OHL Saginaw Spirit

Spirit Battle Wolves for 6-5 Win

Published on January 19, 2007 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


(Sudbury, ON) The Saginaw Spirit beat the Sudbury Wolves 6-5 Friday night in Sudbury. Spirit forward Jan Mursak notched 4 points in the game. The Spirit are now 11-2 against the OHL Eastern Conference this season. The win moves Saginaw's record to 27-15-0-2, good for 56 points and third place in the OHL West Division. The Spirit close the gap on the Plymouth Whalers and Sarnia Sting - both lost games tonight. The 29-11-1-2 Whalers are in first place with 61 points and the 26-13-2-3 Sting are in second place with 57 points.

"It was a gritty, gutsy effort on the road," stated Spirit General Manager and Head Coach Bob Mancini, "It wasn't pretty but it was an important two points."

The Spirit got on the scoreboard first. Winger Jan Mursak (DET 06) scored on the power play at 4:49 in the first period, assisted by defensemen Nigel Williams (COL 06) and Mitch Maunu. Sudbury's Justin Donati answered with a goal at the 16:45 mark, ending the first period tied 1-1.

The second period saw continued scoring action from both squads. The Wolves notched two consecutive goals early in the period, the first coming from winger Devin DiDiomete at the 5:42 mark. Wolves' center Kevin Baker moved the score to 3-1 with a power play goal two minutes later. The Spirit stole the Wolves' momentum in the latter part of the second period, tying the game with two consecutive goals of their own. Center Cody Bass (OTT 05) notched an unassisted goal at 12:11 in the second and d-man Patrick McNeill (WSH 05) tied the game with a power play goal at the 19:09 mark. Winger Patrick Asselin and Mursak assisted on McNeill's goal.

Saginaw's scoring stride carried into the third period. Saginaw's Asselin took advantage of a power play opportunity to give the Spirit a 4-3 lead with a goal at the 9:26 mark in the third period; Williams and Mursak assisted. D-man Andrew Hotham, assisted by Bass, scored a goal at the 13:57 mark in the third to take the score to 5-3. Spirit winger Tomas Zaborsky (NYR 06) extended Saginaw's lead to 6-3 with a goal at 15:40 in the third, assisted by Maunu and Mursak.

Sudbury's Gerome Giudice reduced Saginaw's lead to 6-4 with a goal at 16:35 in the third period. A 6-on-3 power play goal at 19:45 in the third from Wolves' center Nick Foligno brought Sudbury within one goal of tying the game, but the Spirit defense sealed the 6-5 win less than a minute later.

Goaltender Marc-Andrè Perron stopped 19 shots in the effort.

A complete game sheet is available at www.ontariohockeyleague.com

The Spirit resume their road game series tomorrow against the Barrie Colts and on Sunday against the Owen Sound Attack. The Spirit will face-off against the Oshawa Generals and phenom John Tavares in their next home game, on Friday January 26th at 7:11 PM.

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 19, 2007


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