OHL Saginaw Spirit

Spirit Square Off Against Rangers In Opening Round Of 2010 OHL Playoffs

Published on March 17, 2010 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


(Saginaw, MI) While a playoff match up between the franchises that eventually became the Saginaw Spirit and the Kitchener Rangers has occurred on numerous occasions, this is the first time the modern day Spirit and Rangers will hook up in the post season. Based on the four games played in the regular season, this has the makings of a great and potentially long series. The following are some of the key areas to look at in this series.

Regular Season Record:

Saginaw Spirit (34-27-4-3 75 points) Kitchener Rangers (42-19-4-3 91 points)

Home Records: Kitchener 25-6-2-1 Saginaw 22-10-2-0 Road Records: Kitchener 17-13-2-2 Saginaw 12-17-2-3 Powerplay: Kitchener 3rd 25% Saginaw 7th 22% Penalty Kill: Kitchener 8th 81% Saginaw 15th 79% Head to Head Record: Kitchener 2-2-0-0 Saginaw 2-0-1-1

Up front: The Rangers can be downright scary offensively with four of the top 15 point producers in the OHL and a regular season powerplay that ranked third in the circuit. Kitchener features one of the best young forwards in the league in Jeff Skinner (50-40-90), who became the youngest skater in Rangers history to record fifty goals in a season while at the same time accomplishing a feat that had not been accomplished by a Kitchener player since the mid 1980's. If the NHL Draft Eligible Skinner is not enough, the Rangers can also throw out Atlanta prospect Jeremy Morin (47-36-83) whose 23 powerplay goals led the league, playmaker Chris MacKinnon (29-61-90) who plays a very similar game to Saginaw's Jordan Skellett, and Jason Akeson (24-56-80) who ranked 15th in league scoring. There is depth beyond the big four as well as, former Belleville Bull Matt Tipoff (25-38-63) offers a solid two way game and Tyler Randell (9-12-21) and veteran Mike Mascioli (5-11-16) offer the muscle.

The Spirit are not quite as well represented in the OHL scoring leaders list but Saginaw offensively is about as balanced, featuring six players with at least 20 goals this season and a solid group of forwards that boast a tenacious fore checking style that can really grind the opposition down. Perhaps the biggest plus for the Spirit up front is the fact they are healthy for basically the first time since early January with the top line of Jordan Skellett (26-62-88), Ivan Telegin (26-18-44) and Josh Shalla (32-33-65) leading the way. Skellett broke out with an outstanding campaign this season leading the Spirit in points and ranking ninth overall in the league scoring race. Skellett was among the OHL's best in assists all season long and he is now Saginaw's all time single season leader in helpers, bettering the mark established a few years ago by Tyler Haskins. Shalla also had a major break out year after coming over from Guelph, leading the Spirit in goals in his draft season, and Telegin, who is also available for the NHL Draft in Los Angeles, hit a couple of bumps in the road midseason but is starting to heat up again in recent days. Captain Tyler Murovich (24-28-52) and Jordan Szwarz (26-28-54) form a great one two punch regardless of who skates with them and standout rookie Vince Trocheck (15-28-43) and former Colt Michael Sgarbossa (20-32-52) add to the scoring depth.

On the Blueline: Kitchener's depth on the defensive side of the things could be challenged in this series with a couple of rearguards potentially not available for service. Patrik Andersson (0-19-19) is out with an arm injury and Chad Lowry (0-1-1) has been battling an upper body injury. With that, much will have to be shouldered by three rearguards that anchor the Kitchener blueline. Dan Kelly (6-21-27) is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the league and the offense comes from Columbus First Round Pick John Moore (10-37-47), the owner of a heavy shot from the blueline, and first year man Ryan Murphy (6-33-39), who should be a point producing machine as his OHL career progresses.

Saginaw's fortunes defensively took a dramatic turn for the better the minute former Sarnia captain Jordan Hill (7-31-38) arrived at the Dow Event Center. Hill gives you leadership, grit, and some offense and has been a great complement to second year man Ryan O'Connor (13-25-38), the OHL's Defenseman of the Month in January, and a player who helps stir the pot on the powerplay. Like O'Connor, Peter Hermenegildo (7-14-21) came over in a trade from a Central Division club and has arguably the hardest and best shot of any Spirit defenseman. Again like the situation up front, the Spirit enter the series with a healthy blueline with foot soldiers Cody Sol (7-8-15), Brad Walch (1-11-12), and defensive minded Joe Underwood (0-17-17) lending solid support as well.

In goal: Many series have been won or lost based on the goaltending and on paper a veteran for the Spirit and a first year man for the Rangers will be front and center in this matchup. Rangers number one man Brandon Maxwell, the Colorado Avalanche prospect, took over the lion's share of the goaltending duties at the trade deadline after splitting the duties with current Barrie Colt Mavric Parks. Maxwell's numbers for the season read 23 wins and a goals against average of 3.74. Goalie Mike Morrison backs him up.

Saginaw's Eddie Pasquale has had a very solid second half of the season and he enters the playoffs perhaps a little fresher than last season when he led the OHL in minutes played and saves. The Atlanta Thrashers prospect finished with 27 wins and a 3.17 goals against average in the regular season. Tad Galansky got his feet wet in the latter portion of the OHL season and shows significant promise for the future.

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2010


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