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Published Mar 13, 2026 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 3 minute read
Team logo of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.Article content
Centre Kieren Dervin scored in the second minute of overtime to give the Kingston Frontenacs a crucial 4-3 victory over the Erie Otters at the Erie Insurance Arena Friday night.
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Dervin took a pass from Landon Wright and beat Otters goaltender Noah Erliden from close quarters to give the Frontenacs their second win in as many nights. On Thursday in St Catharines Kingston edged the Niagara Ice Dogs 2-1 to vault into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
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The Frontenacs were full value for the win in Erie, outshooting the hosts 38-23 including a furious second period, when Kingston outshot Erie 18-2. That number didn’t include shots by defenceman Maleek McGowan and forward Robin Kuzma that beat Erliden but rang off the posts of the Otters net.
Matt Minchak stopped 20 of 23 shots to pick up the victory.
McGowan opened the scoring for the Frontenacs on the first shift of the game with a nifty bit of stickwork. Dervin floated a puck chest high towards the slot and McGowan swatted it in mid-air past Erliden. The crowd fell silent when the red light went on 25 seconds in, baffled at exactly how the puck was in the back on the net.
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The Otters rallied in shifts thereafter and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission on goals by centre Ulysses Lombardi and import defenceman Julius Saari, the latter coming on a shorthanded two-on-one,. After the emotional win over the IceDogs the night before, it seemed the Frontenacs came out flat against a team in last place in the Western Conference.
“I had choice words for them,” said Kingston coach Troy Mann, who declined to offer a verbatim account. “I told them that we have better skill and better structure, but we’re going to have to compete and play with emotion. I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy but the coaching staff talked about the possibility of a letdown after Thursday night and that’s what it looked like.”
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Mann’s message was delivered and received.
In the second period, Tomas Pobezal tied the game on a powerplay at 2:04 with his team-leading 17th goal of the season, but Erliden kept the the Otters in the game. “Their goalie was their best player,” Mann said. “The way we played in the last 40 minutes, we could have scored seven or eight goals.”
Dervin and Pobezal were Kingston’s best players in the second game of the back-to-back. For Pobezal, his work in this road series comes in the immediate wake of having to fly to his native Slovakia and back in a 72-hour stretch. He arrived at the game in St Catharines Thursday night directly from the airport, where he had been met by Frontenacs general manager Kory Cooper.
“He might have been a bit sluggish [against Niagara] but that he wanted to play, you have to respect that,” Mann said.
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Right winger Wright finally put Kingston back in front in the second minute of the third period, beating Erliden from distance through the wickets, the single soft goal he gave up. With the goal, Wright tied Pobezal for the team goal-scoring lead.
Mann made a shift of his lines in the last 40 minutes in Erie, switching out overager Jack Dever on Dervin’s right side and rolling Wright onto the first line.
Six minutes later the Otters knotted the game at three-all, Erie forward Tyler Cooper beating Minchak on a powerplay.
“Erie didn’t have many shots but Minchak really didn’t have any chance on the three goals,” Mann said. “They were quality looks and quality shots.”
Minchak came up big in the last minute, turning aside a shot from the slot off the stick of former Frontenac Andrew Kuzma, who was a threat all night long.
That set the stage for Dervin’s heroics in overtime.
After the winner, the Frontenacs poured over the boards to congratulate Dervin and then skated en masse to the glass in the Otters end, where a group of the players’ fathers were sitting. The final extended road trip coincides with the team’s fathers’ weekend.
Kingston closes the trip in Brampton Sunday afternoon where they’ll be seeking their fifth straight win.
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