The Plymouth Whalers were a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They played out of Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, United States, a suburb of Detroit until 2015 when they were relocated to Flint, Michigan.
History The Whalers can trace their roots back to the 1990–91 Detroit Compuware Ambassadors as an expansion team in the OHL. Since then the franchise has also been called the Detroit Junior Red Wings and the Detroit Whalers. In 1997 they were officially renamed the "Plymouth Whalers" after the local municipality gave generous tax breaks to the team and venue. The franchise was owned until 2015 by Peter Karmanos, who also owned the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes (formerly the Hartford Whalers, from which the OHL team's name was taken).
Plymouth is one of only two teams to win 5 consecutive division titles (West division from 1999 to 2003), the other team being the Ottawa 67's (East division from 1996 to 2000). Plymouth has made the playoffs 23 consecutive seasons, since the 1991–92 season. The Whalers reached the OHL finals two consecutive seasons in 1999–2000, and 2000–01, losing to the Barrie Colts and Ottawa 67's. These seasons included future NHLers David Legwand, Justin Williams, Robert Esche, and Stephen Weiss.
Celebrating their 10th Anniversary playing at the Compuware Arena during the 2005–06 season, all current Whalers players had been brought into the system by head coach and general manager Mike Vellucci. This created the build-up for the next year. Headed by overage captain John Vigilante, the team's rookies in 2003 and 2004 came to fruition in James Neal, Dan Collins, and Tommy Sestito. Vellucci acquired the Belleville Bulls' leading scorer Evan Brophey and the Toronto St. Michael's Majors goaltender Justin Peters, who had an extensive resume. On the last game of the season, the Whalers played the Saginaw Spirit, with the division title on the line, in what has been proven to be one of the most exciting OHL games in recent history. With the Whalers' 2–0 lead going into the third period, the Spirit fought back and managed the tying goal just before time expired. However, Brophey scored in overtime to clinch the Whalers' 9th division title.
During the 2006–07 season, rookie goaltenders Jeremy Smith and Michal Neuvirth, combined for the lowest goals against average in the OHL, with only 173 goals against in total. The Whalers had a number of high prospects signed or drafted by NHL teams, including former Wayne Gretzky 99 Award winner Daniel Ryder, who was acquired, with him already having been signed with the Calgary Flames. After a very inconsistent start, the team improved to fall short of the London Knights by one point for the Hamilton Spectator Trophy. During the second half of the season and through the playoffs, the Whalers featured a 23-game winning streak at home, lasting three and a half months, falling at Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals to London. The Whalers, although seeded #2, easily won the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference playoff champion, sweeping #7 Guelph, and winning in 5 against both #3 Kitchener and #1 London. In the final, the Whalers defeated the Sudbury Wolves in six games to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup, thus earning the right to represent the OHL in the 2007 Memorial Cup.
In the Memorial Cup, the team suffered a rough start, losing to the Vancouver Giants 4–3 in overtime on May 18, and again to the Medicine Hat Tigers 4–1 on May 21. Their fortunes would change, however, on May 22, when they would defeat the Lewiston Maineiacs 2–1 in overtime, thus putting them in the tiebreaker game on May 24, in which they would defeat Lewiston again, 5–1, eliminating the Maineiacs from the Memorial Cup and advancing to the semifinal. However, on May 25, the Whalers would lose again to the Vancouver Giants in the semifinal round, this time in dramatic fashion by a score of 8–1. This way, the Whalers finished the 2007 Memorial Cup in third place."Memorial Cup - History." Canadian Hockey League Network website, . Accessed on March 20, 2010.
During the 2007–08 season, the Whalers dealt the goaltender that led them to their 2007 OHL Championship, Michal Neuvirth, early to make room for Jeremy Smith to start. Neuvirth was among 12 players that left/were traded from that team, leaving the team looking to a number of young players for leadership. Chris Terry led the team in scoring and was helped by overage captain Andrew Fournier and up-and-comer AJ Jenks. In mid-December 2007, President and GM Mike Vellucci left his head coaching position for Greg Stefan. A late season injury to overage defenseman Wes Cunningham hampered the flow of the team, leading to an early playoff exit at the hands of the eventual OHL champions, the Kitchener Rangers.
