Plymouth holds on to beat Spits

Rookie Vern Cooper's goal early in the third period proved to be the winner as the Plymouth Whalers held off a late rally and edged the Windsor Spitfires, 5-4, Wednesday night.

Cooper (pictured), Plymouth's first-round selection in last May's OHL draft, had staked the Whalers to a 5-1 lead with his rebound marker at 5:37 of the third before the Spitfires scored three straight.

"We got up early and guys started taking it easy," Plymouth coach-GM Mike Vellucci said to the Canadian Press. "You can stress it all the time but when you have your way early, you start to do things by yourself and not with teamwork. You start taking shortcuts. Then you take some stupid penalties because of it."

James Neal, Tom Sestito, Chris Terry and John Armstrong added goals for Plymouth (13-10-0-0).

Windsor got power-play goals from rookie Mark Cundari (his first OHL goal), Craig Voakes and Bradley Snetsinger, while rookie Ryan Baldwin added his first OHL goal at even strength.

Plymouth goalie Michal Neuvirth finished with 34 saves, while Windsor's Anthony Guadagnolo stopped 24 shots.

Photo by Walt Dmoch