on the same page we’ll be turning heads.”
The teams’ next practice focused on skills and a heart-to-heart discussion behind closed doors. It was the best practice yet with high energy, Gagnon said. The Otters took that energy into their next home game on Friday, October 4 against Caledon.
“Everyone in the line-up came ready and focused to play. No one gave up and they all worked hard. I also credit our stats man Barry for pointing out a certain stat on where we were shooting from and fired up the team to change that and it did,” said Gagnon. The Otters let one goal in from Caledon in the first period and then it was game on, defense was set, the forwards had great control, and the team looked confident when putting the puck in the net. Otters Goalie, Ty Miller, saved over 30 shots to help the team stay ahead as they put five back in Caledon’s net for their second win of the season, 5-3.
“Felt good tonight,” Jones said of their second win. “The team played really well and is finally starting to come together as a group. It was a huge win to keep us close in the standings and a big booster for the morale in the room.”
The next home game for the Huntsville Junior C Otters will be Friday, October 18 against the Schomberg Cougars. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. You Otter be there!
See the team’s full schedule here.
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