Game 10: Whalers Own Kingston

The Whalers came out of the K-Rock Centre in Kingston showing why the Whalers have been talked about being one of the most dangerous teams of the OHL.

The Whalers get the early lead as Karlsson nets his first goal of the season 3:55 into the first on the power play. Kingston ties the game with a goal from Morbeck, but Meurs and Noesen also score to give the Whalers a 3-1 lead after one.

Kingston cut the Whalers lead to one after McKeown scores. The Whalers answer back in a hurry and get goals from Meurs and Rakell and let’s not forget the short-handed goal by Ryan Hartman to make it a 6-2 game with 9:25 left in the second. Mike Morrison was pulled after Rakell’s goal and was replace by Colin Furlong. Morrison went 21 for 26 in 28:04 of playing time.

Tom Wilson had a beauty of a finishing punch in a fight against Kingston’s Fitzmorris, however Wilson went back to the locker room for medical treatment after the fight not to return for the rest of the game.

In the third Mistele and Payne pile on to the goal total while Kingston answers with a lone goal by Darcy Greenaway making the final score 8-3 in favor of the Whalers.

The Whalers look forward to continuing their winning ways and make their way to Oshawa for a game against the Generals.

Game 9: Petes Beaten By The Whalers

The Whalers are on a three game road trip, and boy did they start it off right by getting their first road win of the season. It was a long time coming after starting the season in the Soo and dropping that game in OT and letting up three goals in the third against the Storm, etc., and so on. So let’s get to the the stats from the game.

Rakell scored 3:05 into the first to give the Whalers a lead. However the Petes convert on the extra man to tie the game at 1-1.

The ice was tilted in the Whalers favor for the second as they outshot the Petes 18-4, however Andrew D’Agostini keeps the game a tie for the Petes.

It was Connor Carrick scoring one minute into the third that holds up as the game winner, moving the Whalers to 3-3-2-1 on the season.

The Whalers earned this victory. They outshot the Petes 41-24, though to take one negative out of this game, is that the Whalers went 0/5 on the power play in this game. They were getting the shots, but they need to convert on the extra man.

The Whalers now take on Kingston for the second game of this three game road trip.

Game 8: Whalers Drop Another Game in OT

While the Whalers have been struggling on the road, they have found a way to get the job done at Compuware Sports Arena. Unfortunately that was not the case for this Saturday’s 5th Annual Pink Out game.

Coming off two road losses the Whalers were striving to get this game started on the right foot and Aleardi helped with that strong start. In the first period he stole the puck from a Soo defender and popped the puck into the net for an unassisted 1-0 lead in the first.

Later on in the period, a shot from Dempsey got redirected off a Whalers stick and landed perfectly on the tape for Andrew Fritsch to score on an open net, allowing the Greyhounds to finish the first with a 1-1 tie.

The Whalers came out strong following the intermission, allowing Garrett Meurs to place himself in front of the Soo goaltender, Matt Murray, and score top shelf, giving the Whalers a 2-1 lead 4:03 into the second. That lead would last all the way into the third.

The third period was a bad period for the Whalers. Between bad bounces that lead to a Nick Cousins wraparound goal to tie the game, and the questionable call late in the period to Ryan Hartman for “kneeing” on a hip check, caused the Whalers to be shorthanded 5-on-3 for the final :24 seconds of the third and into OT.

The Whalers fought off the penalties and put the team at full strength (5-on-5 until the next whistle) only to see Andrew Fritsch score his second goal of the night 14 seconds later giving the Soo Greyhounds their second OT win against the Whalers this season.

The Whalers now head on the road for three games this week looking for their first road win and Vellucci’s 401st win. Tom Wilson will be back after serving his two game suspension and Danny Vanderwiel is on the bike and practicing with the team again. Hopefully the Whalers can turn this bad luck around and get back on the winning path.

REPORT: Malysa To Be Traded?

With Austin Levi being returned to the club and Simon Karlsson finally getting his paperwork to come over to Plymouth, the Whalers find themselves with an overabundance of defensemen.

WhalersOTM is hearing reports that Coach Vellucci told the team that there would be a trade once Karlsson arrived with the team and it appears that Whalers veteran d-man Nick Malysa has been asking to be traded.

Vellucci has been known to trade players rather than have them sit out, so there is a strong possibility that this is true. The only questions are where would he go? What would the Whalers get for him? and will tonight’s game against the Soo be the last time we see him in a Whalers sweater?

We will keep you updated on the lastest as this story continues to unfold.

Game 7: Knights Slay Whalers

The top two teams of last season faced off in the newly dubbed Budweiser Gardens this past Friday night as the Whalers are still looking for their first win on the road this season. This is also the first game we got to see Simon Karlsson play for the Whalers.

