In three games this last week (Feb. 5-11), the Saginaw Spirit won all three contests they had, largely thanks to a strong showing from Montreal Canadiens prospect Owen Beck and some timely goaltending, along with a few milestones being reached for a few players as well.
Game Results
Feb. 9 vs Owen Sound Attack: 5-4 overtime win (35-13-0-1)
Feb. 10 vs Erie Otters: 5-2 win (36-13-0-1)
Feb. 11 @ Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds: 3-0 win (37-13-0-1)
Week of Milestones
The 2023-24 season has seen the Spirit reach several milestones as they have been one of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) best teams. This past week was no different, as a few different milestones were reached for individual players. Starting with one of the top prospects in the 2024 Draft, defenceman Zayne Parekh continued his breakout season with a solid three-game week, tallying five points, to help push him over the 70-point mark and taking over the number one spot for points by a defenseman in the league this season.
Parekh made himself more than noticeable in the offensive zone throughout the Spirit’s last three games and was a key contributor in the three wins. This included the game-winning goal against the Owen Sound Attack in overtime. With his stellar play continuing, he could very easily find himself climbing higher up the NHL Central Scouting rankings when the final rankings come out (he is currently ranked as the 10th-best North American skater).
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Another milestone reached was goaltender Andrew Oke recording his first OHL shutout of his career in the 3-0 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He was in between the pipes for two of the three Spirit wins this past week and once again was solid for the team, coming up with some big-time saves when called upon. Sticking with the goalie theme, Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Nolan Lalonde has been one of, if not the league’s hottest goalie over the last month of play and earlier in the month set a Spirit franchise record for consecutive wins for a netminder. His hot play continued in his lone start against the Erie Otters as he earned himself win number 50 in his OHL career while pushing his win streak to 14, which is the longest in the OHL since Brett Brochu won 12 straight in the 2019-20 season for the London Knights.
With the way the season has gone for the Spirit, there will likely be plenty of more chances for more milestones to be reached and records to be broken before the regular season ends.
Beck Leads the Way Offensively
When the Spirit acquired Owen Beck back on Jan. 8, they hoped that he would help their offence go to another level as they are making a strong push to win the 2024 Memorial Cup, which they are hosting. So far in his time in a Spirit uniform, Beck has been everything they had hoped he would be, recording 24 points in just 15 games.
Related: Saginaw Spirit Going All-In for Memorial Cup Run
The offensively gifted Beck led the way for the Spirit’s offensive output over their last three games, making himself like Parekh, very noticeable in the offensive zone. His constant movement in the zone mixed in with his strong playmaking ability and powerful shot made opponents have their hands full whenever the Montreal 2022 second-round pick was on the ice. In total, he tallied seven points with four goals and three assists in just the three games the team played over the last week.
While the offensive numbers pop off the sheet, what might go unnoticed by the average eye has been Beck’s strong face-off skills. When in need, the Spirit have called upon him to take some crunch time faceoffs and continued to do so lately again. He had no issue answering the call, having won 51% of all of his faceoffs taken over the last three games (26/51), helping lead to even more offensive zone chances at times for his teammates.
Other Stats of Importance
- The Spirit’s special teams were on different ends of the spectrum in the last three games, with the power play only going 3 for 15 as their penalty kill killed off eight of the nine shorthanded situations they had.
- Defenceman Rodwin Dionicio continued his strong offensive season with four more points, along with Vancouver Canucks prospect Josh Bloom who had four points himself as well.
- The Spirit find themselves sitting at the top of the West Divison and second in the Western Conference behind the red-hot London Knights. They have recorded a point in 12 of their last 13 games played.
What’s Next for the Spirit
After wrapping up their seven-game homestand on Feb. 10, the Spirit hit the road this upcoming week (Feb. 12-18) for three games, as they travel to Barrie to take on the Colts (Feb. 15) before heading to Sudbury (Feb. 16) and North Bay (Feb. 18) to round out their week of action.
