Spirit Prevail in Wild Game Over Wolves 9-8
Published on January 20, 2012 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release
On Friday night, the Saginaw Spirit traveled north to Sudbury to take on the Wolves at the Sudbury Community Arena. In one of the wildest, if not the wildest game of the year, the Saginaw Spirit prevailed over the Sudbury Wolves by the score of 9-8. Scoring for the Spirit were Brandon Saad, Terry Trafford, Garret Ross, Frank Schumacher, Michael Fine, Carlos Amestoy, Josh Shalla, and Steven Strong.
The Wolves' got the scoring started 4:38 into the hockey game as Josh Leivo netted his 20th goal of the season. Two minutes later, Sudbury would find the net in behind Spirit goaltender Jake Paterson once again; scoring this time was Sam Schutt to put the Wolves up 2-0. At 11:59, the Spirit would get a goal back as Brandon Saad would net his 14th goal of the season. Just three minutes later, Terry Trafford would put in his fifth goal of the campaign tying the game at 2-2. Sudbury would come back with two goals of their own in the last two minutes of the first period, coming from Josh Leivo and Nathan Pancel to put the Wolves up 4-2 heading into the first intermission.
Sudbury would continue the momentum they gained with their two late first period goals as they rolled into the second period. Just 45 seconds into the period, Andrey Kuchin picked up the puck following Brandon Archibalds' stick exploding into pieces, and would find the back of the net to increase the Wolves lead to 5-2. Sudbury's Chad Thibodeau would be called for tripping about two minutes later, and on the ensuing Spirit power player, Garret Ross would score his 16th of the season to get the Spirit back into the hockey game. Two minutes later, Saginaw would get within another goal when Frank Schumacher would score his first goal of the season from Brad Walch and Brandon Saad to make the score 5-4. With the momentum now securely shifted to the Spirit bench, Michael Fine would continue the Spirit hot streak scoring his 15th goal of the year to tie the game at 5-5 just under half way through the hockey game. Spirit forward Carlos Amestoy would be the next Spirit player to find the scoresheet on Friday night, scoring his first career OHL goal to put the Spirit in the lead for the first time in the hockey game. The rapid scoring would end towards the second half of the period until last week's OHL Player of the Week Josh Shalla netted his 22nd of the season to put the Spirit up 7-5. Sudbury would however get a goal back in the dying minutes of the second, an unassisted goal off the stick of Justin Sefton would send the teams to the second intermission with a score of 7-6 in favor of the Spirit.
The first five minutes of the third period came and went without any goals being scored, but at the 5:51 mark of the period, Spirit defenseman Steven Strong would burst in over the Wolves blue line and put a shot over the shoulder of the goaltender to increase the Spirit lead back to two goals, 8-6. With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Sudbury's Nathan Pancel would score his second goal of the game to once again cut the Spirit lead to one goal. However the Spirit would answer one last time as Carlos Amestoy would score his second goal of the game to put the Spirit up 9-7. Sudbury would not go quietly, Michael Sgarbossa would score to cut the lead back down to one goal, but despite an onslot of shots on goal in the dying seconds of the game, the Spirit would hold on to win a wild one by the score of 9-8.
Catch the Spirit! The Saginaw Spirit conclude their three game road trip on Sunday against the Mississauga St Michaels Majors. Listen to the game on FM Talk and Sports WSGW 100.5 FM on Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm with Leigh Cunningham and Dennis Desrosiers.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2012
- Spirit Prevail in Wild Game Over Wolves 9-8 - Saginaw Spirit
- Majors stun Battalion - Mississauga St. Michael's Majors
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- Road Woes in Ottawa - Oshawa Generals
- IceDogs Pick up Sixth Straight Victory with 3-2 Win Over Otters - Niagara IceDogs
- Sadikov Stops 43 in Otters Loss - Erie Otters
- OHL Announces Disciplinary Action - OHL
- Culley's Kids Visits Triple-P Book Sale - Windsor Spitfires
- Two Big Knights for Attack - Owen Sound Attack
- Final Week to Register for the Shiver on the River - Saginaw Spirit
- Spits Suffer 6-0 Loss - Windsor Spitfires
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