Early in the 2008–09 season, Stefan was recalled to the Hurricanes, where Mike Vellucci came back to fill the head coaching role. Injuries and inconsistency plagued the team, as they fell to dead last in the league. After the coaching change, as well as key trades, including a short lived experiment with Cory McGillis, then-leading scorer Matt Caria from the Greyhounds, Scott Fletcher from the Ice Dogs, and the return from AHL-playing Brett Bellemore, the team saw a turn around by Christmas putting them back into the middle of the pack. At the deadline, as a result of Bellemore's return and the emergence of Matt Hackett as the new starting goaltender, Patrick Lee and Jeremy Smith were traded to Niagara for draft picks.
The 2009–10 season saw the Whalers led by league MVP Tyler Seguin along with other top scorers such as Myles McCauley.
On December 29, 2013, the Whalers and the London Knights broke the newly set Canadian Hockey League attendance record. The Knights and Whalers, playing in the second OHL game of the evening outdoors at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan (also the second outdoor game ever played in the OHL), played in front of 26,384 spectators. The Whalers won the game 2–1 in a shootout.
On January 14, 2015, owner Peter Karmanos announced that the Whalers would be relocated to Flint, Michigan after a sale of the team to the owner of Flint's Perani Arena and Event Center for the 2015–16 season. The OHL approved the sale, and the relocated franchise is named the Flint Firebirds. On March 15, the Whalers missed the playoffs for the only time. Six days later on March 21, the Plymouth Whalers played their final game in franchise history losing 5–1 to the Erie Otters.
Championships The Plymouth Whalers have won eight divisional titles, five of them consecutively. Plymouth has also won three Hamilton Spectator trophies and reached the OHL Championship Finals three times, winning during the 2006–07 season.
J. Ross Robertson CupOHL Champion 1999–2000 Finalists vs. Barrie Colts 2000–01 Finalists vs. Ottawa 67's 2006–07 Champions vs. Sudbury Wolves
Wayne Gretzky TrophyWestern Conference Playoff Champion 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2006–07
Hamilton Spectator TrophySeason Champion 1998–99 51 wins, 4 ties, 106 pts 1999–2000 45 wins, 4 ties, 1 OTL, 95 pts 2001–02 39 wins, 12 ties, 2 OTL, 92 pts
Bumbacco TrophyWest Division Champion 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2011–12, 2012-13
Coaches 1995–01 Peter DeBoer (6 seasons) - DeBoer was promoted from assistant coach to become coach & general manager of the Whalers organization in 1995. DeBoer was twice voted the OHL Coach of the Year, winning the Matt Leyden Trophy in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons. DeBoer left to coach the Kitchener Rangers. mid-2007-mid-2008 Greg Stefan (2 seasons) - Stefan began his coaching career in 1993 with the Detroit Junior Red Wings. He served as an assistant coach in Plymouth until 1998, and re-joined the Whalers as director of player development and assistant coach in 2003. Named head coach during the 2007–08 season when Vellucci moved to focus on the front office, Stefan left the Whalers in the middle of the 2008–09 season to take a scouting job with the Carolina Hurricanes. 2001-mid-2007; mid-2008–pres Mike Vellucci (8th season) - Vellucci was promoted to President of the Plymouth Whalers in 2000 and was appointed the team's general manager and head coach in 2001. In 2007, Vellucci won the Matt Leyden Trophy as Ontario Hockey League Coach of the Year - the first American ever to win the award. Vellucci stepped down in the middle of the 2007–08 season to focus on his GM position. He returned as head coach of the club in the middle of the 2008–09 season with Stefan's moving to the Hurricanes.
