Morning Skate: Bulls Look to Build off Thursday's Success in Saginaw
January 31, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Belleville Bulls News Release
SAGINAW, MI - There was plenty to like on Thursday night. Hard plays, strength along the boards and most of all, offensive execution boosted the Bulls to a 7-2 win over the Sarnia Sting at the RBC Centre.
Some new combinations up front paid dividends for the Bulls as newfound chemistry between Jake Marchment, Stephen Harper and Aaron Berisha as well as another trio including Niki Petti, David Tomasek and Chad Heffernan came to the surface.
Tonight the Bulls face an opponent with a considerable amount of depth in the Saginaw Spirit, who are sixth in the Western Conference at a mark of 23-21-4-1. The Spirit feature overaged scorer Eric Locke who, despite being 20 years-old last spring, managed to impress the Buffalo Sabres enough to take him in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Locke is joined up front by leading scorer Kristoff Kontos, Winnipeg Jets prospect Jimmy Lodgeand a cast of other supporting forwards.
Spirit Head Coach Greg Gilbert relies heavily upon veteran defencemen Jesse Graham and Justin Sefton on the back end. Graham was acquired from the Niagara IceDogs earlier this season for a slew of draft picks while Sefton was part of the 2013 OHL Champion London Knights a year ago.
Saginaw is backstopped by one half of the Canadian World Junior tandem in goal. Detroit Red Wings draftee Jake Paterson is 16-12-2-2 on the season, playing behind an accomplished Saginaw offense. The other half of Saginaw's duo Nikita Serebryakov made 37 saves in Belleville on November 9th as the Spirit took a 5-3 victory.
Having played their last five games on the road, the Spirit return home for the first time since January 18th tonight. They've lost four of their last five games, the most recent a 6-3 loss in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday. Home ice advantage has been big for Saginaw this season as they've won 14 of their 23 games at the Dow Event Center.
The Bulls face former teammates Daniel De Sousa and Luke Cairns tonight. Another former Bull, 14 year NHL veteran Darren McCarty will be at tonight's game signing his new book, "My Last Fight."
The Bulls may be without rookie centreman Adam Laishram for the remainder of the weekend as he took a hit along the boards in neutral ice on Thursday in Sarnia.
Michael Giugovaz is expected to make his second start as a Bull tonight after he was outstanding in Monday night's 4-1 loss to Erie, making 29 saves.
Game time tonight is 7:11pm. Fans can tune into AM 800 CJBQ at 7:00pm for pre-game coverage with Bulls play-by-play voice Jack Miller. The Bulls' Twitter feed (@OHLBulls) will have all the details as well in the absence of a TV broadcast.
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