Alex Nedeljkovic and Josh Wesley Returned to Plymouth from NHL

Photo courtesy of Carolina Hurricanes - Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic played in the second half of Carolina’s 4-3 loss to Columbus on Sunday.

Slowly but surely, the Plymouth Whalers are getting their players back from National Hockey League Training Camps.

On Monday morning, the Carolina Hurricanes returned goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and defenseman Josh Wesley back to Plymouth. All told, the Hurricanes returned seven players back to their junior clubs.

Mathew Campagna (Nashville) was also sent back and practiced with the Whalers on Monday.

Nedeljkovic played Sunday in Carolina’s 4-3 loss to Columbus in the Hurricanes’ pre-season opener. Nedeljovic stopped five-of-six shots over the second half of the game.

“It felt good. I felt pretty comfortable. The guys have treated me well and made me a part of the team, so it was a pretty easy transition,” Nedeljkovic told Hurricanes.com. “Everything is a lot faster, and everyone is a lot bigger.”

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Plymouth general manager Mark Craig said this about Nedejkovic in an article for www.ontariohockeyleague.com:

“The neatest part about this kid is how good of a kid he is off the ice,” Craig says. “He’s probably a better man than he is a goaltender and that’s really saying something. Everybody from the Zamboni driver to the kids who clean up the locker room, all they talk about is how great a guy this guy is. He worked hard this summer, he lives and breathes goaltending and hockey. He’s in great shape, he’s looked good in camp and he’s so motivated. When you take his skill level and his motivation, I think he’s going to have a great year.”

Earlier, Alex Peters (Dallas), Gianluca Curcuruto (Montreal) and Mitch Jones (Ottawa) were sent back to Plymouth and are practicing this week with the Whalers.

As of Monday afternoon, Victor Crus Rydberg (NY Islanders), Connor Chatham (New Jersey), Matt Mistele (Los Angeles) and Sonny Milano (Columbus) remain with their respective NHL teams.

Plymouth opens the season on Friday in London (7:20 pm, www.plymouthwhalers.com only) before returning home on Saturday to host the Erie Otters at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena (6:50 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).

CRAIG SPEAKS: Plymouth general manager Mark Craig was interviewed on Saturday on “The Pipeline” on Edmonton TSN 1260. Listen to the interview here.

JUSTIN PETERS GOES TO THE DOGS: Now with the Washington Captials, Whalers alum Justin Peters (Alex’s older brother who played for the Whalers in 2005-06) decided to do something different in designing a new mask for his new team.

“In junior [hockey], my nickname was Pete-Dawg,” Peters told the Russian Machine Never Breaks blog. “That’s the whole theme behind my mask. It’s a dog, obviously. It’s got the mean teeth and stuff.”

The mask, which features a dog’s mouth wide open with yellowed, bloody canine teeth surrounding the opening of the mask, includes subtle details like the Caps eagle and stars. On the bottom of the mask, Peters’ nickname is found in a script font with a weathered look.

See the rest of the story, along with photos of the new mask.