Game Day Preview: Spirit host Wright, Frontenacs on Teacher Appreciation Night
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Game Notes: 2-28-20 vs. Kingston
Saginaw, MI. – Ontario Hockey League (OHL) first overall picks do battle Friday, February 28, when Ryan Suzuki and the Saginaw Spirit (36-16-3-2 77 pts. 4th in Western Conference) hosts Shane Wright and the Kingston Frontenacs (18-34-2-2 40 pts. 9th in Eastern Conference) for Teacher Appreciation Night at The Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan presented by Dow. The second and final meeting of the regular season is set for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.
The Saginaw Spirit came back in miraculous fashion in a 5-4 victory over the Frontenacs at the Leon’s Centre in Kingston, Ontario back on January 24. Saginaw scored five unanswered third period goals, the last of which came off the stick of Spirit captain Damien Giroux with just three seconds left in regulation for the victory.
Fans can catch the action on the flagship WSGW Newsradio 100.5 FM and www.wsgw.com with Art Lewis and the voice of Saginaw Spirit hockey Joey Battaino on the call. “Countdown to Face-off” with host Charley Porter begins 15 minutes prior to puck drop.
To purchase tickets to any Saginaw Spirit home game call (989) 497-7747, visit www.saginawspirit.com, or visit the Saginaw Spirit Store at 5789 State Street, Saginaw MI.
The Spirit return home after they took five out of six possible points during a three-game, Northern Ontario road trip. After a shootout defeat to start the trip versus the Barrie Colts, Saginaw dissected the Sudbury Wolves with a 10-6 victory Saturday before a 6-3 triumph against the North Bay Battalion, Sunday afternoon. After Sunday’s victory, the Spirit became the third Western Conference club to clinch a playoff berth this season and their 14th playoff appearance in the last 15 seasons.
Suzuki, the 2019 Carolina Hurricanes 28th overall pick, saw his career-high, 10-game point streak come to an end in the game against the Battalion. Sunday’s contest was the first time Suzuki has been held off the scoresheet since the game back on January 24 against the Frontenacs, and just the third time since putting on a Saginaw Spirit uniform.
Fourth rated North American 2020 NHL Draft prospect Cole Perfetti broke the Saginaw Spirit single season points record (102) after a goal and assist against the Battalion Sunday. Jack Combs’ 100 points set during the 2007-08 season was the previous high mark. The Whitby, Ontario native Perfetti has points in the last seven consecutive games, six of which were multi-point efforts for the Saginaw forward. The Spirit leading scorer tallied two goals and two assists for a four-point night in the first game against Kingston.
Giroux, a fourth-round selection of the Minnesota Wild back in 2018, was named to Vaughn Hockey’s ‘CHL Team of the Week’ after a five-goal, two-assist during the three-game road swing, including a four-point effort Sunday afternoon against the Battalion. The Hanmer, Ontario brings a four-game point streak into the contest against the Kingston Frontenacs Friday night. The 2016 Saginaw Spirit third-round pick Giroux leads all Saginaw Spirit players with 39 goals this season.
Dexter, Michigan native D.J. Busdeker also contributed a four-point (G, 3A) effort in the Saginaw Spirit triumph Sunday afternoon. The overager supplied a goal and assist in the victory earlier this year against Kingston. Busdeker, who signed with the Spirit as a free agent back in 2016, is 18th in Saginaw Spirit history with 140 career OHL points.
2019 Saginaw Spirit second round pick Josh Bloom found the back of the net during the second period against North Bay on Sunday to extend his point streak to four games. The Saginaw rookie had six points in his prior 47 games, has three goals and three assists in his past four contests.
The Kingston Frontenacs are coming off a 7-3 defeat versus the OHL-leading Ottawa 67’s on the road Tuesday morning.
2019 Kingston Frontenacs first-overall pick Shane Wright notched his 36th goal of the season in the loss to the 67’s, which leads all OHL rookies this season. Wright, who turned 16 years old in January, became just the fifth player in OHL history to be granted exceptional status, which allowed Wright to enter the league a year early as a 15-year old. The previous players granted exceptional status were John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, and Sean Day with the OHL, along with Joe Veleno with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The Frontenacs leading scorer tallied a goal with two assists in the first game against the Saginaw Spirit this season.
The Kingston Frontenacs assist-leader Zayde Wisdom also contributed a multi-point effort with a goal and assist in the first battle with the Spirit earlier this season. The 2020 NHL Draft prospect trails only Wright in with 27 goals and 55 points this season.
Rookie Vitali Pinchuk tallied a goal along with an assist against the CHL’s second ranked team the Ottawa 67’s Tuesday morning. The 2019 second round CHL Import Draft pick has 10 goals and 19 assists in 48 games this season.
Kingston’s 2019 first-round CHL Import Draft pick Martin Chromiak has 11 goals and 17 assists in just 22 games this season with the Frontenacs. The Slovakian left-winger scored the opening goal against the Saginaw Spirit during the January 24 contest in Kingston.
The Kingston Frontenacs have two players listed in NHL Central Scouting’s 2020 NHL Draft mid-term rankings, including North American 90th ranked Zayde Wisdom and 155th ranked Jake Murray.
The Saginaw Spirit have a total of six players on their roster with NHL ties. Ryan Suzuki (Carolina Hurricanes-signed), Blade Jenkins (NY Islanders), Cole Coskey (NY Islanders), Mason Millman (Philadelphia Flyers), Bode Wilde (NY Islanders-signed) and Damien Giroux (Minnesota Wild).
Saginaw has two players listed in the NHL Central Scouting 2020 NHL Draft Mid-term rankings, including fourth ranked prospect Cole Perfetti. Ilya Solovyov is listed as the 119th North American prospect available.