(Mississauga, ON) The Saginaw Spirit lost to the Mississauga Ice Dogs 5-4 in a
shootout Sunday night in Mississauga. Spirit winger Jan Mursak had a 2 goal game
and defenseman Mitch Maunu tallied 3 assist in the effort. The Spirit gain 5 points
on the weekend for a total of 67. The 32-19-0-3 Spirit are in second place in the
OHL West Division; the Plymouth Whalers are in first place with 79 points.The Ice Dogs captured an early lead in the first period, with winger Andrew Merrett scoring on the power play at the 18:42 mark. Spirit center Ryan O'Marra (NYI 05) answered early in the second with a goal at 4:06 in the period, taking the score to 1-1. Defenseman Mitch Maunu assisted on the goal. Mississauga winger Gianluca Caputi regained the Ice Dogs lead with a goal at 14:24 in the second, moving the score to 2-1. Spirit winger Jan Mursak (DET 06) tied up the game 2-2 with a goal at 17:16 in the period, assisted by winger Ryan Berard and Maunu.
Former Ice Dogs captain Cody Bass gave the Spirit their first lead of the game at 5:03 in the third period with a power play goal assisted by Maunu and winger Patrick Asselin. Saginaw's Mursak advanced the Spirit lead to 4-2 with a goal :33 seconds later at the 5:36 mark, assisted by center Tyler Haskins. Ice Dogs d-man Kyle Lamb reduced the Spirit lead to 4-3 with a power play goal at 7:33 in the third period. A power play goal from Mississauga winger Chris Lawrence at 11:58 in the third tied the game 4-4 and moved the game out of regulation.
The Spirit and Ice Dogs decided the game in a shootout following a scoreless 4-on-4 overtime. Spirit d-man Patrick McNeill (WSH 05) went first in the shootout but was unable to score. Ice Dogs winger Jadran Beljo went next, giving Mississauga a one goal edge. Spirit center Tom Pyatt (NYR 05) followed but was unable to tie the shootout before Ice Dogs winger Stefan Legein claimed the Mississauga victory with the second shootout goal.
Spirit goalie Ryan Daniels (OTT 06) had 40 saves in the loss.
A complete game sheet is available at www.ontariohockeyleague.com
The Spirit will host the Sarnia Sting at the Dow Event Center on Friday, February 16th at 7:11 PM and the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday, February 18th at 2:00 PM.
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