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OHL Saginaw Spirit

Spirit Unable to Hold Lead in Guelph

December 10, 2021 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


Guelph, ON - The Saginaw Spirit traveled to Guelph Friday night looking to end a season-long, three-game skid. Saginaw got out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period, but were stunned by five unanswered goals for the second straight game and fell to the Storm by the final of 5-3.

In the opening frame, the Spirit set out to get off to a good start and accomplished just that with a power play goal from Matyas Sapovaliv at 9:36. His seventh goal of the season was assisted by Dalton Duhart and Evan Klein. Saginaw added another when P.J. Forgione scored his first OHL goal at 11:37 from the right circle after receiving a pass from Ian Phillips. Forgione was a sixth-round selection of the Spirit in the 2021 Priority Selection Draft out of the Oakland Jr. Grizzles program. The Spirit continued their domination of the opening frame when Pavel Mintyukov got back on the scoresheet with his fifth goal of the season at 12:23 of the opening period. He was setup by Buffalo Sabres prospect Josh Bloom and Matyas Sapovaliv, for his second point of the period. The Spirit outshot the Storm 10-6 in the period, and held a 3-0 lead after one period.

The momentum of the game completely changed once the second period began, as the Storm woke up in a big way. Guelph dominated the middle frame, outshooting the Spirit 15-4, and scoring twice to get back in the game. Valentin Zuhgin scored the first Storm goal with a high shot beat Tristan Lennox from the left circle. At 10:41, Storm defenseman Cam Allen an unassisted goal to make it 3-2. Late in the period, the Spirit's netminder Lennox took a penalty for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid area. Cam Baber also earned a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to put the Spirit down two players for a full two minutes.

Though the Spirit got out of that penalty kill situation unscathed, the Storm tied the game at 2:27 on an unassisted goal by Matthew Papis. The goal gave Papis two tallies against the Spirit in two games this season. After a turnover at the Guelph blueline, the Storm came back on the Spirit, two-on-one and Ben McFarlane gave the Storm the lead at 9:31 with a shot high on Lennox. Matthew Papis added an empty net goal for the Storm to seal a 5-3 victory for the Storm. With tonight's loss, the Spirit are under .500 for the first time since they lost on opening night to the Erie Otters to go 0-1-0-0 on the 2021-22 season.

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