Whalers Sweep Generals, Advance to Final 4

By Whaler Nation, 03/01/15, 2:00PM EST

Game 1

Blake Scott (Virginia Beach, VA) made 29 saves for Hampton Roads, as he dueled all night with Tucker Murphy who made 36 saves for the Generals, and the Whalers offense scored two late goals en route to a 3-0 win in game 1 of round 2 of the USPHL Elite Playoffs.

Rookie defenseman Austin Johnson (Pawling, NY) scored his 1st career goal at 15:14 of the 1st period to give the Whalers an early lead on a feed from TJ Sneath (Chino, CA) and Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA).

The Whalers slim lead would last through the 2nd period as the two teams traded chances, but both goalies held serve. Late in the 3rd period at 12:27, Regen Cavanagh buried a shot in the slot on a feed from Dominic Moore (Woodhaven, MI) and Nick Richards (Lapeer, MI) to make it 2-0 Whalers. Trevor Voelker (Columbus, OH) would seal the deal for the Whalers at 14:36 on a great feed from Dominic Moore and Voelker would bury the puck high over the glove of Murphy to make it 3-0.

The Whalers finished the game 0 for 2 on the power play, while the Generals were 0 for 3.

The Whalers had 63 penalty minutes on 14 infractions, the Generals 50 penalty minutes on 13 infractions.

Game 2

The Whalers scored 3 straight goals on the Generals Max Barr to chase the Generals starter early in the 2nd period, and Blake Scott and the Whalers defense shut the door on the Generals to complete the weekend sweep and advance to the USPHL Final Four in Boston.

Nate Richards struck first for the Whalers at 14:48 on the 1st period on a one-timer off a perfect feed from Oliver Lindstrom and Tanner Tinoco. In the 2nd period, the Whalers came out on fire, as Dominic Moore found a loose puck in the slot and lifted a backhander over the shoulder of Barr to extend the lead to 2-0. Tanner Tinoco and Ryan Webber assisted on the goal. Then at 6:04, Kody Rodriguez converted on a perfect re-direction in front off a point shot by Nate Richards to make it 3-0 and chase Barr from the net. Craig Boyd also assisted on the play. The Generals would finally get on the board in the series just 30 seconds later to make it 3-1. Scott stopped 13 of 14 shots in the 2nd period.

In the 3rd the Whalers withstood the hard charging Richmond squad and Trevor Voelker buried the dagger through the hearts of the Generals season at 18:43 to make it 4-1 from Tanner Tinoco and Dominic Moore.

Blake Scott made 31 saves in the game, stopping 60 of 61 shots in the series sweep.

The Whalers finished 0 for 4 and the Generals 1 for 3 on the power play.

The Whalers finished with 18 penalty minutes on 5 infractions, the Generals finished with 5 infractions for 10 minutes.