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Plymouth 5, Kitchener 1 Before Sellout at Compuware Arena

November 14, 2009 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Plymouth Whalers News Release


PLYMOUTH, MI -- With Tyler Seguin out of the lineup for the third straight game with an injury, the Plymouth Whalers went into tonight's game with the Kitchener Rangers at Compuware Arena looking for a spark from someone else.

Mission accomplished as Myles McCauley (Sterling Heights) scored his first-ever Ontario Hockey League hat trick while adding an assist in leading the Whalers to a 5-1 victory over the Kitchener Rangers before a sellout crowd of 3,921.

Plymouth is now 13-9-0-0. Kitchener -leading the Midwest Division with a 15-4-1-2 record - has lost twice this season to Plymouth. The Whalers shut out Kitchener, 2-0, on Oct. 23 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

Veteran AJ Jenks (Wolverine Lake) - back in the lineup after missing two games with the flu - scored a goal with two assists for Plymouth. Joe Gaynor scored the other Whalers goal. John Moore scored the lone Kitchener goal.

The Whalers received another strong effort from goaltender Matt Hackett, who stopped 34-of-35 shots as the game's second star for the third straight Plymouth contest. Hackett stopped 45-of-48 shots Thursday night in a 4-2 loss in Windsor (final Spitfire goal on an empty net) and stopped 36-of-38 shots last night in a 2-1 loss to Guelph In all, Hackett allowed six goals over the three games while stopping 115-of-121 shots for a save percentage of .950 for the weekend.

After tonight's game, Hackett - a draft choice of the Minnesota Wild - has a 2.65 goals against average and .928 save percentage over 19 games.

Plymouth also received excellent work from its penalty killers, who went 8-for-9 against the Kitchener power play. In two games against the Rangers this year, Plymouth has gone 19-for-20 on the penalty kill against the Rangers.

McCauley scored twice in the first period (at 8:22 and 11:47 respectively) to give the Whalers a 2-0 lead after one period. McCauley's first goal was an excellent three-way passing play among linemates. Josh Brittain and Tyler G. Brown teamed up to find McCauley breaking for the net from the right circle and McCauley wasted no time with a one-timer past Kitchener goaltender Brandon Maxwell.

"That play happened the same way between me and Brittain on Thursday in Windsor," McCauley said of the goal.

McCauley's second of the night at 13th of the season was a broken play, as McCauley passed the puck from the left circle and it caromed off a Ranger defenseman stick and into the goal.

"I was trying to pass it (Jamie) Devane, but it went off the defenseman's stick and into the net," McCauley said. His hat trick and 14th goal of the season came at 8:34 of the second period when he snapped home a loose puck in front of the Kitchener net.

Perhaps the key Whalers goal came after Moore cut the Plymouth lead to 3-1 at 17:44 of the second period. McCauley picked up a loose puck along the right boards in the Kitchener zone and found Gaynor in the slot, who snapped a quick shot by Maxwell with just seven seconds left in the period. Plymouth led, 4-1, after forty minutes.

The Whalers extended the lead to 5-1 just 0:44 into the third period when Jenks followed up his own shot in front of the Kitchener goal and stuffed the rebound on the left wing side of the net past Maxwell for his eighth goal of the year.

Kitchener outshot Plymouth, 35-27.

The Whalers are on the road all of next weekend, playing in Ottawa on Friday, Belleville on Saturday and Kingston on Sun. Nov. 22. The Whalers' next home game is Wed. Nov. 25 at 7:05pm against Windsor.

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

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