OHL Saginaw Spirit

Spirit Defense Drives 7-1 Win over Otters

Published on December 16, 2006 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


(Erie, PA) The Saginaw Spirit beat the Otters in Erie Saturday night, winning 7-1. The Spirit defense lead the attack by killing all six Otter's power plays. D-Man Nigel Williams notched the first hat trick in team history to be scored by a Spirit defenseman, and netminder Ryan Daniels stopped 28 of Erie's 29 shots. The win gives Saginaw a two point lead over the idle Plymouth Whalers, with a 22-10-0-2 record and first place in the OHL West Division.

"We played very well tonight and I was very happy with the fact that we had so many good individual performances", stated Spirit General Manager and Head Coach Bob Mancini.

Erie got the scoring started in the first period with winger Kelly Geoffrey tallying the Otters first and only goal of the game at the 4:35 mark, taking the score to 1-0. Saginaw's Williams (COL 06) quickly answered for the Spirit to tie the game 1-1, scoring on assists from forwards Chris Chappell and Garrett Sinfield. Sinfield's assist was his first point of a three-point night. Spirit winger Jack Combs earned what would become the game-winning goal, an unassisted goal at 16:38 in the first, ending the period 2-1.

Erie earned a 5-on-3 when Spirit captain Patrick McNeill (WAS 05) and forward Tyler Haskins took penalties three seconds apart early in the second period. But the Otters were stunned when Saginaw's penalty kill-squad scored shorthanded twice. Forward Sinfield scored a shorthanded goal, assisted by defenseman Curtis Cooper, at 4:40 in the second period to take the score to 3-1. The score moved to 4-1 with winger Patrick Asselin scoring another Spirit shorthanded goal less than two minutes latter at the 6:04 mark, assisted by Sinfield. The shorthanded onslaught prompted the Otters to pull goalie Jonathan Laniel for Ryan Ludzik.

Defenseman Williams scored two consecutive power play goals to earn his first OHL hat trick and give the Spirit a 6-1 lead over the Otters. The first came off assists from McNeill and center Ryan McDonough at 11:03 in the second period. Williams' scored his third goal at 6:11 in the third period, assisted by Asselin.

Saginaw's McDonough sealed the game 7-1 by scoring a power play goal, assisted by linemates Ryan Berard and Tyler Haskins, at 12:47 of the third period.

Spirit netminder Ryan Daniels (OTT 06) had 28 saves in the effort.

Three Stars of the Game:

1. Nigel Williams, Saginaw, 3 goals

2. Garrett Sinfield, Saginaw, 1 goal (SH) and 2 assists

3. Ryan McDonough, Saginaw, 1 goal and 1 assist

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

The Spirit finish out the weekend Sunday night against the Oshawa Generals, at 6:05 PM in Oshawa. The Spirit takes a short break for the holidays, then return home on December 28 to face-off against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Merrill Tool and Machine and the Spirit will be hosting former Detroit Red Wing Joey Kocur at the game.

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 16, 2006


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