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The national website in Canada has noticed the Plymouth Whalers in its weekly poll of the top teams in the 59-team Canadian Hockey League.
After receiving an honorable (or as they write in Canada, honourable) mention for several weeks, the Whalers check in at No. 11.
Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Here's what Neate Sager wrote about the Whalers:
"It should not be any surprise to see the Plymouth Whalers, who are leading their division, crack the list. It just took a while for coach-GM Mike Vellucci's team to find its form once its core players trickled back from their engagements with NHL organizations. Led by two NHL first-round picks who should play in the world juniors, J.T. Miller and Rickard Rakell, they have gone 18-4-1-1 in the past two months.
Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
11. Plymouth Whalers, WHL (.534, +7) — They made it in just in time to have five core players go ever which way for world junior team camps. With eight players who have at least 25 points — a group that includes neither Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Jamie Devane nor Tom Wilson, a potential high NHL pick in June — and No. 2 goalie Matt Mahalak being second in the league in GAA, they should handle the absences well enough. Stay-at-home defenceman Colin MacDonald, meanwhile, is keeping his own end tidy, as evidenced by his team-best +20 plus/minus."
The Whalers are on the road this week, playing in Oshawa on Friday (7:20 p.m., WSDP-FM, 88.1) and in Belleville on Saturday (7 p.m., WSDP-FM, 88.1).
Plymouth then breaks for the Christmas holidays and will return to action on Wed, Dec. 28 at 2 p.m., hosting London in the Whalers' annual Kid's Day Special. at
WHALERS ALUM MATT HACKETT RECEIVES NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE'S SECOND STAR: Matt Hackett played with the Whalers from 2006-10 and - after a spectacular debut with the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild last week - received recognition as the NHL's Second Star of the Week.
Hackett was interviewed Monday evening on the NHL Network's NHL Live.
