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OHL Saginaw Spirit

Eagles Nest Notes

October 23, 2007 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


Welcome to Eagles Nest Notes, the Saginaw Spirit weekly recap and preview. The Spirit wrap up a successful trip through the Eastern Conference; the team lost 4-3 to the Peterborough Petes on Thursday but rebounded to beat the Kingston Frontenacs 7-1 on Friday and the Ottawa 67's 7-2 on Sunday. This weekend the Spirit head to Sarnia on Friday for a game against the Sting, then have back-to-back home games against the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors on Saturday and the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday. The Spirit are in fourth place in the OHL West Division and fifth place in the OHL Western Conference with 13 points and a record of 5-4-2-1.

Record Watch

Winger Patrick Asselin tied the franchise games played record on Thursday, October 18th in Peterborough. Asselin will beat the record the next time he suits up for Saginaw, where he will play his 266th game in Spirit uniform. The previous record of 265 games was set by Ryan Armstrong, who played with the North Bay Centennials from 1998 to 2002.

Center Ryan McDonough has tallied 99 goals to date in his OHL career and is on pace to hit the 100 goals mark.

OHL Leader Board - Top 20

Center Jack Combs (7g-12a-19p) is ranked 10th in assists and 11th in scoring.

Center Ryan McDonough (11g-5a-16p) is ranked 4th in goals.

Center Tyler Murovich (7g-3a-10p) is ranked 5th in rookie scoring.

Defenseman Nigel Williams (3g-10a-13p) in ranked 7th in d-man scoring.

Spirit Leader Board

Points

1. Jack Combs, 19p

2. Ryan McDonough, 16p

3. Tomas Zaborsky, 13p

4. Nigel Williams, 13p

5. Patrick Asselin, 12p

Goals

1. Ryan McDonough, 11g

2. Jack Combs, 7g

3. Patrick Asselin, 7g

4. Tyler Murovich, 7g

Several Players Tied, 4g

Assists

1. Jack Combs, 12a

2. Nigel Williams, 10a

3. Tomas Zaborsky, 9a

4. Jan Mursak, 6a

5. Brad Smith, 6a

Plus/Minus

1. Chris Breen, +8

2. Ryan McDonough +7

3. Brad Smith, +5

Several Players Tied, +4

Sarnia Sting

October 26th; 7:35 PM

Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre, Sarnia, ON

The Sarnia Sting have 12 points and a record of 6-7-0-0; they are in fifth place in the OHL West Division and 6th in the OHL Western Conference. The Spirit beat the Sting 5-4 in their first match-up of the season, on September 22 in Saginaw. Patrick Asselin, Ryan McDonough, Nigel Williams, Jack Combs, Tomas Zaborsky each tallied a goal against the Sting this season.

Sarniacenter Steven Stamkos continues to produce, notching 9 goals and 7 assists in 13 games, but isn't the only scorer on the team - winger Justin DiBenedetto (7g-5a-12p), center Harrison Reed (5g-6a-11p) and defenseman Ryan Wilson (11a-11p) have each surpassed the ten point mark. DiBenedetto tallied 2 goals against the Spirit in their last outing; Reed notched one goal. The Sting have two former Spirit players on their roster, with winger Ryan Berard (1g-2a-3p) up front and defenseman Steve Whitely (2a-2p) on the blue line. Netminder Tomi Karhunen, a rookie from Finland, has posted a 0.906 save percentage and 3.19 goals against average in 11 games.

The Spirit are 14-14-1-1 against the Sting the last five seasons, 4-8-1-1 when playing in Sarnia.

Mississauga St. Michael's Majors

October 27th; 7:11 PM

TheDow Event Center, Saginaw, MI

Mississauga has 11 points and a record of 5-4-1-0, good for fourth place in the OHL Central Division and eighth place in the OHL Eastern Conference. This is the first of two games between the Spirit and the Majors this season.

Winger Kaspars Daugavins (5g-8a-13p), winger Kris Sparre (7g-5a-12p) and center Matt Caria (5g-5a-10p) lead up front with a combined 35 points on the season. Overager Matt McCready (2a-2p) and 1998-born Rob Kwiet (1g-5a-6p) and Jeff Barletta (1g-2a-3p) are posted on the blue line. The Majors have the league's fifth best penalty kill squad, killing 0.833% of penalties. Goalie Chris Carrozzi has played 8 games in net for the Majors this season, posting a 0.923 save percentage and 2.47 goals against average. He is ranked sixth in the OHL for both save percentage and goals against average.

Over the last five years the Spirit have a record of 3-7-0-0 against the Majors, 2-3-0-0 when playing at TheDow Event Center.

Niagara IceDogs

October 28th; 2:00 PM

TheDow Event Center, Saginaw, MI

The Powerhouse that is the Niagara IceDogs enter the week in first place in both the OHL Central Division and OHL Eastern Conference with 18 points and a record of 9-4-0-0. Last week the CHL Mosaik Top-10 ranked the IceDogs eighth amongst teams from all three CHL leagues. The Spirit lost to the IceDogs in their first of two games this season, 4-3 on October 7 in Niagara. Ryan McDonough notched 2 goals in the game; Adam Comrie scored 1 goal. Scoring for the IceDogs where Andrew Agozzino, Jordan Foreman, Stefan Legein and Alex Pietrangelo.

The IceDogs are third in the league in offensive production, having notched 57 goals in 13 games. The firing squad on offense includes winger Luca Caputi (10g-12a-22p), winger Stefan Legein (10g-8a-18p), center Michael Swift (5g-12a-17p) and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (6g-11a-17p). Defensemen Matt Corrente (1g-2a-3) and Scott Fletcher return to Saginaw for the match-up to play against their former teammates. Netminder Andrew Loverock has carried the load in all 13 games for the IceDogs this season, posting a 0.907 save percentage and 3.28 goals against average.

The Spirit have a record of 5-4-1-1 against the IceDogs over the last five years, 4-1-0-0 when playing in Saginaw.

Next 5 Games

October 26, 2007; Away at Sarnia Sting 7:35 PM

October 27, 2007; Home vs Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 7:11 PM

October 28, 2007; Home vs Niagara IceDogs 2:00 PM

November 2, 2007; Home vs Owen Sound Attack 7:11 PM

November 9, 2007; Away vs Sarnia 7:35 PM

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2007


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