Note: Photo courtesy of Rena Laverty taken during the Plymouth Whalers' home opener Sept. 24 against the Erie Otters.

 PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- The Plymouth Whalers are front-loaded this season with experience and four NHL prospects.

But that doesn’t close the door on opportunity for this year’s rookies looking to make an impact.

Just ask Danny Vanderwiel.

LONDON, Ont. -- London Knights General Manager Mark Hunter announced today that the team has renewed its commitment with Astral Media’s NEWS TALK 1290 CJBK to broadcast live play-by-play of London Knights games for the next five OHL seasons, the longest broadcast agreement to date.

“We’re pleased to announce such a large agreement has been made. Astral Media and NEWS TALK 1290CJBK play a fundamental role in reaching our target audiences and providing those who may not be ableto attend our games the opportunity to listen live to broadcasts from wherever they are. Adding CJBX-BX93 to the fold will certainly extend the reach of our games to untouched markets. Having the best in thebusiness with Mike Stubbs, and now adding Jim Van Horne to the mix, we are excited for what this yearhas in store for our fans,” said Hunter.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the London Knights Hockey Club. The London Knightsare not just a local team, they reach and resonate with audiences across Southwestern Ontario. With theirsights set once again on bringing home a Memorial Cup, we’re ecstatic to know that for years to come,we will continue to be the number one source for London Knights Broadcasts. Clearly, being a part of theKnight’s winning track record has been a tremendous asset for us. These broadcasts have become anintegral part of our programming schedule on NEWS TALK 1290.

In the upcoming months, select LondonKnights games will be broadcast on 1290’s sister station BX93. Today’s Country BX93 is a staple of ruralOntario. We feel this addition to our programming will enhance the coverage of the most successful OHLfranchise,” said Astral Media Radio Vice-President and General Manager Tom Cooke.

Mike and Jim kicked off the opening game at the John Labatt Centre Friday night against the Saginaw Spirit and travelled with the team to Guelph on Sunday.

They will both be back in action 7:30 p.m. Friday as the London Knights take on the Sudbury Wolves at the John Labatt Centre. Doors open to the public at 6:30pm. A new block of tickets was just released. Please call the OMAC Mortgages London Knights Box Office at (519) 681-0800 ext. 1 for more information.

Press release courtesy of the London Knights.

Matt Wilson may be contacted on Twitter @Mattjw24 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

BARRIE, Ont. -- The Barrie Colts are proud to announce today that forward Tanner Pearson has been named the Ontario Hockey League Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 25th.

Pearson and the Colts went 2-0 to start the season with a 7-4 home-ice win on Thursday against Kingston and a 3-1 win in Brampton Friday night.

Pearson has scored half of Barrie’s 10 goals including all three Friday night in Brampton as the Kitchener native recorded his first career hat-trick.

PLYMOUTH, Mich -- The Erie Otters (0-2-0-0) kept it close against the Plymouth Whalers going into the third period, but it was the final period that proved to be the difference for the second night in a row as the Otters lost at Compuware Arena Saturday night, 6-2.

Four goals by the Whalers in the third, including two by Alex Aleardi, helped the home team defeat the Otters.

The Whalers controlled the first period by outshooting the Otters, 19-4, but Tyson Teichmann had an answer for each Whaler opportunity in the period to keep it scoreless heading into the first intermission.

A power play goal by Stefan Noesen put the Whalers on the board six minutes, 23 seconds into the second period. The Otters were able to tie the game with a power play goal of their own as Brett Thompson knocked in a one-timer pass from Greg McKegg for his first goal of the season with three minutes, 51 seconds left in the second.

The Whalers quickly broke the tie 42 seconds later as Mitchell Heard came from the back door and fired a wrist shot through the glove side of Teichmann to make it a 2-1 Whalers lead going into the third period.

BARRIE, Ont. -- The Barrie Colts announced that they have traded defenceman Kyler Nixon to the Kingston Frontenacs.

Nixon joined the Colts last season as a free agent and played 45 games in his rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League.

In return, Barrie gets Kingston’s sixth-round pick in 2012 and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2014.

Nixon did not play in either of the Colts first two regular season games.

