Photo - On October 17, 2008, Plymouth landparent Mary Beth Bloom drops the puck between Niagara's Drew Schiestel and Plymouth's Leo Jenner in the Whalers first annual Pink Out! for Breast Cancer Awareness at Compuware Arena.  Photo by Walt Dmoch.

WHALERS TONIGHT: Niagara @ Plymouth, Compuware Arena, 7:05pm

Plymouth and Niagara play in the first of two games this season.

BROADCAST: Listen to tonight's game on 88.1FM The Park and www.plymuthwhalers.com starting at 6:45 pm.  The Schoolcraft College Sports Network provides video streaming.

MEDIA PACKAGE: Here's tonight's media package, supplied by the Ontario Hockey League.

THE REST OF THE SERIES: Thu. Feb. 28 – Plymouth at Niagara, 7:00 pm

LAST SEASON: Plymouth and Niagara spilt two games.

Oct. 22 – (at) NIAGARA 4 (Friesen, Graham, F.Hamilton, D.Hamilton; Visentin, 30 saves), PLYMOUTH 0.

Oct. 14 – (at) PLYMOUTH 6 (Bathgate 2-1, Schmitz 1-3, Aleardi 1-2, Devane, Heard), NIAGARA 3 (F.Hamilton, Agozzino, Theoret).

LAST GAME: Plymouth lost, 5-4, in Guelph last night.  Niagara won, 4-0, last night in Saginaw.

NEXT GAME: Plymouth plays in Owen Sound next Wednesday (6:45 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).  Niagara plays at Peterborough on Tuesday.

ALL-TIME: Plymouth holds a 22-4-1-1 edge over Niagara in the all-time series dating back to 1998.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION AFTER THE GAME: The Whalers will be available for autographs after the game.  They’ll be spread out throughout Compuware Arena a few minutes after the game. Free posters will be handed out.

PINK OUT! COMING NEXT WEEK:  The Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers will participate in their annual Pink Out! For Breast Cancer Awareness on Saturday, October 13 against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.  Game time is 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena.

The Whalers will once again get their hair dyed pink as a team and will wear specifically designed pink jerseys for the game.  The jerseys will be auctioned off with benefits going to the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

The Whalers are teaming up once again with the Lucky Hair Company in Canton to get their hair dyed.  Plymouth will report in two shifts on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 9:30 am and then again around 6 pm to the Lucky Hair Company. 

The Lucky Hair Company is located at 45241 Cherry Hill Road in Canton.  Call them at 734-844-8166.

NICE WIN LAST WEEK: Plymouth’s 6-2 win over Sudbury last week was done with a short bench, with JT Miller (American Hockey League), Connor Sills (suspension) and Ryan Hartman (US Prospects All-Star game) all missing and then Danny Vanderwiel, Stefan Noesen and Alex Aleardi all out after the start of the second period.

Playing for the most part with six forwards and five or six defensemen, the shorthanded Whalers pulled away with four unanswered goals in the second period to extend a 1-0 lead to 5-0 after forty minutes.

“It was a great win,” said Plymouth assistant coach Don Elland.  “We even had some “d” playing forward (Curtis Crombeen and Mitch Jones) for a little bit.  It was great win, being shorthanded like that and finding a way to get it done.  There was no panic in the locker room and no panic among the guys.  It was good that we got the quick goals in the second period.”

MIKE VELLUCCI HEADS TOWARD 400 WINS:  As the winningest coach in franchise history, Plymouth head coach Mike Vellucci comes into the weekend with 399 career victories.

“I don’t know if there’s any one thing that makes Mike an excellent coach,” said Elland.  “He’s very detail oriented, he’s great at X’s and O’s and knows what he wants from his players.  He demands a lot, but he also has the ability to make the players play for him.  They all want to play hard for him and they all buy into the system. He doesn’t care if you’re the first forward or the 12^th forward, you buy in to the system. “