News Release

WHALERS WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT IN 4-3 SHOOTOUT IN WINDSOR

WINDSOR - James Neal and Evan Brophey scored in a shootout and the Plymouth Whalers withstood a Windsor rally to beat the Spitfires, 4-3, in an Ontario Hockey League game played Sunday afternoon before 3,435 at Windsor Arena.

The Whalers have won five in a row and remain in first place in the OHL West with a record of 38-13-1-2, good for 79 points. Plymouth has gone 30-4-1-2 over its last 37 games, gaining 63 out of a possible 74 points.

Windsor is now 15-33-1-4.

Jared Boll (22^nd), Chris Terry (15^th) and Daniel Ryder (29^th) scored in regulation for Plymouth. Mickey Renaud (16^th), Keaton Turkiewicz (19th) and John Kurtz (4^th) scored for Windsor. Windsor received 46 saves from rookie goaltender Andrew Engelage as the game’s first star. Plymouth outshot Windsor, 50-28, in the game.

Plymouth scored in the first minute of play for the third straight game, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Boll at 0:16 and Terry at 0:39. Boll scored in tight on the left wing of the Windsor goal after taking a feed from Neal and Terry scored when he batted home a rebound on the right side of the Windsor goal. Plymouth outshot Windsor, 14-4, in the first period.

Renaud cut the Plymouth lead to 2-1 at 3:49 of the second period with a shot from the left wing past Plymouth goaltender Jeremy Smith, but Ryder scored at 9:02 with he scored on a rebound from the left faceoff  dot past Engelage. Turkiewicz then scored through traffic at 17:40 of the second period in a scramble in front of Smith. Plymouth led, 3-2, after forty minutes.

Kurtz tied the game with 5:29 left in regulation when he took Renaud feed in the Plymouth slot and beat Smith.

After a scoreless overtime, Neal (stuff on left wing side of the goal) and Brophey (high shot from the slot) beat Engelage in the shootout, while Windsor’s Bradley Snetsinger (puck bounced away in the slot) and Adam Henrique (lost the puck in the slot) could not beat Smith.

Plymouth is on the road all of next week, playing in Barrie on Thursday, Sudbury on Friday and Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday, February 18. The Whalers’ next home games are on Friday, February 23 against Belleville and Saturday, February 24 against Oshawa. Start time for both games is 7:05 p.m.  Tickets are available by calling the Compuware Sports Arena at (734) 453-8400 at by going to Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.