Otters come up just short in fight-filled contest with Midland Flyers

PRETTY IN PINK:. Brodie Muckler, Andrew Cooke and Justin House of the Huntsville Otters junior C club pose in some of the pink jerseys the team will auction off in support of breast cancer awareness after their Oct. 28 game against Midland.

HUNTSVILLE - The Huntsville Otters stood toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the Georgian Bay Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League on Friday, in every sense of the phrase.
The Otters dropped an 8-6 contest to the Flyers in Midland, a game that featured a fight-filled third period, which led officials to assess more than 80 minutes in penalties to each team during the contest.
Head coach Monty Clouthier said he expects Ben Muckler to receive a two-game suspension for fighting two players during the same stoppage. He said on Monday that the league had not officially contacted the team yet regarding a possible suspension.
“They (Midland) were trying to take liberties with us, and the guys were standing up for each other, which is a good sign that the team is coming together. Because we are younger, they felt they could push us around but it didn’t turn out the way they wanted.”
As for the actual game, the Otters showed a resiliency that the young team has not shown much this year. After taking a 2-1 lead into the second period on goals by Jordan Harris, Huntsville let the hometown Flyers take a 4-2 lead into the late stages of the period, until Brandon Quo Vadis scored with less than two minutes left in the frame to bring the Otters to within one.
Midland, who had trounced the Otters earlier this season by a score of 9-0, flexed its offensive muscles in the third with four unanswered goals in a 10-minute span to push the score to 8-3.
The two teams then flexed their physical muscles, with more than 20 misconducts and fighting majors handed out during a three-minute time frame.
It appears that the donnybrook woke up the Otters, with Carter Tracey, Andrew Cooke and Erik Macpherson scoring three times in just over a minute to bring Huntsville within two goals.
But it wasn’t enough as the Flyers held onto their win by 7-3 and maintained their lead in the North Division over Penetang.
Clouthier said that the Otters earned “a little respect” from the Flyers after that game.
“I thought we should have won it,” he said. “We had lapses where they were taking the game over from us, but in the last five minutes of the game, we should have gotten enough goals to win.”
The Otters slipped to 3-8 for six points, for last place in the North Division and tied for last overall with Fergus.
Huntsville has its busiest week of the season coming up. The Otters are in Schomberg Thursday to face the Cougars, who are in the bottom of the Central Division with a 3-5-4 record.
The Otters then head to Penetang Friday night to play the Kings before returning home Sunday to host the Flyers at 2:30 p.m. at the Don Lough Arena. This is a special event in support of breast cancer awareness when game worn jerseys will be auctioned off via silent auction with proceeds towards cancer research and support. Pins, pink jerseys, etc will be available to the public.
For more information on the game, visit www.huntsvilleotters.com.

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