NOTEBOOK: Otters confident in Timpano heading into tonight's semifinal

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WINDSOR, Ont. - Troy Timpano's stats don't look that great at this year's Memorial Cup.

The Erie Otters netminder is sporting a 3.73 goals against average and a .823 save percentage heading into tonight's semifinal contest against the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Otters head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters Friday morning at WFCU Centre that the numbers aren't representative of Timpano's play so far.

"We've done a good job at keeping the shots down, so that's why his save percentage doesn't look really good," said Knoblauch. "Numbers can be misleading a lot of time."

Knoblauch added that he feels Timpano didn't have much of a chance on the goals he has allowed so far in the tournament.

Timpano has been known to let in the occasional bad goal. He's also very active with the puck, which can create some interesting moments.

The netminder posted a 13-4-1 record to go along with a .895 SV% and 2.73 GAA during the OHL playoffs.

"We changed goalies a little bit throughout the playoffs where (Joseph) Murdaca came in, and he came up big. The players believe that Troy is our goalie. He's the guy that got us here throughout the regular season and playoffs."

LOOKING TO ADVANCE
The Otters are looking to advance to their first Memorial Cup final tonight.

This is the second ever Memorial Cup appearance for the Otters and their first since 2002. In '02, Erie lost 5-4 in overtime to the Victoriaville Tigres in the tournament semifinal. The Otters blew 3-0 and 4-2 leads in that game, with Victoriaville's Danny Groulx tying the game with five seconds remaining in the third period.

The Kootenay Ice defeated the Tigres 6-3 in the 2002 Memorial Cup final.

HUBERDEAU TALKS 2011
The Canadian Press caught up with Jonathan Huberdeau this week to talk about the Sea Dogs' 2011 Memorial Cup win.

"I'm watching them a lot," Huberdeau told CP about this year's Sea Dogs. "It's fun to always follow your team and it's great they have a chance to win this year."

Read the full story here.

LOUD NOISES
The WFCU Centre was loud in the dying seconds of the Windsor Spitfires' win over the Erie Otters on Wednesday.

Final seconds of Spits win pic.twitter.com/73r00KEpgM

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) May 25, 2017

DRAFT RANKINGS
Sportsnet's Jeff Marek went all out with his latest NHL Draft rankings, listing his top 100 prospects.

Sea Dogs draft pick Shane Bowers, who spent this season with USHL Waterloo, was ranked 32nd, which is one of the lowest rankings the forward has received by mainstream listings.

Charlottetown's Pierre-Olivier Joseph, the brother of Saint John's Mathieu Joseph, was ranked 39th.

Saint John backup goaltender Alex D'Orio was ranked 69th.

YET TO BE SIGNED
The other day, CapFriendly released this handy list of youngsters who have yet to be signed by their respective NHL clubs.

Only a week away, here is the current list of drafted players whom their respective teams must sign by June 1, or lose their signing rights. pic.twitter.com/T65ePEqhbK

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) May 25, 2017

On the list are Sea Dogs forwards Samuel Dove-McFalls (a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick) and Bokondji Imama (a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick). Former Sea Dogs forward Adam Marsh (a Detroit Red Wings pick) was also on the list.

Teams have until June 1 to sign these players or their rights will expire.

Even if these players do not receive entry-level deals, they could still be signed to AHL contracts.

CSN Philadelphia had an article on Dove-McFalls this week.

NEW JOB FOR JOYAL
Former Sea Dogs goaltender Maxime Joyal has been named the goaltending coach of the Victoriaville Tigres.

Maxime Joyal devient entraîneur des gardiens chez les Tigres. #tvasports

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MLalancetteTVA) May 26, 2017

Joyal played in 31 games with Saint John during the 2006-07 season, recording an 8-18 record to go along with a 4.99 GAA and .862 SV%.

KELLY JOINS GALLANT
In an absolutely shocking turn of events, Mike Kelly will be joining Gerard Gallant's coaching staff in Vegas.

Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant is still a couple of weeks away from naming assistants. Sounds like Mike Kelly will be Vegas bound.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 25, 2017

Kelly and Gallant worked together with the Sea Dogs and again with the Florida Panthers.

FLYNN TALKS STFX
Sea Dogs head coach Danny Flynn spoke to the Canadian University Sports Network about his time coaching the StFX X-Men. Check that out here.

DART GUY WITH THE FOLLOW

@SJSeaDogs No problem... make sure you guys get some revenge tomorrow against the #Otters !

— DartGuy (@LeafsMaz20) May 26, 2017

THE DRAFT IS COMING
You may find this hard to believe, but the QMJHL Entry Draft is just over a week away. For the first time, the annual draft will be held at Harbour Station. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. next Saturday with the show starting at 9:45 a.m.

Huddle has a story on the economic benefits the event will bring Saint John.