Coach Todd Watson had no excuses for the way his Saginaw Spirit hockey club played in their 3-0 loss to Windsor on Friday April 8th at The Dow Event Center. Coach Watson didn’t mince words as he addressed the media after Friday’s game, he vented, “Guy’s, we were bad! We got outworked, we got outplayed, we got out-battled.”
If there were one word that would best describe the playoff game between The Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires on Friday night, it would be DOMINATION! The Spitfires completely dominated the Spirit in the 1st game in this (best of 7) 2nd round of the OHL’s Western Conference Semi Final’s. Coach Watson confirmed those thoughts as he explained, “we got out played in every phase of the game.”
There was some excitement before the puck was even dropped on Friday night, as Saginaw’s Anthony Camara and Windsor’s Zack Kassian were “chirping” at each other while the two teams skated around their respective ends of the ice during the pre-game skate. Just 17 seconds into the game, the two “bruiser’s” dropped the gloves and stood Toe to Toe. It looked like an even fight early on, until Camara slipped and fell to his knees, still holding onto the taller Kassian’s jersey with his left hand. In a split second, Camara popped back up on his skates and landed an overhand “right” that snapped Kassian’s head back like a “Pez Dispenser.” The shot reared Kasssian back on his heels as the Ref’s got between the two and stopped the fight.
That fight would prove to be the only thing that Spirit Fan’s would cheer for the rest of the night. Saginaw had one power play opportunity in the 1st period, but could not take advantage of those precious 2 minutes with the extra attacker. Nothing went Saginaw’s way Friday night. At one point in the 1st period, Dalton Prout was camped out at the right blue line. Prout had the whole right side of the net to shoot at as he let a “Rocket” blast off from the right point. The puck hit the underside of the crossbar so hard that it bounced back out from the net quickly and ricocheted straight down to the ice, giving the crowd the impression that Prout had scored. For a microsecond, even the Goal Judge lit his red light, but the Referee waved the goal off. The period would come to a close with the two teams tied at zero. Windsor outshot Saginaw in the opening stanza, 13 to 5.
The 2nd period was where the wheels REALLY came off of the Bus for the Spirit. It seems that whenever the Spirit struggle this season, it’s always because they fall apart in the 2nd period and commit stupid penalties. This was the case again on Friday night. Although the Spirit only committed 3 minor penalties in Friday’s contest, (which isn’t really that bad) it was the timing of those penalties that were costly. At 7:15 of the 2nd period, Dalton Prout was whistled for a tripping penalty. Prout was trying to stop an odd man rush that was created (as was the case all night) because the Spirit winger’s were not “back checking” enough.
Two seconds after the Prout penalty had expired; Ryan O’Connor was called for a slashing penalty. Saginaw was able to escape those two power plays without giving up a goal, but with all of the pressure Windsor had been putting on Saginaw Goalie Mavric Parks, you could feel a goal coming. At 14:06 of the 1st period, Windsor’s Stephen Johnston lined up at the top of the circle as his line mate Kenny Ryan, took the faceoff to the left of Saginaw Goalie, Mavric Parks. As soon as the Referee dropped the Puck, Ryan laid a perfect pass back to Johnston, who blasted a “one-timer” that beat Parks stick side high. The wheel’s started to wobble, but they weren’t completely off yet.
The Wheels did eventually come completely off late in the 2nd period. With only a couple of minutes left in the 2nd period, Ryan O’Connor was whistled for his 2nd slashing call of the period. A few seconds into the O’Connor penalty, Spitfire Defenseman Nick Ebert scored to give Windsor a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room.
Saginaw showed a little more effort in the 3rd period. The Spirit did manage to outshoot Windsor 14-13 in the 3rd period, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Kenny Ryan would score an insurance goal for his Spitfires in the 3rd period, securing the 3-0-shutout victory for Goalie, Jack Campbell. Campbell stopped all 28 of the Spirit shots he faced Friday night. Windsor ended up with 43 shots on goal, while Saginaw had 28 shots on goal.
The only bright spot for the Spirit (if there can be a bright spot after losing 3-0) was the play of Goal Tender, Mavric Parks. Parks faced a whopping 43 shots and had an amazing 40 saves for the Spirit.
Saginaw will try to turn things around as they head to Windsor on Sunday afternoon for a 2:05 P.M. game. The Spirit will be back on home ice this Tuesday April, 12th for game 3 at The Dow Event Center. As always, the Puck drops at 7:11 P.M
UPDATE: Saginaw Spirit come back from 2 separate 2 goal deficit's in Sunday Afternoon's Game 2 in Windsor, Ont.:
The Spirit won game 2 in Windsor on Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-4. The win, tied the Western Conference Semi Finals at 1 game apiece. The Spirit was down by 2 goals in the 1st period, before they tied the game at 2 later in that opening period. At the end of 1 period, the score was tied at 2. By the end of the 2nd period, Windsor had built a 4-2 lead over the Spirit. The Spirit chipped away at the Windsor lead in the 3rd period, and eventually tied the game again, late in the 3rd period. The game went to a sudden death overtime period, where Spirit Scoring Phenom, Josh Shalla scored the game winning overtime goal.
The Spirit head back home for game 3 of this series on Tuesday night at The Dow Event Center. The puck drops at 7:11P.M.
info@review-mag.com
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Apr 12, 2011
Comments (1)
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Looks like this is going to be a back and forth battle between our Saginaw Spirit and the Champions of the last 2 Memorial Cups! Game 3 is tonight at \"The Dow\" and the puck drops at 7:11P.M. Let\'s go boys!