Spirit open 2018 pre season with 3-0 shutout victory over North Bay Battalion in OHL showcase tournament

 

The Saginaw Spirit (1-0 pre season) opened the 2018 Ontario Hockey League pre-season with a 3-0 shutout victory over the North Bay Battalion in an OHL showcase tournament featuring 3 OHL teams (Saginaw, North Bay, and Kitchener) along with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, ON tonight.

 

Spirit goal tender Cam Lamour, who is locked in a position battle with Saginaw's 2018 OHL priority selection draft second round pick Triston Lennox and 2018 CHL import draft pick Ivan Prosvetov, made an early case for himself, turning away every shot he faced to earn the shutout, along with No. 1 star of the game honors.

 

Saginaw sat out veteran player's Albert Michnac, Hayden Davis, Damien Giroux, Jake Goldowski, Caleb Everett, and Prosvetov for tonight's game.

 

Veteran forward D.J. Busdeker (1) would give the Spirit the early lead with his first goal of the pre-season on a nice feed from Blade Jenkins (a fifth round pick of the New York Islanders in the 2018 NHL draft) to give Saginaw a 1-0 lead at 17:56 of the first period. 

 

Spirit veteran forward Brady Gilmour (a seventh round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 NHL draft) showed off his defensive and offensive skill set's, battling to take possession of the puck from a defender in the North Bay zone, before beating Battalion goal tender Joe Vrbetic with a nifty move to score an unassisted goal, giving Saginaw a 2-0 lead at 7:15 of the second period.

 

Later in the middle frame, Saginaw rookie forward Ethan Cardwell (a second round pick of the Spirit in the 2018 OHL priority selection draft) found highly touted Spirit defenseman Bode Wilde (a second round pick of the New York Islanders in the 2018 NHL draft) with a nice pass at the left point, as Wilde walked in and around a pair of Battalion defenders, before beating Vrbetic stickside-high for a 3-0 Spirit lead at 15:47 of the second period to round out the scoring.

 

The Spirit will now prepare for a game against tournament host team Kitchener at 7 pm at the Aud on Saturday night, then will wrap up the showcase against Moncton at 11 am on Sunday at the Aud, before returning to Saginaw on Saturday Sep. 15, to host the Flint Firebirds for a 7:05 pm pre-season home game at the Dow Event Center.