Whalers Get Points In Shootout Losses to Owen Sound and Oshawa

OWEN SOUND, ON - On Saturday night in Owen Sound, the Whalers earned another point the hard way.

Showing sign of improvement and maturity against an older Owen Sound Attack team, the Whalers battled for a full 65 minutes before losing a 3-2 shootout before 2,893 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

GAME SUMMARY

Owen Sound rookie Thomas Schemitsch decided the shootout, banking the puck off Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to give the Attack a 2-1 lead in the extra session.

Then Owen Sound goaltender Brandon Hope stopped Plymouth’s Victor Crus Rydberg and Connor Chatham to preserve the win.

But the Whalers (now 11-15-0-3) did plenty of good things on a cold Saturday night in Owen Sound (13-10-2-3).

"We're a young team and we battled and we competed ... it was a heck of a hockey game both ways," Plymouth president/general manager/coach Mike Vellucci told the Owen Sound Sun-Times. "I thought (Nedeljkovic) played good. It's a tough building to play in and they hit him a couple times and he stuck in there."

Plymouth won the battle of special teams decisively, getting power play goals from Gianluca Curcuruto (2nd) and Victor Crus Rydberg (6th) while killing off all seven Owen Sound power plays.  Curcuruto and Crus Rydberg also drew an assist in the game.

In a game that was scoreless, tied or no more than a one-goal differential the whole way, Nedeljkovic had a bounce back game with Owen Sound after getting pulled in earlier games with the Attack on Oct. 25 and last Wednesday at Compuware Arena.

Nedeljkovic stopped 46-of-48 shots over 65 minutes as the game’s first star and was spectacular at times in the third period.

Plymouth had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 only to see Owen Sound come back each time to tie.

The Whalers used excellent puck movement to score their first goal, go side-to-side in the Owen Sound zone before Curcuruto wired a hard shot from the right circle to Hope still hasn’t seen.   The goal came at 7:13 of the first period to give Plymouth a 1-0 lead.

But Holden Cook tied the game at 1-1 for Owen Sound at 12:18 of the period, taking Daniel Milne's pass from behind the Whalers’ goal and roofing the shot over Nedeljkovic’s shoulder for his 10th goal of the year.

Plymouth took a 2-1 lead at 12:14 of the second period as Crus Rydberg made no mistake with a hard shot from the left circle through traffic past Hope.  But Milne got it back for the Attack at 16:39 scoring through a pileup in front of Nedeljkovic just outside the Plymouth blue crease.

After a scoreless third period and evenly played overtime, the Attack won on the game in the shootout.  Gemel Smith and Schemitsch scored in the shootout, while Lorentz (now five-for-six in shootouts) scored the lone Plymouth goal.

Plymouth is home next weekend, hosting Sault Ste. Marie on Friday and Guelph on Saturday at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena. 

FRIDAY: Oshawa 4 at Plymouth 3 (SO):

PLYMOUTH - The Plymouth Whalers battled Oshawa Generals – the top team in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference and third overall in the OHL – down to the last shot before 2,759 on Friday at Compuware Arena.

Oshawa (now 20-6-0-1) defeated Plymouth (11-15-0-2), 4-3, in a shootout.

GAME SUMMARY

Josh Sterk decided to shootout, scoring the second Oshawa goal in the shootout.  Earlier, Scott Laughton – who started the season with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers – also scored in the shootout.  Plymouth’s Zach Lorentz was the only successful Whalers shooter against Oshawa goaltender Daniel Altshuller.

Earlier, Laughton (20th), Sterk (10th) and Mitchell Vande Sompel (first OHL goal) scored for Oshawa during regulation.  Plymouth head coach Mike Vellucci switched his lines around with good success.  First star Carter Sandlak figured in on all three Plymouth goals with a goal (16th) and two assists.  Zach Lorentz added a goal (11th) and an assist and Danny Vanderwiel scored his fourth of the year.

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