News Release

WHALERS BEAT STING, 3-1, TO WIN BATTLE OF ATTRITION

PLYMOUTH – The Plymouth Whalers and Sarnia Sting came into tonight’s game at Compuware Arena mirror images of one another. Both teams were tied with 62 points and iced short lineups due to suspensions and injuries.

Plymouth defeated Sarnia, 3-1, to regain sole possession of third place in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division with a record of 30-21-2-2, good for 64 points. Sarnia is now 30-22-2-0, good for 62 points and fourth place in the OHL’s West Division.

AJ Jenks (24th), Chris Terry (team-leading 36th) and Joe Gaynor (8th) scored for Plymouth and Vern Cooper chipped in with two assists. Steven Stamkos scored his 43rd goal of the season for Sarnia.

The Whalers missed injured players Wes Cunningham and Josh Bemis and suspended players Leo Jenner, Jozef Sladok and Ryan Hayes, along with Head Coach Greg Stefan. Cunningham was hurt in a 7-4 loss in Kingston on Sunday and will undergo surgery on his finger Thursday. He will likely miss the rest of the season. Hayes and Sladok were suspended after fighting on Sunday in Kingston. Stefan was also suspended in the Kingston game, with his return to be decided in a hearing with the Ontario Hockey League office later this week. Sarnia played without suspended players Daniel Lombardi and Aaron Snow and injured players Justin DiBenedetto, Vladimir Nikiforov and Mark Katic.

With Stefan watching, Plymouth assistant coaches Joe Stefan (Greg’s brother) and Brian Sommariva ran the Whalers bench.

Sarnia took a 1-0 lead at 7:14 of the first period when Stamkos scored from the right circle past Whalers goaltender Jeremy Smith. Sarnia’s starting goaltender Andrew Perugini left the game with an injury at 17:37 of the period after stopping all six shots he faced. Perugini was replaced by Tomi Karhunen, who played the rest of the way. The Sting outshot the Whalers, 10-9, in the first period.

Plymouth tied the game at 1-1 on a power play at 4:24 of the second period when Jenks deflected Christian Steingraber’s point shot in front of Karhunen. The Whalers took a 2-1 lead at 18:17 of the period when Cooper caught Terry breaking into the Sarnia zone with a crisp pass. Terry went wide left wing and beat Karhunen with a well-placed shot on the severe angle. The Whalers outshot Sarnia, 19-10, in the second period.

Gaynor scored on a rebound in front of the Sarnia goal with 1:13 remaining in the third period to ice the game for Plymouth. The Whalers outshot Sarnia, 16-10 in the third period and 44-30 in the game.

After playing in Saginaw on Friday, the Whalers are home on Saturday against Kitchener at 7:05 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for all Plymouth games by calling the Compuware Arena at (734) 453-8400 or by going to Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

About the Plymouth Whalers

The Plymouth Whalers are the only Metro Detroit team in the Ontario Hockey League, a developmental league for National Hockey League players. The Whalers all range in age from 15-21 years-old and are consistently one of the top teams in the OHL. In 2006-07, the Whalers won the OHL Championship.   

www.plymouthwhalers.com

About Compuware Arena

Compuware Arena is home to the 2007 Ontario Hockey League Champion Plymouth Whalers, the Major Indoor Soccer League’s Detroit Ignition, the Compuware Arena Drive-In Theatres, the MHSAA Boys State Hockey Championships and eight AAA Compuware Hockey youth teams. Compuware Arena serves more than one million patrons each year, and is located in Plymouth, Michigan. www.compuwarearena.com

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