Spirit win third straight to remain unbeaten in the 2014 calendar year:

The Saginaw Spirit continued their unbeaten streak for the 2014 calendar year, improving to 3-0 in the month of January with a 10-5 pounding of the Ottawa 67’s in front of 3,123 fans at the Dow Event Center Friday evening in downtown Saginaw.

 

Ottawa took an early 1-0 lead after Spirit forward, Jeremiah Addison was whistled for checking from behind at 3:07 of the first period. Ottawa defenseman, Alex Lintuniemi scored the power play goal to give the 67’s the lead at 4:04 of the first period. Spirit rookie, Mitchell Stephens (in his first game back from playing for team Canada in the under-17 World Jr. Championships in Nova Scotia) tied the game with his fifth goal of the season at 13:29 of the first period. Defenseman, Jonathan Duchesne put his Ottawa squad back in the lead 2-1 when he beat Spirit goalie, Jake Paterson at 16:10 of the opening period. Spirit captain, Eric Locke responded with a power play goal at 17:48 of the first period, tying the game at two goals apiece. Ottawa winger, Erik Bradford sent his team into the first intermission with a 3-2 lead when he score with just forty-nine seconds left, at 19:11 of the first period. It was pretty much all Spirit from there on out.

 

Spirit forward, Andrey Alexeev tied the game at three goals apiece when he banged home his tenth goal of the season at 6:25 of the second period. Jimmy Lodge followed suit, scoring his fourteenth goal of the season for the Spirit at 9:01 of the second period -giving his Saginaw team a lead they would not relinquish at all Friday. The flood gates opened after Lodge’s goal. Jeremiah Addison scored his fifth and sixth goals back-to-back at 14:32 and 15:09 respectively in the second period. Justin Kea scored his fifteenth goal of the season to give the Spirit a comfortable 7-4 lead heading into the second intermission.

 

Alexeev extended the Spirit lead to four goals when he lit the red light for his eleventh goal of the season for an 8-4 Spirit advantage. Ottawa captain, Brendan Bell sored the fifth-&-final goal (on the power play) for his team at 10:02 of the third period, after Spirit defenseman, Brandon Prophet was called for a high-stick at 9:43. Spirit forwards, Kristoff Kontos (16) and Nick Moutrey (11) rounded out the Saginaw scoring attack with single tallies late in the final period. Jake Paterson stopped 38-of-43 Ottawa shots in net for the Spirit Friday night.

 

The Spirit will try to make it four-straight victories in 2014 tonight, as they host one of this years Memorial Cup contenders, the London Knights. London was recently ranked #5 in the BMO (Bank of Montreal) Memorial Cup rankings; which was released on January, 8 by the CHL. The CHL (Canadian Hockey League) consists of teams from the three top major Junior Canadian Hockey Leagues; the OHL, the WHL, and the QMJHL. Each league has roughly twenty teams –making a competition pool of around sixty teams vying for one of Canada’s most treasured trophies (akin to winning the Stanley Cup)- where the champion from each league; along with a chosen “host-city” will compete in a four team tournament over the course of two weeks (the Memorial Cup) at the end of their respective seasons. The puck is set to drop at 7:11 pm tonight at the Dow…..