1999-00 Plymouth Whalers

Experts around the Ontario Hockey League fully expected the Plymouth Whalers to rebuild in 1999-2000.

After winning 51 games in 1998-99 and graduating players like Harold Druken (58 goals with 45 assists for 103 points), Adam Colagiacomo (40-68=108), David Legwand (31-49=80), Nik Tselios (21-39=60), Paul Mara (13-41=54) and Scott Holsinger (Canadian Hockey League record 2.08 goals against average), rebuilding certainly appeared to be in order.

But a funny thing happened to the Plymouth Whalers on the way to a rebuilding year. The Whalers took the rebuilding mode and threw it right out of the Compuware Sports Arena and onto Beck Road.

Using a superb combination of excellent defense, team chemistry, sharp coaching and contributions from everyone on the hockey club, the Plymouth Whalers confounded the experts by becoming the Ontario Hockey League's top team in 1999-2000 with a record of 45-19-4-1. The Whalers moved to the top of the OHL for good after running a franchise record 17-game winning streak - the second longest in the Ontario Hockey League history.

The Whalers continued to roll in the playoffs, advancing to the OHL Championship Series against Barrie, taking the Colts to the maximum of seven games before losing in the final game, 4-2.

What happened?

"We've got a lot of youth and enthusiasm this year," Plymouth general manager/head coach Peter DeBoer said at midseason. "I think anytime you tell kids they can't do something, they're going to go out and try to prove you wrong. I think this team's been hearing since this summer how poorly they're going to do and how they're going to struggle to make the playoffs and how it's going to be tough for us to be competitive every night. They go out every night with the mission to prove these people wrong."

Team captain Randy Fitzgerald was asked to describe why the Whalers were successful in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

"There is no hidden reason for the success of our team," Fitzgerald explained. "It's just old-fashioned hard work, a blue-collar hockey club. Yeah, we were supposed to rebuild this year, but when I broke in 1996, we were only supposed to get 10 or 11 wins and we ended up winning 26.

"I think it's a credit to our coaching staff, who've instilled hard work and a good defensive system. Even though we've scored some goals of late we still really thrive on our defensive zone coverage and our work ethic. I think that's what gives us most of our wins. A lot of people think we're doing something special or playing a different sort of system, but we don't. We play aggressive hockey. I guess our key is using our speed and our forecheck and taking away other team's time and space. Every night, if you come out and give an effort for 60 minutes for this team we're going to win hockey games that way."

Plymouth overages Randy Fitzgerald (233 games played), Eric Gooldy (franchise-best 249 games played) and Shaun Fisher (177 games) capped fine careers with the Whalers, giving the team much needed leadership. They never bought the rebuilding mode and younger players followed suit. In fact, DeBoer and assistant coach Steve Spott offered to deal Fitzgerald, Gooldy and Fisher to a contending club at the trading deadline. But citing something-special happening in Plymouth, all three players decided to stay with the Whalers.

"They kind of put a sock in our mouths at Christmas," Spott explained. "We brought them all in individually and said, `Listen. Do you want to be traded to a so-called contender - someone like Barrie or Ottawa?' They looked at us and said, `Well, aren't we a contender?'

"You know what? They were right and we were wrong," Spott said. "They've stuck with it, they've done a great job in the locker room and they've got us to this point."

As successful as the Whalers were, they struggled out of the gate, going 8-10-2-1 through the first 20 games of the season. The team started to turn the season around on a road trip through Eastern Ontario. After losing in Peterborough and Kingston, the Whalers went into Ottawa and knocked off the high-touted 67's, 5-2. Ironically, that game was the last in a Whaler uniform for rookie goaltender Aaron Molnar, who decided to quit the Whalers after the game.

At that point, second-year goaltender Rob Zepp took over to backstop the Whalers. A draft choice of the Atlanta Thrashers, Zepp led the OHL with a 2.38 goals against average and 36 victories.

"It's a totally different team this year," Zepp said. "As an individual, you have to take a different look at it. I'm going to be called upon every night to hold the team in, where last year we had the luxury of giving up a few more goals a game. This year, you really have to be on (your game). They're (the coaching staff) really putting a lot of pressure on the goaltenders this year."

