Sports
Whalers Strengthen Offensive Depth in OHL Draft
Plymouth hockey team looks to compensate for loss of top scorers next season.
The Plymouth Whalers are set to lose their second, third and fourth-place scorers next season.
However, the team gave itself more than enough options to fill those spots Saturday after the Ontario Hockey League's Priority Selection draft.
The Whalers drafted eight forwards, all wingers, out of their 13 total picks. Assistant General Manager Brian Sommariva said at least a couple of the players drafted could jump right to the roster.
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The Whalers’ first pick, 11th overall, was left winger Mitchell Dempsey from the Cambridge (Ontario) Hawks. Dempsey had 38 goals and 34 assists for 72 points in 55 games last year for the Hawks, and at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds is projected as a physical and skilled prospect for Plymouth.
"Mitchell’s a good power forward; he skates real well, he’s got a good finish around the net and he’s a good physical player," Sommariva said. "From that standpoint, he fits the mold as a player we like."
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The Whalers, who play at Plymouth Township's , added another high scorer with their second round pick. Left winger Matthew Mistele, who had 43 goals and 34 assists for 77 points in 60 games for the Whitby (Ontario) Wildcats, was chosen.
"Mistele for us is a highly offensive player with real good knack around the net," Sommariva said. While excited about his team's first two selections, Sommariva said he has high hopes for all 13 picks.
The Whalers, however, are counting on a good-sized returning cast to fill the spots of Robbie Czarnik, Tyler Brown and James Livingston, the two-three-four scorers that combined for 184 points last season.
"Any time you lose one to two or two to three high-goal scorers, you got to look first off to guys within your team to fulfill that scoring," Sommariva said. "We’ve always believed in Plymouth there is a development process. So for the guys we picked in the draft, yeah, we had a high emphasis on scoring goals, but we don’t look to replace three 20-year-old fairly good players immediately with 16-year-old players."
