Sports
Andy Bathgate's Shootout Goal Gives Plymouth Whalers 4-3 Win
Whalers have won 10 of 11, are 19-3-0-1 dating back to Nov. 4.
Andy Bathgate's shootout goal gave the Plymouth Whalers a 4-3 victory against the Saginaw Spirit in an Ontario Hockey League game played Saturday night before 2,432 at .
The shootout went seven players a side with Bathgate and Mitchell Heard scoring for Plymouth and Vincent Trocheck the lone Saginaw marksmen.
Plymouth wins its fifth straight game, has won 10 out of 11 and is 19-3-0-1 since Nov. 4.
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The Whalers remain in first place in the OHL's West Division with a record of 27-9-2-1, good for 57 points.
The Whalers are 12 points ahead of Sarnia (20-15-1-4) and trail London (30-8-0-1) as the top team in the Western Conference.
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The Whalers have defeated Saginaw six times this season, with Saturday's shootout victory the first point of the season for Saginaw against Plymouth. The Spirit sit at 17-20-0-3 and are tied with Guelph for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff race.
Jamie Devane scored twice in regulation for Plymouth (12-13) as the game's first star, while Mitchell Heard scored his 19th of the year.
Trocheck (20), Josh Shalla (19) and Michael Fine (11) scored for Saginaw.
Matt Mahalak (Monroe) stopped 44 of 47 shots for the Whalers in his eighth straight start dating back to Dec. 10. Jake Paterson stopped 32 of 25 shots for Saginaw. Plymouth is back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Sarnia (1:45 p.m. on WSDP-FM, 88.1).
