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OHL Saginaw Spirit

Rangers Edge out Spirit 5-4

March 9, 2007 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


(Kitchener, ON) - The Saginaw Spirit lost 5-4 to the Kitchener Rangers Friday night in Kitchener. Spirit defenseman Patrick McNeill tallied 3 points in the contest. Saginaw's record stands at 39-21-0-3 with 81 points; the Spirit are in second place in the OHL West Division and fourth place in the OHL Western Conference.

Both teams saw plenty of scoring action in the second period after the first ended with a blank scoreboard. Kitchener center Justin Azevedo scored the first goal of the game at 1:08 in the second, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Spirit d-man Patrick McNeill (WAS) answered with a power play goal at the 6:16 mark, assisted by wingers Tomas Zaborsky (NYR) and Ryan O'Marra (EDM). Rangers center Peter Tsimikalis regained the lead for Kitchener with a power play goal at 7:23 in the second period. Spirit winger Ryan McDonough continued the back-and-forth scoring trend with a goal assisted by McNeill moving the score to 2-2 at 9:13 in the period.

The Rangers took back the lead for the third time in the game with a controversial goal at 9:28 in the second from Kitchener's Tsimikalis; the goal was initially waived off but upon video review the goal stuck. Kitchener extended their lead to 5-2 with two consecutive goals, the first at the 10:39 mark from winger Kevin Henderson and the second at the 13:34 mark from d-man Jakub Kindl. The second period ended with the Spirit reducing the Rangers' lead to 5-3. Saginaw d-man Andrew Hotham scored a power play goal at 15:06 in the period, assisted by centers Tom Pyatt (NYR 05) and Cody Bass (OTT 05).

The score remained 5-3 until the final seconds of the third period. An offensive push from the Spirit saw Bass move the score to 5-4 with a goal at the 19:34 mark. Winger Jan Mursak (DET) and McNeill assisted on the goal. The Spirit continued the attack until the final seconds, scoring the potential game tying goal seconds after the buzzer sounded. The potential goal went under video review but the ruling went in Kitchener's favour.

Spirit netminder Marc-André Perron tallied 41 saves in the effort.

For a complete game sheet, please visit www.ontariohockeyleague.com

The Spirit resume their road trip tomorrow against the Erie Otters at 7:30 PM. The team will take on the Guelph Storm Sunday at 3:00 PM.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2007


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