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Sports

Whalers Start and Finish Strong, Beat Sarnia, 5-4

Plymouth now two points behind London.

Sound bytes courtesy of Pete Krupsky and www.plymouthwhalers.com.

SARNIA - Stefan Noesen's goal at 15:53 of the third period snapped a 4-4 tie and the Plymouth Whalers won their sixth sixth straight game, 5-4, over the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon in Sarnia.

The Whalers (now 43-17-2-1, 89 points) move to within two points of London as the top team in the Western Conference.  The Knights (now 45-16-0-1, 91 points) lost to Oshawa, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon.

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Sarnia lost their third straight game and stands at 31-25-3-4, good for 69 points and fourth place in the Western Conference.

Plymouth continues to dominate the West Division and improves to 21-2-2-1 against Sarnia, Saginaw, Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor.

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Besides Noesen's 33rd goal of the year, Plymouth also received goals from first star Rickard Rakell (26th), Alex Aleardi (32nd), Mitchell Heard (26th) and Garrett Meurs (19th).  With Beau Schmitz out of the lineup with an injury, the Whalers got a lift from defensemen Dario Trutmann (+4) and Nick Malysa (+3).  Scott Wedgewood stopped 30-of-34 Sarnia shots to raise his record to 24-9-2-1.

Ryan Spooner (28th), Dominic Alberga (16th), Anthony DeAngelo (6th) and Nail Yakupov (31st) scored for Sarnia and Sting goaltender Brandon Hope (Canton, MI) played well in goal in spite of allowing five goals.

The game featured momentum swings.  Plymouth led 3-0 in the first period only to see Sarnia come all the way back to take 4-3 lead early in the third period before the Whalers tied the game at 4-4 to set the stage for Noesen's game-winner.

Plymouth's forecheck was effective throughout the game and Rakell gave Plymouth a 1-0 lead at 5:09, taking advantage of a Sting turnover at the Sarnia blue line.  Rakell skated in alone and snapped a low shot past Hope.

Audio - Listen to the Rakell goal.

Aleardi scored a shorthanded goal at 8:37 of the period to give the Whalers a 2-0 lead.  With Mitchell Heard serving a high sticking penalty at 7:31, Aleardi gathered speed in neutral ice, came into the Sarnia zone on the left wing and stuffed a forehand past Hope.

Audio - Listen to the Aleardi goal.

The Whalers controlled play and scored again to make the score 3-0 at 11:43 as Heard put back a rebound off Trutmann's shot from the right wing.

Audio - Listen to the Heard goal.

But Sarnia started to chip into the Plymouth lead.  Spooner accepted Yakupov's lead pass through center, moved into the Plymouth zone on a partial breakaway and scored with a shot inside the left post.

The first period ended with Plymouth leading, 3-1.

Hope was outstanding in the second period in goal for Sarnia and the Sting scored the only goal of the second period on Alberga's deflection at 19:31 of the second period.  In spite of having the edge in play through forty minutes, Plymouth led by just a goal at 3-2.

Sarnia took their first lead of the game early in the third period with a pair of goals 0:27 apart.  DeAngelo tied the game at 1:33 as Spooner found him at the hashmarks and DeAngelo made no mistake.  Yakupov gava Sarnia their first lead at 4-3 at 2:00, snapping a low shot from the slot.

Plymouth came back 2:13 later to re-tie the game at 4-4 at 4:13.  J.T. Miller did a lot of the work, carrying the puck out his own end through center and found Meurs at the hashmarks.  Meurs' backhand shot wasn't hard, but the puck went over Hope's right shoulder and into the net.

Audio - Listen to the Meurs goal.

Rakell connected with Noesen to give the Whalers the lead back at 15:53. Rakell skated on the left wing into the Sarnia zone, went behind the net and then snapped a low shot from the right wing.  Hope made the save, but allowed a rebound and Noesen put it into the net.

Audio - Listen to the Noesen goal.

Sarnia's last chance to tie came with 1.5 seconds left and a faceoff in the Plymouth zone.  Sting head coach Jacques Beaulieu pulled Hope for the extra attacker.  But Meurs blocked the last Sarnia shot ttempt and the Whalers won their sixth straight game.

Sarnia outshot Plymouth, 34-33.

The Whalers remain on the road for their next two games, playing in Erie on Wednesday (6:45 p.m., 88.1 FM WSDP) and in Kitchener on Friday (7:15 p.m., 88.1 FM WSDP) before returning home on Sunday to host Owen Sound at 2 p.m. at .

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