"I can't say enough about Rob Zepp," DeBoer said. "He's really taken the ball and run with it. He's given us the goaltending we need to get wins. Make no mistake about it, we've worked hard. But had it not been for Rob Zepp and some key saves and some fantastic nights he's had, we wouldn't be where we are now."

Atlanta scouts watched Zepp last season with great interest.

"We're very pleased for Rob and the Whalers," said Atlanta head scout Dan Marr. "He's more than lived up to our expectations. Every time we come and see him we see lots of improvement to his game (especially) his concentration and his focus. You can see he's really ready when the puck is dropped."

The Plymouth blue line corps in 1999-2000 didn't have the flair of the 1998-99 group, which was led by Tselios and Mara. But Jared Newman, Libor Ustrnul, Nate Kiser, Andrew Robichaud, Kevin Holdridge, Chris Cava and Fisher proved to be one of the best defensive groups in the OHL. The Whalers the OHL in team defense for the second consecutive year, allowing just 172 goals.

"I think it's a different blue line corps than it was a year ago," DeBoer explained. "A year ago, we had some size, but we also had a lot of mobility and a lot of offensive creativity. This year's group has good size but has a little bit of a grit factor. I think some of these guys scare some of the other team's forwards in front of the net. Nate Kiser's a physical guy, so's (Jared) Newman, so's (Kevin) Holdridge. Cole Jarrett and Andre Robichaud can also play physical. It's a little bit of a different kind of group, but a real solid defensive unit."

The good work of Ustrnul, Newman and Kiser didn't go unnoticed by National Hockey League scouts. Ustrnul was selected in the second round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrasher, Newman in the fourth round by Carolina and Kiser in the fifth round by Phoenix.

Up front, the Whalers were led by second year players Justin Williams (37-46=83), Damian Surma (34-44=78) and rookies Stephen Weiss (24-42=66) and Tomas Kurka (36-28=64). As the season wore on, the Whalers' combination of speed and forechecking proved to be deadly for the opposition.

"I think the strength of our team has been our forecheck," DeBoer said. "We've got good speed up front and our guys are tireless workers - all four lines and everyone we put on the ice. That's our key - we tend to put teams on their heels with our speed and our forecheck and our tenacity. We've got to continue that to continue our success."

Although Williams capped his season by being selected by Philadelphia in the first round (29th overall) in the NHL Entry Draft, other teams liked Williams, too.

"I would take Williams first of all the Whalers," said New York Rangers scout Herb Hammond. "I'm a real skill guy. And Williams has great skill. He has unbelievable hands, soft hands. He has good vision and work ethic. The one thing that had to come on is his skating, and it has. And his confidence level is terrific. From the start of the year, to now, when he steps on the ice, he's dangerous. He makes everybody around him better."

As the season wore on, rookie Tomas Kurka showed a flair for scoring the dramatic, game-winning goal, scoring 7 game-winning goals.

"Whenever he picks up the puck in the neutral zone, you kind of move forward in your seat," Marr said. "You just wonder what he's going to do, because somehow, some way he finds a way to get a scoring chance. He can do it individually and he's a pretty good playmaker. Every time he gets the puck, it's probably going to be a goal scoring chance for Plymouth."

Kurka was taken in the second round by Carolina. Weiss - too young to be drafted in 2000 - is already considered a top prospect for the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Surma's best stretch of the season coincided with the Whalers' 17-game winning streak. The line of Surma, Williams and Fitzgerald were relentless in their forecheck and dominated the opposition during the winning streak.

"All three guys are strong on the puck - they have great puck pursuit and they're all quick," DeBoer said. "They all seem to feed off each other. They come with a lot of energy. I think more than anything, they just outwork the other team whenever they're on the ice together. That's what causes most of their opportunities."

Plymouth clinched the Western Conference crown with a 9-2 victory over Kingston and clinched first overall after winning in Sarnia, 3-2, on March 19.

The Whalers had some unfinished business as the playoffs started, as they were looking to overcome the shock of being eliminated from the playoffs the previous season in the second round by London.

