News Release

WHALERS PULL AWAY FROM WINDSOR IN 4-0 VICTORY

WINDSOR –  Plymouth goaltender Jeremy Smith (Brownstown) stopped 32 shots for his first-ever Ontario Hockey League shutout and the Whalers went on to defeat the Windsor Spitfires, 4-0, in an OHL game played before 3,052 at Windsor Arena.

Plymouth is now 6-4-0-0 and in third place in the OHL’s West Division; Windsor falls to 2-7-1-1, in last place in the OHL West.

The Whalers got two goals from Evan Brophey (who now has three on the season) and single goals from Dan Collins (4) and Steve Ward (2).

For most of the first two periods, Windsor goaltender Anthony Guadagnolo matched Smith save for save. But Plymouth wore down the younger Spitfires as the game wore on, outshooting Windsor, 54-32. The last time Plymouth had at least 50 shots in a game came on October 28, 2004, when the Whalers had 52 shots in a 4-2 victory over Ottawa at the Compuware Sports Arena.

Brophey started the scoring at 19:13 of the second period after he won a faceoff in the Windsor zone and passed to linemate James Neal.  Neal’s hard shot from the left wing was stopped by Guadagnolo, but Brophey scored on the rebound from the lower rim of the left circle.

Plymouth pulled away for good in the third period. Collins scored a short handed goal at 6:18 of the third period on a play that was set up by the hard work of Jared Boll. Boll skated hard on the left wing into the Windsor zone and cut across the grain left to right to try to stuff the puck by Guadagnolo. Guadagnolo made the save, but the puck lay on the goal line and Collins tapped home the loose puck to give the Whalers a 2-0 lead. Ward gave Plymouth a 3-0 lead on a power play goal at 14:12 with a hard, low shot from the high slot and Brophey completed the scoring at 19:02 when he finished off a 2-on-1 break with Chris Terry.

Plymouth is back in action Friday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Compuware Sports Arena when they host Brampton. Tickets are available by calling the Compuware Sports Arena at (734) 453-8400 at by going to Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.