Battle of Brighton

No. 1 pick Meurs shines in Whalers' season-opening exhibition victory

  Rookie center Garrett Meurs scored two goals with three assists and veteran defenseman Beau Schmitz scored twice to lead the Plymouth Whalers to a 7-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit in the opening Ontario Hockey League preseason game for both teams.
  The game was played before an enthusiastic crowd of 683 at the Kensington Valley Ice House in Brighton.
  Rookies Austin Mattson and Mitch Heard and veteran defenseman Josh Bemis all scored one goal apiece for Plymouth. Tyler Murovich and rookie Dylan Fitze replied for Saginaw.
  Although the Whalers won the game, the real winners were members of the Kensington Valley Hockey Association -- the recipient of the game's proceeds.
  The Whalers jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first 6:08 on a power-play goal by Schmitz at 2:56, an even-strength lamp-lighter from Heard and a Meurs tap-in.
  Saginaw cut the Plymouth lead to 3-1 at 12:12 on Murovich's deflection of a Joe Underwood (Canton) point shot. Meurs replied three minutes later, jamming a shot through traffic in front of Saginaw starting goalie Anthony Peters.
  Starting Plymouth goalie Matt Hackett stopped 23 of 25 shots in 29:48 of action.

Ed Wright can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 453-1980.