Plymouth met Guelph in the first round and lost the first two games. Led by overage goaltender Chris Madden, the Storm took the first two games of the series, 5-2 and 4-1. But Plymouth smoked Guelph, 8-0, in game 3 and then swept the Storm out of the playoffs after winning games 4-6.

As the playoffs unfolded, a defensive pattern formed for the Whalers. Associate coach Spott - who runs the Whalers' defense - paired Ustrnul and Newman against the opposition's top scorers. They flourished at the challenge, winning every matchup against players like Guelph's Kent McDonell, Windsor's Steve Ott, Sault Ste. Marie's Josef Vasicek and Barrie's Sheldon Keefe.

"Our game plan is, if you're going to beat us, you're going to have to earn it," explained Plymouth assistant coach Mark Gowans. "I think what Libor and Jared do is make you play honest. You're not going to get any freebies and you're going to have to pay the price for it. Over the course of a game and series it's going to be difficult for any line to play against them."

"They're both big, strong and physical and they both skate real well, which is a real good combination," DeBoer said about Ustrnul and Newman. "A guy like Steve Ott is a tenacious player, but he's not very big. Guys that are 6-foot-2, 6-3 and in Libor's case, 6-5 and 220 pounds, it's a little easier to handle the smaller guys when you skate as well as they do."

The Whalers met Windsor in the second round and polished off the Spits in five games.

Sault Ste. Marie was next, and again the Whalers won in five games. Rookie and Sault-native Cole Jarrett - normally a defenseman - moved up front in the playoffs when injuries cropped up and scored the game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory April 26 in Sault Ste. Marie.

"He's been outstanding," DeBoer said of Jarrett. "For a kid to handle that kind of situation - where you've been a defenseman you're whole life and now you're in the OHL playoffs as an underage and you're thrown into a position you're not comfortable in - I think he's just been great. If not for his ability to fill in the way he has, we might not be playing right now, because we've had some key injuries to Tomas Kurka (appendectomy in the first round against Guelph), Jamie Lalonde (collapsed lung) and now Vernarsky suspended. We've needed guys to step up and he's been a key guy for us."

Plymouth eliminated Sault Ste. Marie, 3-1, on April 29 and moved on to the OHL Finals against the Barrie Colts.

The OHL's two best teams met in Game 1 May 4th in Barrie. Fitzgerald scored the game-wer in 59 seconds into overtime in a 5-4 victory. George Nistas - playing in the place of injured Damian Surma - set up Fitzgerald's game-wer, carrying the puck into the Barrie zone and feeding Fitzgerald in the deep slot.

"The puck squirted to me and I was the third man high," Fitzgerald said. "I was lucky to get it by (Barrie goaltender) Brian Finley."

Barrie won game 2 in Plymouth, 4-3. The next night - May 8 - the Whalers regained the lead in the series in a 5-3 victory. The teams traded victories in games 4 and 5. As it turned out, the Whalers' 3-1 victory May 12 in game 5 wound be their last in the series.

Barrie goaltender Brian Finley started to take the series over. Facing elimination in Game 6 in Barrie, the Colts evened the series at 3-3 when Finley pitched a 26-save shutout in a 3-0 victory. Barrie walked into a jammed Compuware Sports Arena in Game 7 and although Plymouth shut down Barrie's top offensive guns, the Colts got a pair of goals from Tim Verbeek and a single by Mike Henderson in a 4-2 victory to clinch the OHL title and a spot in the Memorial Cup championships.

There was sadness but no bitterness in the Plymouth locker room.

"It certainly wasn't for lack of effort," DeBoer said after Game 7. "We left everything we had on the ice the entire series, it just wasn't enough. We'll walk out with our heads high."

For his team's efforts, DeBoer was named the OHL's Coach of the Year for the second straight year.

The Whalers return most of the last year's roster for the 2000-2001 season. A key addition is first round draft choice James Wisniewski, a Canton native from the Whalers' North American Hockey League affiliate.

Unlike last season, the Whalers won't sneak up on the opposition this year. Still, the Whalers look to repeat or exceed last year's magical season.

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