News Release

MEMORIAL CUP NOTES

VANCOUVER – If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Whalers, it’s to never count them out.

Plymouth’s season was two minutes away from ending last night.  Trailing 1-0 to Lewiston in a must-win situation late in the third period, the situation looked bleak when Whaler captain Steve Ward took a slashing penalty at 17:39.

But Evan Brophey tied the game at 1-1 when he never quit on the play.  Working with Daniel Ryder in the right corner in the Lewiston zone, Brophey powered the puck to the right side of the Maineiacs’ goal and tapped once, twice and then a third time before scoring to even the game with 1:12 left in regulation.

Then Andrew Fournier – who excels at scoring in traffic – batted home a rebound to give Plymouth the win at 4:19 of the extra session.

Ironically, Brophey scored the goal with his future boss – Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon – watching intently.  Tallon was a one-time Vancouver Canuck who participated in a ceremonial opening faceoff before the game with Brophey and Lewiston’s Simon Courcelles.

The knock on Brophey before coming to Plymouth is while he certainly has the skill to play at the National Hockey League level, he didn’t always compete very hard.

That hasn’t been the case this year.  Brophey has a penchant for scoring big goals for the Whalers at critical times, really starting last season when he scored the game-winning goal over Saginaw on the last day of the 2005-06 season to give Plymouth the West Division title.

“He’s been a great player for us,” said Whalers President, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Vellucci.

“The knock on him when he came here was he was inconsistent. The thing about Brophey this year is he works hard every game and in practice.  What’s great about him is he has so much skill.  The goal he scored to tie the game was just second and third effort.”

The tying goal started when Brophey, Ryder and Ryan McGinnis broke into the Lewiston zone on a three-on-two.

“I was trying the cheat a little bit on the penalty kill and hoping the puck would come to me on a breakaway” Brophey said after the game. “We actually got a three-on-two and I just missed Ryder with a pass.  We kept working in the corner and I was finally able to put it away.

“You have to give credit to our team.  No one quit out there.”

Fournier is at his best when he gets dirty in front of the net.  That’s how he scored the game-winner after winning a faceoff in the Lewiston zone.  The puck went back to McGinnis at the left point.

“McGinnis’s shot went off the goalie’s pad right to my stick and I had an empty net,” Fournier said.  “It’s just a great feeling.  No one in our locker room wanted to go home.”

“Our team has had great character all year long,” Vellucci said.  “I recall a game when we were down 5-0 in the Sault and came back to win 8-6.  Sometimes it seems we wait until our backs are against the wall and then we wake up and play.”

After a scoreless forty minutes, Lewiston appeared to score the game’s first goal at 5:07 of the third period when Stefan Chaput batted the puck past Plymouth goaltender Michal Neuvirth.  But after careful review, the video goal judges ruled Chaput batted the puck into the Whalers net with a glove.

Give the goal judges credit.  I was broadcasting the game right next to the goal judges and they looked at the play at least twenty times before making the ruling.

As he has all year, Vellucci went with a hunch and decided to start Neuvirth in goal.  Neuvirth – who has a history of bouncing back from losses – dueled Lewiston goaltender Jonathan Bernier save-for-save.

“Michal has been on a roll and every game he’s struggled in he’s come back with a win.  And a big win,” Vellucci said.  “I did not know (Monday) night and it was a tough decision.  Jeremy Smith is a great goalie, a number-one rated goalie.  But you know what.  You have to go with your gut.”

Vellucci rewarded the good play of rookie AJ Jenks and Vern Cooper with more ice time last night.

“I thought both of them played very well as 16-year-olds,” he said.  “They brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the team – maybe that was something that was lacking in our last game.  They played a lot of minutes tonight and deserved to get their feet wet in a big tournament like this.”

Talk to many people in Vancouver, and many fans want to see the hometown Giants play Medicine Hat in the Memorial Cup Final on Sunday.  They’ll get what they want Wednesday night as the Giants and Tigers complete the round-robin portion of the tournament.

One realistic scenario is that – with a Medicine Hat loss tonight – the Tigers, Plymouth and Lewiston will all be 1-2 and a complex mathematical formula takes over to decide tie-breakers and other possibilities.

The winner of tonight’s Vancouver-Medicine Hat game gets a bye to Sunday’s final.  If Medicine Hat wins tonight, the Whalers will play Lewiston again in Thursday’s tie-breaker.  In Vancouver wins tonight, Plymouth will play Medicine Hat on Thursday in the tie-breaker.

You can hear Plymouth’s game Thursday night starting at 10:20 p.m. EDT on www.plymouthwhalers.com.

MEMORIAL CUP NOTES:  Medicine Hat goaltender Matt Keetley and defenseman Gord Baldwin – both Calgary Flames draft choices – singed entry-level contracts with the Flames….Add another Whaler to the NHL-signing list as the Florida Panthers have signed Dan Collins…James Neal was interviewed one-on-one by Sportsnet on Wednesday in a feature that will air during Plymouth’s game on Thursday…Vancouver forward Wacey Rabbit gets his first name from rodeo star Wacey Cathey. Rabbit is a member of the Blackfoot Nation from the Blood reserve west of Lethbridge, AB.