Preview: Spirit Battle Battalion Thursday Night
February 11, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release
SAGINAW, MI - On Thursday night, the Saginaw Spirit (20-26-3-3 46 points, 8th Western Conference) are looking for the season series sweep of the North Bay Battalion (25-17-4-4 58 points, 4th Eastern Conference) at the North Bay Memorial Gardens in North Bay, Ontario. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
The Spirit are winless in their last five games but picked up two huge points in a overtime loss to Flint and a shootout loss to Guelph to keep a 10-point spread on the Firebirds for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Spirit got a three-point week from newcomer Hayden Hodgson, who had two goals and an assist for the Spirit in three games last week.
North Bay is winless in their last three contests, but has managed to keep up with the heavyweights in the East by earning points in nine of their last ten games. The Battalion play a tight-checking, defensive style deployed by 18-year bench boss of the Battalion, Stan Butler. The Battalion can also open it up offensively when needed led by captain Mike Amadio. His 69 points lead the Battalion and has him three points away from a career high. Amadio is a third round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2014. The Battalion also boast the OHL's second best Defencemen in scoring Cam Dineen. The Rookie's 46 points trails only Barrie's Rasmus Andresson (CGY) for tops in the OHL.
Head-to-Head:
The Spirit and Battalion met back on December 5th at The Dow Event Center with the Spirit skating to a 5-2 win. The Spirit trailed 1-0 going into the third period, when the offence came alive. Mike Davies, Will Petschenig, and Mitchell Stephens scored consecutively to put the Spirit up 3-1. Mike Amadio got the Battalion back to within a goal at 3-2, but the Spirit added to two empty net goals from Dylan Sadowy and Connor Brown to seal a 5-2 win. (Box Score)
Broadcast Information:
Spirit fans can catch radio broadcasts on WSGW 100.5 FM, www.fmtalk1005.com , and the FM Talk 100.5 App in the App Store or Google Play with the voices of Spirit Hockey, Joey Battaino and Dennis Desrosiers. For a full TV Broadcast schedule, Click Here. Tonight's broadcast starts at 6:45 p.m. with the Meijer Pregame Show.
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