SARNIA, Ont. -- Three goals in the third period by the Sarnia Sting were the difference as the Erie Otters lost their season opener at RBC Centre Friday night, 5-2.

Nail Yakupov, Craig Hottot and Charlie Sarault all scored in the third for the Sting as they handed the Otters a season-opening loss Friday evening.

Alex Basso scored first for the Sting while on the power play, but his goal was quickly neutralized by Sondre Olden’s first OHL goal. The Norwegian took a feed from Connor Brown down the left wing of the Sarnia zone and fired a wrist shot from the circle through the glove of Brandon Maxwell to tie the game nine minutes, five seconds into the game.

Brett Ritchie scored on a two-on-one just over a minute later to put the Sting back in front. However, a hard check by Chris Marchese during an Otters penalty kill led to their first shorthanded goal of the season. Brown picked up the loose puck and started a two-on-none, waiting until the last moment to find Marchese, as he rang the puck just under the crossbar to make it two-all with four minutes, 19 seconds left in the first.

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Dubas announced has announced that the club has acquired forward Alex Morgan from the Saginaw Spirit in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection.

“Our staff has watched Alex following his release from Saginaw's camp as he reported to Chatham Jr. B," Dubas said. "This inaddition to the reports that Mike MacFarlane had filed on him last season, made it a priority of ours to add Alex to the fold.

“Alex has had success producing at the GOJHL level both as a 16 year old, and this season where he has a goal pergame for the Maroons. More importantly, Alex plays the game with tremendous grit, and competes at a very high levelevery shift. Alex is a young man of tremendous character and he checked out very well through all his present andformer coaches. Alex is the sort of character young man, and competitor that we will continue to build around here."

Morgan, a native of St. Thomas, Ont., started this season with the Chatham Maroons Jr. B Hockey Club where he tallied four goals and one asisst in four games, and amassed 13 penalty minutes.

During the 2010-11 season with Chatham, the 6-foot forward had 22 goals and 11 assists in 48 games with 72 penalty minutes.

"Our mission here is to establish a culture of sustained success. In that, we deem it to be of vital importance to have abalanced roster spread amongst the different age groups," Dubas said. "The addition of Alex today adds to the core of 16 and 17 year olds on our club."

Press release courtesy of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Matt Wilson may be contacted on Twitter @Mattjw24 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- Soo Greyhounds GM Kyle Dubas officially announced the team’s 2011-12 opening day roster earlier this afternoon.

"We will enter opening weekend with 27 players on our roster but will be down to 23 or 24 once we have all playersreturned to us by national hockey clubs that presently have them in training camp” Dubas said.

Of the 27 players remaining, there are two goalies, eight defenceman and 17 forwards. The roster, including jersey number, is as follows:

Barrie, Ont. -- The Barrie Colts are proud to announce today that they have named Colin Behenna the 12th captain in franchise history.

Behenna is entering his fourth season with the club after being drafted by the Colts in the fifth round of the 2007 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.

He has played at least 55 games in each of the past three years and is coming off a career-season last year. 

The Waterloo native combined for 40 points in his first two seasons and then posted 33 goals and 55 assists for 88 points a year ago.

“Colin is a leader on the ice and off the ice, and all of the other players look up to him,” said Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk. 

“His numbers last season proved that he can be a great player in this league and for us it was a no-brainer to make him team captain,” Hawerchuk added.

KINGSTON, Ont. -- The Kingston Frontenacs are please to announce that they have named the team captain for the 2011-12 OHL season.  

“I took the opportunity and allowed the kids to voice their opinion and mark down who they would like as captain and assistants,” said head coach Todd Gill. “I looked over their answers and agreed with their choices.”  

Becoming the newest captain of the franchise is overage fifth year left winger and  Westland, Mich., native Tyler Brown.

Brown joined the Frontenacs at the trade deadline in January, when he came over from the London Knights.

“Brown is a quiet leader,” Gill said. “He leads by example and doesn’t just speak to be heard. He speaks to be meaningful.”

Four assistant captains have also been named. Those are overager Conor Stokes;fourth year defenceman Jeff Braithwaite; third year left wing Derek Froats; and fourth year centreman Ryan Spooner.