The Erie Otters looked and played different during their Jan. 16 Ontario Hockey League game against Windsor.
The franchise’s recent exodus of top talent in return for draft picks was the reason for the former. A sense of aggressiveness during Erie’s first home appearance since the league’s trade deadline accounted for the latter.
New team captain Tristen Trevino and newly-signed Jackson Schouten were among the Otters sent to the penalty box for roughing or fighting in the third period.
What didn’t change, though, was an outcome the Otters haven’t experienced since Dec. 30. The Spitfires made an early three-goal advantage hold up for a 3-2 victory at Erie Insurance Arena.
The loss was the sixth straight for the Otters (14-26-1-1). It also left them winless for the 2026 portion of their season.
Windsor, which also was responsible for the second loss in Erie’s current skid, improved to 28-9-4-1. The Spitfires remain the Western Conference’s lone team with single-digit losses.
Evan Headrick’s power play goal and Kayden Edwards’ shorthanded score as he burst out of the penalty box accounted for the Otters’ offense. However, they weren’t enough to overcome Anthony Cristoforo goals that bracketed one by teammate Ethan Belchetz during the first 20 minutes.
Surge in status
Erie’s trade of team captain Gabriel Frasca’s to the Brantford Bulldogs was one of three deals that involved general manager Dave Brown in the days before the league’s deadline.
His departure also meant Trevino, 19, went from signing as a free agent to taking over as formal leader in an eight-month span. The defenseman from Franklin Park, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, was bestowed that honor ahead of the team’s three-game road trip last weekend.
“I’ve had some guys in other leagues who taught me to help make it a good environment and culture (for teammates),” Trevino said in a Jan. 13 news conference. “Make it a team that guys want to be on and don’t want to leave.
“(This captaincy) means a lot to be to be able to help set that standard and culture.”
Trevino, who assisted on Headrick’s power play goal, has 14 points over his first 42 games as an Otter. He signed with Erie after splitting the 2024-25 season with the North American Hockey League’s Bismarck (North Dakota) Bobcats and the
United States Hockey League’s Sioux City (Iowa) Musketeers.
Trevino returned to western Pennsylvania where his father, Marco, is an assistant for Robert Morris University’s hockey program.
Branch remembered
The Otters held a pregame moment of silence for former OHL commissioner David Branch, who died Jan. 4 at age 77.
Branch died less than two years after retiring from a role he held for 45 years. The Whitby, Ontario, resident also served as president for the entire Canadian Hockey League from 1996 to 2019.
“David helped countless people accomplish great things in their careers, including mine,” Brown said in a Jan. 5 interview with the Erie Times-News. “He brought (the OHL) from a mom-and-pop operation to where we are today, which is a pretty professional league.”
Branch’s most prominent contribution was the creation of a scholarship program that aided players during and after their OHL careers. It was a reason the league’s player of the year trophy was renamed in his honor in 2020.
Who’s next
The Otters return to EIA for Jan. 16 action against the Saginaw Spirit. The opening puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
Saginaw was 15-20-3-4 after its 7-4 loss at Kitchener. The Spirit, with 37 points, hold the eighth and final berth in the conference’s playoff standings.
The Sarnia Sting (13-25-4-1) remained at 31 points after London defeated them 4-1.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Otters lose sixth straight OHL game with Windsor’s win
