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Plymouth 4, Windsor 3 Before Sellout Crowd Saturday Night at Compuware Arena

January 2, 2010 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Plymouth Whalers News Release


PLYMOUTH, MI -- Sometimes, change is good.

Tyler Seguin's goal at 15:18 of the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and the Plymouth Whalers defeated the Windsor Spitfires, 4-3, in an Ontario Hockey League game played Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 3,530 at Compuware Arena.

Plymouth improves to 23-17-0-1, good for 47 points and second place in the OHL's West Division and fourth in the Western Conference. Windsor remains the top team in the OHL with a record of 31-5-0-4.

Give Plymouth head coach Mike Vellucci an assist in the win. With the game tied at 2-2 after forty minutes, Vellucci broke up his line combinations at the start the third period and matched Seguin with Austin Mattson and Robbie Czarnik. All three players started the game on different lines, but clicked in a big way in the third period. Mattson broke the 2-2 tie with his second goal of the season at 5:54 (assisted by Czarnik and Seguin). Mattson and Czarnik then assisted on Seguin's game-winner.

"I was looking for some offense," Vellucci said succinctly after the game.

Earlier, Ryan Hayes scored two goals (7-8) for Plymouth. Justin Shugg scored twice for Windsor (18-19) and Harry Young scored his seventh of the year for the Spitfires.

Ex-Spitfire Matt Hackett continues to play well against his former teammates for Plymouth, stopping 49-of-52 shots as the game's third star. Hackett's best save of the game (and maybe of the season) came with 20 seconds left second period with the game tied at 2-2. Eric Wellwood came into the Plymouth zone to the left hash mark and fed Kenny Ryan at the lower rim of the right circle. The puck was headed into the net, but Hackett slid to his left to make an outstanding glove stop.

Plymouth scored the only goal of the first period at 10:20 on a five-on-three power play. Ten seconds into the two-man-advantage, Hayes scored on a scramble just outside the blue crease the give the Whalers a 1-0 lead after one period.

Windsor went to work against Plymouth's top-ranked penalty killing unit (188-for-219 for 85.8 percent) and tied the game at 1-1 at 7:03 of the second period when Shugg threaded a shot from the high slot through traffic past Hackett, snapping a streak of 34 straight Plymouth penalty kills dating back to Dec. 12 in an 8-0 victory over Saginaw.

Hayes scored his second of the night on a Whalers power play at 13:22, tapping home a second rebound past Windsor goaltender Troy Passingham. Young replied at 16:24 with a hard shot from the right circle through traffic.

That set the stage for the decisive third period. Seguin kept the play alive in the Windsor zone on the left wing and found Mattson at the left hashmark. Mattson scored with a high shot that went top-shelf past Passingham at 5:54.

But Shugg tied the game again at 14:03, converting a rebound from Craig Duininck's shot from the right point and scoring just outside the blue crease on the left wing side of the Plymouth goal.

Seguin scored the game-winner 1:15 later when Czarnik carried the puck deep in the Windsor zone on the right wing and shot from the severe angle. Mattson redirected the puck on goal and Seguin scored on the second rebound from the left side of the Windsor goal.

Windsor outshot Plymouth, 52-44.

Both teams were missing significant players in the game. The Whalers playing without AJ Jenks (Team USA, World Junior Championships), Michal Jordan (Czech Republic, World Junior Championships), Garrett Meurs (Team Ontario, World Under-17 Challenge) and RJ Mahalak and JR Marsden (both hurt). Windsor was without Taylor Hall, Ryan Ellis, Adam Henrique and Greg Nemisz (all with Canada, World Junior Championships), Cam Fowler (USA, World Junior Championships), Richard Panik (Slovakia, World Junior Championships) and Dylan Seguin and Scott Timmins (both hurt).

Plymouth plays in Erie next Wednesday and in St. Catharines, ON against Niagara on Thursday before returning home next Saturday to host Kitchener at 7:05pm at Compuware Arena.

For information on Whalers ticket packages or to plan a group event, visit plymouthwhalers.com or call 734-453-8400.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2010


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