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Whalers Advance to OHL Western Conference Semi-Finals with 8-1 Win Over Sarnia

March 28, 2009 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Plymouth Whalers News Release


PLYMOUTH - The Plymouth Whalers exploded for six goals in the second period to extend a 1-0 lead to 7-1 after forty minutes of play and the Whalers cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Sarnia Sting in an Ontario Hockey League playoff game played Saturday night before 2,876 at Compuware Arena.

Plymouth wins the first round OHL Western Conference Quarterfinal series in five games over Sarnia, outscoring the Sting, 21-6, in the series and 21-2 from the early in the first period in Game 2 the rest of the way.

Plymouth (#4 seed) will draw the top-ranked Windsor Spitfires in the OHL Western Conference semi-finals. The other OHL Western Conference semi-final features #2 London against #3 Saginaw. London advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals tonight by eliminating Erie, 6-2, and winning the series in five games.

Whalers captain Chris Terry led the offensive attack with a hat trick as the game's first star and now has five goals in the playoffs. Ryan Hayes scored a goal (his third in three playoff games) and added two assists as the game's second star. Kaine Geldart, AJ Jenks and Beau Schmitz all scored their playoff goals this season for the Whalers, while Joe Gaynor scored his second. Defenseman Leo Jenner added three assists as the game's third star for Plymouth.

Although the Whalers scored 21 goals in the series, defense was a key to their success as well. Matt Hackett stopped 27-of-28 shots tonight, keeping his playoff goals against average at 0.98 (five goals allowed in 305 minutes) and his save percentage at .970 (164-169). Both marks currently lead the OHL playoffs. In addition, Plymouth penalty killers went six-for-six in the game and went 32-for-34 in the series.

Mark Katic scored the lone Sarnia goal, his first of the playoffs.

Hayes scored the only goal of the first period at 17:08 when he skated into the Sarnia zone on the left wing and snapped a shot from the left circle past Sting goaltender Dan Spence.

Although the Whalers scored six goals in the second period, there was an explosion of a different kind in the Plymouth dressing room during the first intermission.

"There was an explosion in the (Whaler) locker room in between the periods," said Plymouth President, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Vellucci. "I thought it (the first period) was our worst period of the year, to be honest. I thought we were so bad. Our guys thought that Sarnia would roll over and die and they didn't. Sarnia played way better than we did in the first period. So I was glad to see it (six goals in the second period) - I didn't expect that many goals, but we worked hard for them once they started going in."

The Plymouth goals in the second period went like this - Geldart at 0:15 (deflection from the left circle from Jenner's point shot), Terry at 1:07 (bank shot off Spence from the left goal line), Jenks at 2:12 (batted home his own rebound in front of the Sarnia goal under the bar), Terry on a power play at 6:46 (hard one-time from the top of the right circle), Gaynor at 7:25 (backhand shot from the right goal line inside the far post) and Terry again at 13:34 (snap shot from the high slot). Katic scored the Sarnia's only goal at 18:31, scoring on a shot from the hashmarks past Hackett.

Schmitz completed the scoring with the only goal of the third period on a Plymouth power play at 12:49 with a hard shot from the top of the left circle.

Plymouth draws Windsor (who swept Owen Sound in four games) in the next round. Series dates will be released on Monday. Windsor defeated Plymouth in six of eight games during the regular season, with three of the Spitfire victories by scores of 1-0, 2-1 and 1-0 again.

"It's been in the back of our minds that Windsor has been waiting for us," said Terry. "There would be nothing better than to knock off the top team in Canada."

"Obviously, our next round will be a real battle," said Vellucci. "But we defeated them twice and we need to make sure that we're focused and play our game and compete. If we compete, we'll do well."

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