Article published Dec 30, 2007
Spirit down Whalers, 4-2
By ED WRIGHT - Staff Writer

There was plenty of mascot meeting, hot dog eating and face painting during the Plymouth Whalers' "Kids' Day" matinee game against visiting Saginaw Thursday afternoon at Compuware Arena.

Unfortunately for the Whalers, there wasn't nearly enough lamp lighting.

Playing before a sellout crowd of 3,510, Saginaw goalie Ryan Daniels redirected 27-of-29 shots to lead the suddenly resurgent Spirit to a 4-2 road victory. The fourth-straight triumph boosted the winners' record to 15-14-3-1 while the Whalers slipped to 19-10-2-2.

Plymouth won't have to wait long for redemption as the two teams are slated to face off again Saturday at 7:11 p.m. in Saginaw.

Both teams showed signs of the rustiness that can develop when you don't play for 12 days and practice just once in two weeks.

"It's disappointing losing at home coming off the break, but I know we'll bounce back and we're only going to get better," said Whalers head coach Greg Stefan, who's just four games into his tenure. "Right now I'm still trying to get to know some of these kids and we're trying to put a little bit of a twist on what we want to do. Whenever you're coming off the time off that we had, you never know what you're going to get.

"Our start wasn't too bad, but then we had some defensive lapses and our penalty kill got running around a little bit. After they scored, we had some power-play opportunities of our own, but we couldn't cash in."

The afternoon was a homecoming of sorts for a couple of the visitors - Spirit coach Todd Watson, who served as an assistant coach for Plymouth before being hired by Saginaw during the off-season; and Saginaw defenseman Joe Underwood, a 17-year-old Canton resident who was traded from Guelph to Saginaw earlier this month.

"It was a little awkward at first coaching on the other side, especially because I have so many great memories here," said Watson. "But this was my second game (with Saginaw) coaching here, so you get used to it.

"Today's game was a little sloppy all around I thought. I know Stef's not happy with his team and we're not over-ecstatic with the way we played. I know they're a better team than they showed and I think we can play better, too."

Watson is high on Underwood, a steady 6-foot-1, 183-pound defenseman who logged several productive shifts Thursday and nearly scored on a whistling third-period shot from the blue line that was redirected by Whaler goalie Matt Hackett.

"He's the type of defenseman who's a stay-at-home, solid player," said Watson. "I thought he had a very solid game today. Joe should help us a lot."

The story of the day for the Whalers was the promising play of goalie Matt Hackett, who was filling in for usual starter Jeremy Smith, Plymouth's OHL Goaltender of the Year candidate who is currently playing for the United States in the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic.

Hackett stymied 38-of-42 shots - two of the Spirit's goals were power plays - including a trio of breakaway stops that Smith would have been proud of.

"I thought our young goalie played very well," said Stefan, who starred as a Detroit Red Wings' net-minder throughout the 1980s. "It's the first time I've seen him play and I thought he made some very good saves. We'll evaluate him tomorrow and take it from there."

The Spirit broke open a scoreless contest with three second-period goals and never looked back. Jordan Szwarz opened the scoring 4:41 into the second stanza when he deposited a rebound shot past Hackett just 10 seconds after the Whalers were whistled for a penalty. Thomas Zaborsky and Jack Combs assisted on the lamp lighter.

Saginaw doubled its lead to 2-0 six minutes later when Combs found the back of the net, this time just 22 seconds after a Plymouth infraction.

Chris Chappell's even-strength net-finder made it 3-0 with 6:24 left in the period.

A.J. Jenks lasered a slap shot past Daniels with 1:54 left in the second period to bring Plymouth to within 3-1, but Ryan McDonough tipped a Chappell pass past Hackett at 9:44 of the third to stretch the visitors' lead out to 4-1.

Plymouth's Wes Cunningham scored the game's final goal off assists from Andrew Fournier and Chris Terry with 5:51 left.