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Whalers Start 2007 The Way They Ended 2006

January 4, 2007 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Plymouth Whalers News Release


Owen Sound Attack analyst Gary Hahn was succinct when talking about the Plymouth Whalers on New Year's Day before the Whalers' game in Owen Sound.

"Let me say, that while we're talking about the Western Conference, most of the National Hockey League scouts are telling me the Plymouth Whalers are the team to beat," Hahn said. "And I'm not saying that because I'm standing beside you."

Then Plymouth went out and defeated Owen Sound, 5-0, receiving a 27-save shutout from Michal Neuvirth, two goals from Evan Brophey and singles from Dan Collins, Joe McCann and Kaine Geldart.

The win moves Plymouth back into first place in the OHL West Division with a record of 24-10-1-2, one point ahead of Saginaw (24-12-0-2) with a game in hand.

The Whalers rung in 2007 then way they left 2006 - on a roll. Plymouth is 16-1-1-2 over the last 20 games, getting 35 out of a possible 40 points. The Whalers last loss in regulation happened on Nov. 18 in a 5-2 loss in Kingston. Since that loss, Plymouth has received points in 15 straight games, going 12-0-1-2.

The Whalers lead the OHL in team defense, (allowing 97 goals in 37 games) and is the top penalty killing team in the OHL at 87.5 percent. Since starting the streak with a 4-0 win over Owen Sound on Nov. 10, Plymouth special teams have picked up the pace. The Whalers' power play has gone 34-for-141 over the team's last 20 games for 24.1 percent. Plymouth's penalty killing has gone 133-for-148 for 89.9 percent over the last twenty games.

Everyone on the hockey club is contributing to a winning effort.

Brophey leads the Plymouth offense with 17 goals and 48 assists for 65 points - third in the OHL - in 37 games. He currently leads the OHL with 48 assists. But Brophey has plenty of support. Plymouth has six other players that have scored goals in double figures - James Neal (18), Tom Sestito (23), Dan Collins (13), Jared Boll (12), Chris Terry (10) and Steve Ward (10), with John Armstrong (8) not far behind.

During December (a month in which Plymouth went 9-0-0-2), Brophey led Plymouth with 7 goals and 19 assists for 26 points in 11 games while four other players scored at least 10 points or better in the month - Terry (5-9-14), Sestito (10-3-13), Collins (3-8-11) and Ward (4-6-10) with Boll (6-3-9), Neal (3-5-8 in 6 games) and Armstrong (2-5-7) not far behind.

For his efforts, Brophey was named the OHL's Player of the Month for December.

Whalers goaltending continues to be excellent. Michal Neuvirth allowed just six goals in six games in December while posting a 0.99 goals against average and a .966 save percentage while going 5-0-0-1 record. Jeremy Smith was also good well in December with a 1.97 goals against average and .932 saves percentage.

Neuvirth is Plymouth's nomination for OHL Goaltender and Rookie of the Month for December.

The Plymouth blue line doesn't get the headlines, but have been quietly efficient over the last six weeks. Brett Bellemore, Zack Shepley and Leo Jenner have all picked up their respective games. Shepley leads the team with +20 and did an effective job New Year's Day against Owen Sound star Bobby Ryan, who was an uncharacteristic -4 in the loss to the Whalers. Shepley plays a lot with Bellemore (now +16) over the last six weeks and the duo does a good job against the top forwards in the OHL.

"I love playing with Shep," Bellemore said. "We're both defensive guys and it's definitely fun when you shut down the top offensive guys. It's a challenge, but our plus/minus is going up."

While Shepley uses his long reach to clog up shooting and passing lanes, Bellemore works the boards effectively, uses his body and hard work to win battles for loose pucks.

"Positioning is the key to everything in the battles along the boards," Bellemore said. "That's what I try to work on."

The Whalers thrive on outworking the opposition. Take any recent victory as an example.

During the New York's Day victory in Owen Sound, Brophey scored with seven seconds left in the first period when he worked with Terry behind the Owen Sound net to pick the puck clean from an Attack defender and score on a wrap-around from the right wing side of the net. McCann scored a shorthanded goal early in the second period when AJ Jenks picked off a loose pass along the boards in neutral territory and found McCann skating hard in the Owen Sound zone. McCann's quick shot from the left hash mark beat Anthony Guadagnolo. Plymouth made it 3-0 when Wes Cunningham found Andrew Fournier with a quick hand-manning pass out of the Plymouth zone. Fournier skated through the neutral zone and found Collins breaking into the Owen Sound zone on the right wing. Collins made no mistake with the shot from the right face off dot. Brophey scored his second of the afternoon when he intercepted a bad Owen Sound clearing pass at the mid point of the Attack blue line and ripped a shot by Guadagnolo.

Owen Sound head coach Mike Stothers was blunt in his assessment the game.

"Was it that we were easy to play against or was our opposition that hungry and that determined to not allow us to play our game? I would readily agree Plymouth is a very good team, but we certainly made it easy for them," Stothers told the Owen Sound Sun-Times. "We just got outbattled and outhustled for the puck. Those are momentum changing goals and you have to give that team credit. They're quick to pucks and they win a lot of battles. They came in here the hottest team in the OHL and they showed they're a legitimate threat."

