Rivals
- Windsor Spitfires: proximity, considering the 30 mile distance between the two teams' arenas, has made this the Whalers' largest rivalry.
- Saginaw Spirit: The Spirit are another major rival of the Whalers, due to both proximity and the fact that Saginaw is the other Michigan-based OHL team, making games between the two a battle for state bragging rights. Also, the Whalers traded to get the Spirit's captain on a run in the playoffs in 2003, and beat the Spirit for the division title in overtime on the last game of the season in 2006.
- London Knights: bad blood and reputation, considering the nature of the Whalers to be quick to start a fight to change momentum, and the propensity of the Knights to resort to questionable tactics when skill is thrown out for grit/goonery. Many games end up with multiple fights. The Whalers opened the door for the modern Knights' dominance by losing to them in the first round of the 2002 playoffs, despite Plymouth being ranked #1 and London being seeded #8. A line brawl involving some Knight players coming off of the bench to fight Whalers while a goaltender fight at center ice in 2005-2006 was a memorable start, as well as the Whalers being one of only a few teams to defeat the Knights the previous season. A check to the head by Jared Boll on Robbie Drummond started another series of fights, as well as a hit-from-behind by Tom Sestito on Patrick Kane.
The last few years, the Whalers, Spitfires, and Knights have been league leaders in fighting majors.
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Famous quotes containing the word rivals:
“What poet would not grieve to see
His brother write as well as he?
But rather than they should excel,
He’d wish his rivals all in Hell.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)