Players
Retired numbers 14 - Pat Peake is the only number retired by the Whalers organization. Peake (who played in the Junior Red Wings era) was a two-season captain, the first MVP for the franchise in 1992–93, as well as Canadian Hockey League player of the year, and OHL Most Sportsmanlike player of the year. He has the most career points in franchise history.
Team captains
1990–91 Paul Mitton 1991 Mark Lawrence (traded) 1991–93 Pat Peake 1993–95 Jamie Allison 1995–96 Bryan Berard 1996–97 Mike Morrone 1997–98 Andrew Taylor 1998–00 Randy Fitzgerald 2000–02 Jared Newman 2002–03 Nate Kiser 2003–04 James Wisniewski 2004–05 Tim Sestito (home) & John Mitchell (away & playoffs) 2005–06 John Vigilante 2006–07 Steve Ward 2007–08 Andrew Fournier (home & playoffs) & Chris Terry (away) 2008–09 Chris Terry 2009–10 AJ Jenks 2010–12 Beau Schmitz 2012–13 Colin MacDonald 2013–14 Nick Malysa 2014–15 Alex Peters
Award winners 1997–98 - David Legwand: Canadian Hockey League Rookie of the Year, Emms Family Award OHL Rookie of the Year, Red Tilson Trophy Most Outstanding Player of the Year 1998–99 - Robert Holsinger & Rob Zepp: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 1998–99 - Rob Zepp: Canadian Hockey League Scholastic Player of the Year, Bobby Smith Trophy OHL Scholastic Player of the Year 1999–2000 - Rob Zepp and Bill Ruggiero: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 2000–01 - Rob Zepp and Paul Drew: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 2001–02 - Jason Bacashihua and Paul Drew: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 2001–02 - Jason Bacashihua: F.W. 'Dinty' Moore Trophy Best Rookie GAA 2002–03 - Chad LaRose: Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy Overage Player of the Year 2002–03 - Paul Drew and Jeff Weber: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 2003–04 - James Wisniewski: Canadian Hockey League Defenceman of the Year, Max Kaminsky Trophy OHL Defenceman of the Year 2006–07 - Michal Neuvirth & Jeremy Smith: Dave Pinkney Trophy Lowest Team GAA 2006–07 - Michal Neuvirth: F.W. 'Dinty' Moore Trophy Best Rookie GAA 2008–09 - Chris Terry: Mickey Renaud Captain's Trophy Captain of the Year 2008–09 - Chris Terry: Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy OHL Humanitarian of the Year 2009–10 - Ryan Hayes: Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy OHL Humanitarian of the Year 2009–10 - Ryan Hayes: Canadian Hockey League Humanitarian of the Year 2009–10 - Tyler Seguin: Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy Most Points in the OHL 2009–10 - Tyler Seguin: Red Tilson Trophy OHL Most Outstanding Player of the Year 2009–10 - Tyler Seguin: Canadian Hockey League Top Prospect 2012-13 - Vincent Trocheck: Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy Most Points in the OHL 2012-13 - Alex Nedeljkovic: F.W. 'Dinty' Moore Trophy Best Rookie GAA 2013-14 - Alex Nedeljkovic: OHL Goaltender of the Year
Notable players
First round NHL entry draft picks Players who were drafted in the first round of the NHL entry draft while playing for the Whalers franchise. 1991: Pat Peake, 14th overall, Washington Capitals 1993: Todd Harvey, 9th overall, Dallas Stars 1995: Bryan Berard, 1st overall, Ottawa Senators 1998: David Legwand, 2nd overall, Nashville Predators 2000: Justin Williams, 28th overall, Philadelphia Flyers 2001: Stephen Weiss, 4th overall, Florida Panthers 2010: Tyler Seguin, 2nd overall, Boston Bruins 2011: Stefan Noesen, 21st overall, Ottawa Senators 2011: Rickard Rakell, 30th overall, Anaheim Ducks 2012: Tom Wilson, 16th overall, Washington Capitals