Americans Goalie Chris Whitley Makes Red Wings Prospects Camp Debut
Allen Americans goaltender Chris Whitley made his debut with the Red Wings in the NHL Prospects Tournament on Wednesday, Sept. 9th at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, MI against the NY Rangers (photo credit: Dave Reginek-Detroit Red Wings)
The Allen Americans sent out a press release this morning about their goaltender Chris Whitley, who had his NHL prospects camp debut with the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. Whitley and the Red Wings lost the game, 4-3 to the New York Rangers prospects, but Americans head coach Dwight Mullins was pleased with what he saw in Whitley’s performance. Read on for more:
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ALLEN, Texas – Allen Americans goaltender Chris Whitley made his National Hockey League camp debut Wednesday night at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., during the NHL Prospects Tournament hosted by the Detroit Red Wings.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound goaltender played in net for the Red Wings against the New York Ranger rookies.
“I was pretty nervous. It’s the first game I’ve played in five months or so, but I was looking forward to getting back on my feet,” Whitley said Thursday afternoon.
Whitley graduated in May from Lakehead University after leading the Thunderwolves to a Queen’s Cup championship in 2005-06. The 26-year-old left Lakehead with almost every goaltending record including most career overall wins (82), best goals against average for an overall season (2.34 in 2007-08) and best save percentage for an overall season (.917 in 2007-08).
The game against the Rangers ended in a 4-3 loss, but Americans Head Coach and General Manager Dwight Mullins was pleased with Whitley’s play. “He made nice saves at key moments. For his first pro experience, he looked good,” Mullins said.
With Whitley’s first game under his belt, he’d like to pick up momentum. “The first game is hard to judge. I’d like to get on a roll from here.”
The Ontario native is staying in Traverse City, commonly referred to as Camptown, for Detroit’s main camp that begins Sept. 13 after the NHL Prospects Tournament concluded yesterday.
A few of the household names Whitley’s looking forward to skating with are Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom. “It’ll be a good experience for me to see how they play on the ice.”