Mackinder: Farewell, Plymouth Whalers

Matt Mackinder, longtime Whalers beat writer for MiHockey, shares his thoughts on the conclusion of the OHL franchise’s tenure in Plymouth.

By Matt Mackinder –

In the early 1990s, Boyz II Men had a hit single called “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday.”

Later on in that decade, ‘NSYNC went high on the charts with “Bye Bye Bye.”

Both of those songs could apply to the Plymouth Whalers closing out their 25-year run as an Ontario Hockey League franchise in a 5-1 loss to the Connor McDavid-led Erie Otters back on March 21 at Compuware Arena.

As someone who started out as a fan of the team back in 1991-92 when Cobo Arena was home, my love for hockey and writing morphed into a regular beat for MiHockey in 1997 when then-editor Phil Colvin gave me the green light to cover the Whalers when I was just a wee sophomore at Wayne State University. That continued when Michael Caples took over in 2011, so I thank the two of you.

The people you meet along the way, from fellow media to the team’s players and front office, is so priceless. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been watching an NHL game on TV and see a player I interviewed back in the day for a feature article. You won’t get rich working in this realm of the media business, but the perks, wow.

I can remember my first game at Compuware and how bumpy of a ride M-14 was to get there. I remember all the diehard fans in the mid- to late-90s and watching NHL prospects like David Legwand, Stephen Weiss, Paul Mara, Nik Tselios and Robert Esche and even at Oak Park Arena, Bryan Berard, and coaches like Paul Maurice and Pete DeBoer who wound up in the NHL. It just always amazed me why that brand of hockey never caught on in Plymouth. Was it the fact the Red Wings were a stone’s throw away? Perhaps. Was it because the casual fan in upscale Plymouth and Canton were never educated on what junior hockey is? Perhaps.

In any event, when Yannick Rathgeb scored a power-play goal with less than three minutes to play in that game against Erie, that stat made Rathgeb an answer to a trivia question that, hopefully, generations of people will remember.

And when public address announcer Chris Butzlaff announced “Last minute of play … in franchise history” instead of the customary “Last minute of play in the third period,” it all started to sink in. Like many that have been involved with the Whalers in some capacity, it struck me that that night was a night I had to say goodbye.

To walk along the concourse that night and see Whalers’ alumni such as Pat Peake, Julian Smith, Mike Morrone, Gino Pisellini, Randy Fitzgerald, Nick Malysa, Colin MacDonald, Jason Lawmaster, Joe Byrne, Scott Holsinger, Damian Surma and Kris Purdy, as well as former broadcasters John Bower and Nick Gismondi, ex-media cohort Ed Roberts and longtime coach and GM Mike Vellucci, was a time warp of sorts.

Those were the guys I was around when I started out and to see those guys again (some as old as me now), made me realize that time flies. It’s true, we hear it all the time. Then once you have kids (my wife, Stephanie, and I have three amazing children), time flies even faster, but for one night, I felt like I was back in college with just school and filling up the gas tank as my lone responsibilities. I think it’s always good to reflect back on situations or occasions in life that you might not realize at the time were molding you for future success.

Heck, I met my wife indirectly through a Whalers’ fan (long, fun, true story, actually) and to me, that situation was something I would not have experienced and continue to enjoy to this day had I not been covering the Whalers.

Prior to the Erie game, Peake, Morrone and Fitzgerald helped raise three banners to the Compuware rafters that proclaimed “Thank You Plymouth.” A very nice tribute, if only for the benefit of the fans for that one night.

And the silver lining in all of this, and I believe there are several, is that the Firebirds will play in our backyard and OHL hockey will continue. Though the connotation associated with the city of Flint is poor at best, people will soon realize that Flint is a major hockey market and fans here have been clamoring for high-level hockey ever since the IHL’s Flint Generals folded in 2010 – they’ll get that with the Firebirds.

The players will live in the Flint suburbs of Grand Blanc, a town I believe that is comparable to Plymouth in several ways, and they’ll quickly learn to love all that the area has to offer.

Pretty ironic, too, that one of the businesses across the street from Compuware Arena is a printing and packaging firm called The Flint Group. The puns are there, folks. Whalers getting packaged and moved to Flint … you get it.

Basically, the Whalers’ franchise has been more than just a beat I cover for a hockey publication. It’s been a fun part of my life for the better part of 25 years and yes, it’s hard to let go, just as it was hard to leave the rink one last time, but the time is right.

So with that, I say farewell to the Plymouth Whalers and thank you for the memories. I also say welcome to the Flint Firebirds and look forward to the new adventures ahead.