OHL Playoffs - Day 12

Plymouth 4 Kitchener 2 - Plymouth winds series 4-3 (Prediction: Kitchener in 5)

Well, I was a little off on this one as many others were. But give full credit to Plymouth as they played a "Whale" of a series.

If you only happened to catch last nights game it was indicative of the way the Whale played. There was always a forward back, especially when they had the lead. They absolutely owned the neutral zone and, with the exception of Murphy rushing up the ice, stymied the Rangers between the blue lines.

And of course there was the last line of defense, goaltender Scott Wedgewood. The New Jersey Devils prospect stopped 37 of 39 shots. And some were huge including 2 miracle saves in close on Gabriel Landeskog. He finishes the series stopping 285 of 307 shots with a 3.05 GAA and .928 SV%.

At the other end, Mike Morrison got the start and stopped 30 of 33 shots. His almost 90 minutes of shutout hockey came to an end when Richard Whaley scored at 9:21 of the first to give the Whale a 1-0 lead.

Robbie Czarnick scored at 14:51 to make it 2-0 with assists going to Stephan Noesen and Colin MacDonald, who also got the lone assist on Czarnick's goal.

Just when it looked like Plymouth was in total control, Gabriel Landeskog scored on a set up from Jason Akeson and Ryan Murphy on the power play at 5:17 of the third.

Again Plymouth took control of the game until they took a penalty at 12:57 of the third. With Wedgewood making save after save and frustrating the Rangers, Gabriel Landeskog went hard to the net and although he took a slight push, ran into Wedgewood taking him out. Wedgewwod laid on the ice for a few moments and Landeskog took a penalty.

Playing 4 on 4 Jerry D'Amigo scored to tie the game with assists again going to Akeson and Murphy. It was a bit of a fluky goal as the puck bounced in off a Whaler defender.

At 16:56 James Livingston scored a soft goal back for the Whalers. He threw a harmless shot towards the net that just caught the post to the right of Morrison and into the net. It was probably a shot Morrison would like to have back.

At 18:13 things got interesting when Jamie Devane threw a high elbow that caught Ryan Murphy in the head. Murphy looked a little dazed but stayed in the game and Devane was assessed a 5 minute major and game misconduct. The league will most definitely look at this hit.

If the Rangers could somehow tie it, they would start the overtime with 3:13 of power play time. Coach Steve Spott decided to pull his goaltender and go 6 skaters against 4. But it didn't help and the Whalers got an empty netter Tyler Brown with 2 seconds remaining.

For Plymouth, Stephan Noesen finished the series with 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points in the 7 games. Rickard Rakell returned last night for his first game and was pointless. On Kitchener's side, Gabriel Landeskog had 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points and Ryan Murphy had 2 goals and 9 assists for 11 points.

Up next for Murphy is the Ivan Hlinka Under 18 Tournament for team Canada in Germany where he will join his good friend Daniel Catenacci, who took in the game last night with Murphy's other good friend Barclay Goodrow.

There's just one series left to be decided and that also will be a game 7 tonight between Windsor and Erie. My prediction for that was Erie in 7 so I have to cheer for Erie as my record now is a measly 5 for 7. The winner of that series goes on to face Saginaw in round 2.

I'll have a preview of round 2 on Thursday with some of those series beginning Thursday night.

boxscore

Kitchener Rangers Announce Year End Awards

The Kitchener Rangers had their year end awards banquet last night and named their award winners. They are as follows:

Most popular player : Gabriel Landeskog

Best defensive ability: Matt Tipoff

Most Improved player : Mike Morrison

Outstanding team effort : Michael Catenacci

Best offensive defenceman : Ryan Murphy

Scoring champ : Jason Akeson

Rookie of the year : Tobias Reider

Most valueable player : Jason Akeson

Most gentlemanly player : Jason Akeson

3 stars award winner :Jason Akeson and Ryan Murphy

Community service : Jason Akeson

Draft Eligible Goaltending Leaders - Save Percentage

The OHL Save Percentage Leaders of Draft eligible goaltenders

Mike Morrison - .912
Michael Houser - .904
Matej Machovsky - .904
Jordan Binnington - .899
Franky Palazzese - .890

Draft Eligible Goaltending Leaders - Goals Against Average

The OHL GAA Leaders of draft eligible goaltenders

Mike Morrison - 2.65
Matej Machovsky - 2.90
Jordan Binnington - 3.05
Michael Houser - 3.32
Jacob Riley - 3.52

Mike Morrisson

Mike Morrisson - Kitchener Rangers
6' - 175 lbs

Morrisson plays a calm don't let it bother me game. In a preseason game this year, he had to play without a back up as number one goalie Brandon Maxwell was at NHL training camp.

Last season, he split time between Stoney Creek in Jr B and the Rangers. He became the Rangers regular back up at the training deadline.

It remains to be seen how many starts Morrisson gets playing behind the returning Maxwell as the Rangers number 1 goaltender.

The OHL itself doesnt seem to put as much emphasis in goaltending as the WHL or the QMJHL. They seem almost unwilling to use top draft picks to select goaltenders. Morrisson is no different.

Mike has good lateral movement and is capable of making big saves when called upon. But his calmness also allows him to rebound from a bad goal. He is fundamentally sound and will just need more playing time to show his ability.

He had great numbers last season in a limited role for the Rangers. He started in 11 games and had a 6-2-1-1 record. He posted a 3.34 GAA and .896 SV% with 3 shutouts. Not bad numbers for the OHL.

Now, all he needs is more starts to show if he can do it regularly. I'm not so sure he will get that playing behind Maxwell.