from www.chl.ca
Whalers Hackett named ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week
Tuesday March 31, 2009
Toronto, ON The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Matt Hackett of the Plymouth Whalers is the ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending March 29. Hackett, now a two-time winner of the award this season, posted a 3-0-0-0 record including a shutout win with an OHL-best goals-against-average of 0.67 and the top save percentage with a mark of .981..
The week began for Hackett and the Whalers tied 1-1 with the Sarnia Sting in their first round Western Conference playoff series. Tuesday night in Plymouth was the site for game three where the Whalers grabbed the series lead with a 5-1 win over the Sting. Hackett was named third star of the game with 47 saves, tying a season-high performance. His strong play between the pipes continued Thursday night where he was perfect making 27 saves for the 5-0 shutout win as the games second star. The Whalers would close out the series on Saturday night with an 8-1 win with Hackett making 27 saves. The Whalers will now face the Windsor Spitfires in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Hackett, a 19-year-old from London, Ontario, is in his third OHL season and first full year with the Whalers. He began his career with the Windsor Spitfires and joined the Whalers last season. Hackett currently leads all OHL goaltenders with a playoff goals-against-average of 0.98 and save percentage of .970.
Nominated from the QMJHL was Shawinigan Cataractes goaltender Timo Pielmeier who posted a 1.76 goals-against-average and .931 save percentage in two games. He backstopped the club to two overtime wins over the Victoriaville Tigres to advance to the second round of the playoffs. In the WHL, Tri-City Americans goalie Chet Pickard went 3-0-0-0 allowing just four goals on 79 shots for a 1.33 goals-against-average and a .949 save percentage. The Americans won their first round playoff series in five games over the Everett Silvertips.