"We definitely have talent and depth," McCann said. "If the first line isn't scoring, the second line is chipping in. If the third line doesn't score, than some other line is scoring. The coaches tell us know all the time to win our battles and good things will happen."

The Whalers are proof of that fact.

WHALERS PLAY IN LONDON, HOST SAGINAW and PLAY IN WINDSOR IN BUSY WEEKEND

Plymouth plays three games within the Western Conference this weekend with the Ontario Hockey League Final Trading Deadline looming next Wednesday.

The Whalers start the weekend in London on Friday at the John Labatt Centre. Plymouth defeated the Knights, 7-1, on Dec. 7 at the John Labatt Centre - a game that saw Tom Sestito score a natural hat trick in the first period and the Whalers score the first seven goals in the game before a stunned crowd in London.

London (24-9-1-3) is currently battling Kitchener for first place in the Midwest Division and will be playing against the Whalers on Friday without Sam Gagner, Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn - all still active in the World Junior Championship.

On Saturday, Plymouth hosts a loaded-up Saginaw team as Spirit General Manager Bob Mancini as been busy as the Trade Deadline approaches. In separate deals, Saginaw acquired center Cody Bass for Mississauga and defenseman Andrew Hotham in trades, signed overage defenseman Mitch Maunu - who was originally acquired in a trade last summer with Windsor - and signed free-agent goaltender Marc-Andre Perron from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Saginaw sent defenseman Matt Corrente and a draft choice to Mississauga for Bass and right wing Jordan Skellett, then sent Skellett and other draft choices to Erie for Hotham.

Maunu started the season playing between Norfolk of the American Hockey League and Toledo of the East Coast League and is a veteran of 250 OHL games.

Bass is an Ottawa Senators draft choice who is more of a grinder than a scorer. Bass enjoyed his best offensive season in the OHL last year when he scored 16 goals with 25 assists for 41 points in 67 games for the IceDogs. Bass comes to Saginaw this year after scoring 5 goals and 11 assists for 16 points in 23 games with Mississauga.

"Bass is a big, strong, physical forward who can skate," Mancini told the Saginaw News. "He can play at the same speed and tempo we have been and want to continue to play. Hotham is good on the power play and has a big shot. Both players make us tougher, grittier and older."

The Whalers have won three of the four meetings with Saginaw so far this season. After Saturday's game, Plymouth and Saginaw will met on Fri. Jan. 15 at the Dow Event Center, Mon. Jan. 15 at the Compuware Sports Arena and Wed. Feb. 21 in Saginaw.

On Sunday, Plymouth plays in Windsor against a young Spitfire team looking to try to make the playoffs. Windsor sent defenseman and captain Mike Weber along with rookie right wing Thomas Battani to Barrie in exchange for second-year defenseman Blake Parlette, two future second-round draft choices and future considerations.

"This was a move for the future," Windsor general manager Warren Rychel told the Windsor Star. "We get a right defenseman, which we coveted and was a former first-round pick, who will be a pick part of our future."

Windsor comes into the weekend 10 points behind Sault Ste. Marie for the eighth and final playoff position in the Windsor Conference. The Whalers have won all three games against Windsor so far this season and will play Windsor four more times before the end of the regular season - Sat. Jan. 13 at the Compuware Sports Arena, Sat. Feb. 10 in Plymouth, Sun. Feb. 11 in Windsor and Thurs. Mar. 8 at Windsor Arena. In other deals, Kingston acquired RW Matt Auffrey from Brampton for a draft choice and sent 2005 draft choice Justin Taylor to London. Sarnia acquired Paul Zanette from Sudbury for two future draft choices.

COMPUWARE SPORTS ARENA OFFERS FREE PUBLIC SKATE JANUARY 6

The Compuware Learn to Skate program will host a special event as part of U.S. Figure Skating's National Skating Month in January at the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth. The event includes free public skating from 3:10 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. on January 6th. Instructors from the teaching staff will be on hand to give trial lessons and answer questions about Learn to Skate classes offered at the Arena. Skate rental is available for $3.

National Skating Month, now in its sixth year, allows U.S. Figure Skating member clubs and Basic Skills programs to reach out to new members in their community by offering the fundamentals of ice skating from professionally trained instructors across the United States. In its first four years, the program was National Skating Week, but it has been expanded to allow clubs additional time to promote the sport to new skaters. The goal of National Skating Month is to increase awareness and participation in the U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills Program presented by Marshalls.

In March of 2002, U.S. Figure Skating unveiled National Skating Week with great success. Following the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, thousands of people took to the ice as part of National Skating Week in learning how to skate. As part of the week-long activities, more than 110 member clubs nationwide hosted "It's Great to Skate" clinics, with clubs realizing membership increases ranging from 10-50 percent. It was also widely reported that the activities played a large role in gaining increased exposure for their club in the community.



Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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