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Saginaw Spirit Aim to Surprise Hockey ‘Experts’ for Second Time By Mike Thompson
A year ago, news media and analysts picked the Saginaw Spirit to finish below average in the Ontario Hockey League. The Spirit exceeded expectations when they finished third in the OHL’s Western Conference, and then they advanced to the second round of the postseason playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Again, however, prognosticators are excluding the Spirit from among the favored teams entering the 2009-10 season. And once again, the Spirit will have something to prove. “One thing that I like about this team is that they’re very happy they made it to the second round a year ago, but they’re not satisfied and they want to take the next step,” says Leigh Cunningham, the Spirit’s director of broadcasting and communications. “The team has a great work ethic and it’s a very cohesive locker room. The guys like one another and they would go to the wall for one another,” Cunningham says. Those are not qualities to take for granted in junior hockey. These are mostly teenagers, after all, with a few 20-year-olds in the mix. They are uprooted from their home communities (with the exception of Saginaw’s own Brad Walch) and they face the pressures of striving to advance, some all the way to the National Hockey League. Furthermore, junior players don’t have time to achieve the longtime friendships that often occur in the NHL. They are in a constant process of getting to know one another. Ontario Hockey League observers still might not rate this year’s Spirit team among the absolute elite, but they generally agree that the on-ice product is moving toward stability under Coach Todd Watson. Furthermore, the Saginaw Spirit fan base is solid and facilities remain excellent at TheDow Event Center. Watson’s team enters the 2009-10 season with good experience on defense. Offensive firepower will be a work in progress because the top two players who have completed their junior careers and departed, winger Chris Chappell and center Jack Combs, were among the squad’s primary goal-scorers. “Hopefully, a lot of the lost goals from those two guys (Chappell and Combs) will be replaced from within, simply through the law of averages with the increased experience of the guys coming back,” Leigh Cunningham notes. No player is tougher to replace than a goaltender, but the Spirit are not facing that problem to start the season. Eddie Pasquale, 19, from Toronto, returns from a 2008-09 season in which he was named third team all-star in the 20-team Ontario Hockey League. The Spirit sometimes had erratic goaltending in the past, but Pasquale brings consistency. “For my money, Eddie was the team’s most valuable player last season,” Cunningham says. “He won 32 games for us and he was really steady. I’d say he enters the season as one of the best goalies in the league.” Pasquale is the property of the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. His backups to begin the campaign are Anthony Peters, 19, of Blyth (Ontario) and Tadeas Galansky, 17, of the Czech Republic. T.J. Brodie, 19, of Dresden (Ontario) returns to the Spirit’s corps of defensemen. Brodie is a gifted skater who often likes to join the offensive rush, and he can embark on these risks with Pasquale as an anchor in goal. He’s a draftee of the Calgary Flames. Other top defensemen are Nick Crawford, 19, of Calendon (Ontario), a draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres; Cody Sol, 18, of Woodstock (Ontario), property of the Atlanta Thrashers; Joe Underwood, 19, of Canton (Michigan); and of course 18-year-old Brad Walch, the Saginaw hometowner. Now we move to the offensive end. Right wing Jordan Szwarz, 18, is described by Cunningham as “a real heart-and-soul type player” who may emerge with more scoring this season. Szwarz is from Burlington (Ontario) and a draftee of the Phoenix Coyotes. Center Tyler Murovich, 19, of Pittsburgh, and left wing Ryan Schnell, 20, of Cary (Illinois), both took part in preseason NHL training camps and hope to advance to the pros. Left wing Joe Pleckaitis, 20, of Markham (Ontario) came on strong during the second half of last season and during the playoffs, with potential as a late-bloomer. Another left wing, 19-year-old Josh Shalla of Whitby (Ontario), was picked up in a trade from the Guelph Storm in a quest to add depth to the Spirit’s offensive attack. Among the younger ranks, 16-year-old draftees are left wing Anthony Camara of Toronto with the first pick and center Vincent Trocheck of Pittsburgh with the second pick. The Spirit’s international draft choice is 17-year-old center Ivan Telegin of Novokuznetsk, Russia. “This will be a hard-working team that will be entertaining and will give the fans all of their effort,” says Cunningham in summary. “They don’t mind where they’re rated (as below average). They’re just going to let their actions show on the ice. Not many people expected them to make a splash last year, but they did.”
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