Game 6: Whalers Fall To The Attack

Corbin got his second start as a Whaler and it did not go as smoothly as it did on last Saturday night. In 29 minutes of play he let in three goals. To blame the game loss on him however, is a total discredit to what happened in the game.

Owen Sound scored the lone goal in the first with a nice tip in by Daniel Catenacci on the power play.  The Whalers got their chances that period, outshooting the Attack 13-7.

In the second, Kurtis Gabriel lifted the puck past Corbin on a two-on-o breakaway, just seconds after Jordan Binnington made three outstanding stops in the Attack’s zone. Later in the period Rakell scores his forth goal of the season and first on the powerplay to bring the Whalers within one early in the second. Joseph Blandisi powered his way to the net to give the Attack a two goal lead again 9:09 into the second. Mahalak takes over for Corbin at this point. The Whalers continue to outshoot the Attack, this period by a total of 21-9.

In the third Cody “Max” Payne scores his 5th goal in 6 games (current streak of 4 goals in 4 games) with 6:27 left in the third bringing the Whalers within one again. Wilson got a game misconduct for instigating in the last five minutes of the game, which is a two game suspension in this league,, and causing the Whalers to be short handed in the final 53 seconds of the game. Mahalak was pulled for the extra man, but they were not able to convert as Owen Sound netted an empty net goal giving them the 4-2 win. Whalers were able to throw 44 shots on net and Binnington stopped all but two shots. Corbin went 10-13 and Mahalak went 16-16

The Whalers set their sights to London and hopes to get earn two points on their trip to Budweiser Gardens this friday before returning home to face the Soo Greyhounds.

Ice Cuttings: OA Edition

Mitchell Heard warms up for the Lake Erie Monsters.

The Whalers have one OA spot on the roster for this season and before Vellucci attempts to fill that position via trade, we must wait to see if anyone might get sent back down from the AHL. This happened last year with Jamie Devane when he got sent down from the Toronto Marlies. With another NHL lockout, there might be fewer spots open in the AHL then there would have been had there not been a lock out, but all player are trying to earn a spot on their respective AHL rosters.

This year we are looking at four Whalers hoping to move on to the AHL. Heard is with the Lake Erie Monsters, Levi is with the Checkers was with the Checkers, and Wedgewood is with the Albany Devils. Miller, while not an OA is currently with the Connecticut Whale.

Colin MacDonald and Alex Aleardi make up two out of the three OA spots on the Whalers roster. Who will take that OA spot and how will it help the Whalers this season?

Game 5: Whalers Neuter Ice Dogs

Corbin got his first OHL start/win against the Ice Dogs.

The Whalers were back in action on Saturday having to shake off the Storm’s come from behind victory at the Sleemans Centre in Guelph the night before. For this night’s game, they gave the start to backup tender Riley Corbin, his first in the OHL.

Game 4: The Storm Strike Late; Rain On Whalers Celebration

Guelph nets four goals in the third for the 5-4 victory Friday night. Photo: PlymouthWhalers.com

The Whalers got to work early and did not look back… Until the third period that is, but starting off the scoring was Whalers d-man Gianluca Curcuruto 1:30 into the first. Justin Auger starts the scoring for the Storm and the game is tied at one less than halfway through the first. Then is comes Cody “Max” Payne. (Side note: The Whalers Twitter called him Max Payne instead of Cody Payne. Ladies and gentlemen, this nickname is sticking) Cody knock the puck into the net, but after going upstairs, the goal is overturned. Don’t worry, 24 seconds later Cody scores a goal that counts and gives the Whalers a 2-1 lead.

The second period was scoreless. The Guelph radio team commented on how the Rakell-Noesen-Wilson line were men against boys, basically playing keep away and keeping the puck in the zone. Which stayed true until the third. The Whalers started the third with 2:44 remaining on a 4:00 power play after Noesen received a high stick to the face. Nosen scored on the power play 2:22 into the third to give the Whalers a 3-1 lead.

Then the Storm started to roar back. As the third ticked on, goal after goal went past Mahalak to a point where Guelph took a 4-3 lead. Rakell would tally a goal to tie the game at four-a-side. The game looked like it was heading to OT when Justin Auger scores his third of the game with 4.4 remaining in the game giving the Storm a 5-4 win and ruining an attempt to give Whalers coach Mike Vellucci his 400th OHL win.

The Whalers head home to face the Niagara Ice Dogs at Compuware Arena and look to give Vellucci his 400th win on home ice.

GAME 3: Whalers Pick Apart Wolves For Their First Win

Whalers defeat the Wolves 6-2.

The Whalers were looking to get their first win of the season on Saturday and they did so with an amazing show of skill. Where last week was a lot of sizzle and little finish, this week against the Wolves, the Whalers proved that they could get the puck to the back of the net in a convincing fashion.