The Saginaw Spirit looked to continue their two-game win streak as they headed into the week of Dec.4 – Dec. 10 with two games against the London Knights and Flint Firebirds.
But after the two games, it looked like two different teams on the ice, ending the weekend with a split in their two games.
Game Results
- Dec. 8 @ London Knights- 7-3 loss (16-9-1)
- Dec. 9 @ Flint Firebirds- 7-1 win (17-9-1)
Spirit Fall Flat in London
Coming into the week, the Spirit possessed one of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) top power plays and penalty kills. In their matchup in London against the Knights, the penalty kill was tested out early in the game, with the Spirit struggling once again with penalty troubles. They took two penalties in the first period that led to the Knights’ loaded power play getting their licks in on goalie Andrew Oke. The Spirit were unable to keep the Knights at bay while being a man down as the Knights jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to two power-play goals.
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But the penalty kill was only the beginning of the Spirit’s problems against the Knights. The Knights seemed to control the game from the get-go and were led by the strong play of Philadelphia Flyers prospect Denver Barkey and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan. These two players stuck out throughout the game thanks to their good playmaking and skating abilities, which led to several chances for themselves and their teammates.
The Spirit defense seemed to have no answer for these two players and ended up leaving Oke out to dry numerous times, with both Barkey and Cowan being on the receiving end of a couple of two-on-one chances. Oke would get pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots and replaced by Nolan Lalonde for the remainder of the game, but he would not fair any better, giving up three goals on 19 shots faced.
After getting outplayed badly by the Knights, the Spirit found themselves down 5-2 after the first stanza but eventually would get themselves chances to get back into the game. Unfortunately, they were unable to cash in. The Spirit power play fell flat throughout the game, going 0/5 and not being able to generate many chances on Knights goalie Michael Simpson. By night’s end, the Spirit dropped the contest to the Knights 7-3 and headed to Flint looking for a big bounce-back game.
Spirit Do a 180 in Flint
After a dud of a game against the Knights, the Spirit looked like a completely different team against their in-state rival, the Flint Firebirds. Throughout the season, the Spirit seem to have had the Firebirds’ number, and their matchup on Dec. 9 was no different outside of a first-period tally from Flint on the power play.
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After a somewhat pedestrian and back-and-forth first period with both teams tallying a goal, the second period saw the Spirit take over the game thanks to more solid play from defensemen Zayne Parekh and captain Braden Hache. While Parekeh is known for his offensive game, Hache is not, but he got himself involved in the offensive zone with two goals to help the Spirit begin to pull away from the Firebirds. Parekh, on the other hand, made his presence once again very well known in the Firebirds’ zone and found himself in the mix numerous times on scoring chances.
Led by Parekh on the back end, the Spirit’s power play was able to get back on track, cashing in on three of their four chances on the man advantage while also controlling the pace of play with a solid forecheck that caused havoc on the Firebirds’ defense all night long. By night’s end, the Spirit had four players record multi-point games, led by Parekh’s four-point night, while goalie Nolan Lalonde stopped 22 of 23 shots in the team’s 7-1 win over the Firebirds.
What’s Next for the Spirit
The Canadian Hockey League’s (CHL) sixth-ranked team will return to the ice three times this upcoming week (Dec. 11- Dec. 17) when they take on the Firebirds at home on Dec. 14 as they look to clinch the I-75 Divide Cup before taking a trip to Sarnia for a matchup against the Sting on Dec. 15. They wrap the week up on Dec. 16 at home against the Sudbury Wolves.
