Belleville Pulls Away from Plymouth, 4-1

Photo of Matt Mistele by Rena Laverty

Yardman Arena in Belleville, ON is roughly 350 miles east of Plymouth, MI and serves the citizens of Belleville well. Recent renovations include improvements to a second ice pad and the development of a health and wellness center.

The complex is clean and friendly and is a meeting place for residents.

The Bulls have always treated the Plymouth Whalers well, especially whenever Whalers former general manager and head coach Mike Vellucci came to town. Vellucci played for the Bulls in 1983-84 and is still thought of fondly in Belleville.

As nice as the Yardman Arena may be, it has become a rink of horrors for the Whalers. Plymouth lost, 4-1, on Wednesday night at Yardman before an announced crowd of 1,715.

SCORESHEET

The Whalers fall to 2-2-1-0. Belleville – a team that missed the Ontario Hockey League playoffs last season – improves to 5-1-0-0.

Plymouth has lost 10 straight games at Yardman Arena, scoring just 13 goals in the process. The Whalers’ last win in Belleville at Yardman Arena came on Dec. 18, 2004 in a 2-1 victory. Current Plymouth assistant coach John Vigilante assisted on Michael Knight’s game-winning goal at 15:51 of the first period on the power play, while Whalers goaltender Ryan Nie earned the game’s third star in stopping 30-of-31 shots.

Plymouth’s last point at Yardman came on Nov. 17, 2012 in a 3-2 overtime loss. Young goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made his starting debut for the Whalers that evening and stopped 25-of-28 shots, giving a glimpse of the near future.

Matt Mistele scored Plymouth’s lone goal on Wednesday and it gave the Whalers a 1-0 lead at 4:15 of the second period. With scouts from the Los Angeles Kings watching, Mistele banked a shot from beyond the right goal line off Belleville netminder Charlie Graham and into the net.

But the lead lasted just thirty seconds as Belleville first-rounder Brandon Saigeon found a loose puck through traffic and lifted a hard shot from the left circle that Plymouth goaltender Zack Bowman got a piece off, but the shot caromed off Bowman and went over the line to tie the game at 1-1 at 4:45.

The goal was Saigeon’s first in the OHL.

Veteran Brett Gustaven scored the eventual game-winning goal at 10:26 of the second period, converting a rebound on the right side of the Whalers goal after Bowman made the first stop on Jordan Subban’s hard shot from the left circle.

Bowman – making his first start in goal for Plymouth this season – played well. The Belleville shot clock was inflated, showing the Bulls with 54 shots, but Bowman did his part to keep Plymouth in the game.

The Whalers returned 26 shots on Graham and were credited with 11 of the final two periods.

Belleville extended their 2-1 lead to 4-1 in the third period with a pair of power play goals. Young forward Matt Luff (7th round draft choice) scored his first OHL goal at 5:30 of the third period, roofing a shot just outside the blue ice on the right wing over Bowman’s shoulder. Gustavsen scored his second of the night at fourth of the year 11 seconds later to ice the game.

Belleville scratches were Brody Morris, Andrew Ming and David Tomasek.

Plymouth scratches included Al Di Carlo, Brook Hiddink and Vince Scognamiglio (healthy); Yannick Rathgeb (suspension, back Saturday) and Sonny Milano (injured, upper body).

The Whalers remain on the road on Friday in Oshawa (7:20 pm, www.plymouthwhalers.com) and will host Peterborough on Saturday at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP).