OHL Saginaw Spirit

Saginaw Dazzles, Dominating Divisional Opponent Windsor

November 27, 2013 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


Saginaw welcomed their divisional counterpart, the Windsor Spitfires, to The Dow Event Center on the night before Thanksgiving, November 27th. The Spirit reminded us why we are thankful to have them in Saginaw after a delightfully entertaining decisive 6-2 victory over Windsor.

The Spitfires got on the board first as Nikita Yazkov stuffed a rebound home that was assisted by Remy Giftopoulos and Ryan Verbeek with twelve minutes left in the opening period to jump ahead, 1-0. A fast paced first period eventually gave way to an intricate even strength goal finished off by Mitchell Stephens with help from Sean Callaghan and Jimmy Lodge with six minutes remaining to tie the game at one. With three minutes to play in the first period Saginaw took a 2-1 lead when Cody Payne lit the lamp for his fourteenth goal of the season, this coming on the powerplay, with assists being credited to Kristoff Kontos and the newly acquired Jesse Graham, for his first point with the Spirit.

Two minutes into the second period, a fortuitous bounce led to a Kristoff Kontos breakaway where he was taken down but managed to sneak the puck past Spitfires goaltender Alex Fotinos from an improbable angle to put the Spirit up, 3-1. Saginaw's Dylan Sadowy implemented the "stand in front of the net" technique and put back a juicy rebound with eleven minutes remaining in the period with assists going to Daniel De Sousa and Luke Cairns to give Saginaw a 4-1 advantage.

The Spirit capitalized on a five on three man advantage powerplay to go up 5-1 when Jimmy Lodge finished off a harmonious passing play five minutes into the third period that was assisted by Justin Sefton and Kristoff Kontos. Windsor made it a 5-2 hockey game when Ryan Verbeek cashed in on a rebound to score his second goal of the year that was assisted by Ty Bilcke and Slater Koekkoek with twelve minutes left to play in the game. Saginaw's Justin Sefton joined the scoring party when he fired home a powerplay goal with 1:35 left in the game that was assisted by Mitchell Stephens and Justin Kea to make it a 6-2 game, which is how the game ended. Once again in the third period, Nikita Serebryakov was solid in net for the Spirit and was a quintessential component for Saginaw as he made save after save tallying 42 stops for the game.

Applebee's 3 Stars:

1. Kristoff Kontos (SAG)

2. Nikita Serebryakov (SAG)

3. Ryan Verbeek (WIN)

Catch the Spirit: The Saginaw Spirit hit the road on Friday, November 29th for a game at the RBC Centre against the Sarnia Sting. The Spirit return home on Saturday, November 30th as they look to close out "Movember" with a victory over the Oshawa Generals with a 7:11 p.m. puck dropping, Andersen Eye team poster giveaway will also take place. For tickets and everything Saginaw Spirit log on to saginawspirit.com.

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from November 27, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central