Game day: Saginaw Spirit & 67's

The 67’s look to get back on track after falling 7-1 to the 1^st in the East, Saginaw Spirit.  You can read the game review here: http://ottawa67s.blogspot.ca/2013/11/generals-trouce-67s-in-7-1-win.html

Coming off a 4-3 regulation loss to the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday evening, the Saginaw Spirit travel to Ottawa to face the 67’s tonight.

The Greyhounds scored 3 straight times as the Spirit squandered a 3-1 lead in the second period.  Despite outshooting the Greyhounds 41-27, the Spirit were unable to hold off until overtime.  Sophmore forward Tyler Gaudet scored the game winning goal with less than 30 seconds left in the game giving the Spirit their 7th loss of the season.

With several returning players, the Spirit were expected to be one of the teams to beat in the West, but they have gotten off to a slow start.  The are a mere 0.029 above .500 and have gone 5-3-1 in their last 10 games.  The Spirit were were without Captain Eric Locke for the first 6 games where they started off the season with a record of 2-4-0-0.

Locke has since been returned to juniors from attending Buffalo Sabres training camp.  The Spirit boast quite a few more NHL draft prospects including forwards Cody Payne (Dallas), Justin Kea (Buffalo), Jimmy Lodge (Winnipeg), Nick Moutrey (Columbus) and goaltender Jake Paterson (Detroit).  Sophmore defenseman and Brockville native, Brandon Prophet is expected to go early in the 2014 NHL Entry draft this upcoming summer.

The return of Locke, Lodge, Kea and Moutrey gives the Spirit valuable experience and talent outfront.  The four accounted for 110 goals and 255 points and were 4 of the Spirits top 6 scorers last season.  The Spirit added 5-year veterans Cody Payne from Plymouth Whalers and Kristoff Kontos from the Mississauga Steelheads.

The Spirit weren’t done there with player movement since the off-season.  The blueline took a hit with Brandon Archibald, Grant Webermin and Jason Shaw moving on from the OHL.  The biggest offensive hit the Spirit took was Dalton Young who was released from the team after being charged in a stabbing incident late this summer.

Clearly needed some help on defense, the Spirit made even more acquisions including trading for Justin Sefton from London Knights, Daniel De Sousa from the Belleville Bulls and, a familiar name, Sean Callaghan from the 67’s. 

Finally, in net is the potential World Junior starter, Jake Paterson back for his 4th season in the OHL.  Paterson was returned from Wings training camp in time for the start of the season and has received most of the starts for the Spirit this season.  Stepping in for the remaining games is Nikita Serebryakov of Russia who returns for his sophmore and NHL draft eligible year.

2013-14 Regular Season Record

Ottawa 67's:  7-10-0-0
Saginaw Spirit:  8-7-1-1

Players To Watch

Ottawa 67's

Joseph Blandisi - drafted 6th round to Colorado in 2013
Jacob Middleton - NHL draft eligible 2014, NHL Central Scouting B list

Alex Lintuniemi - NHL draft eligible 2014, NHL Central Scouting C list
Travis Konecny - 1st overall pick in OHL, NHL draft eligible 2015

Saginaw Spirit

Justin Kea – drafted 3rd round, 73rd overall by Buffalo in 2012

Eric Locke – drafted 7th round, 189th overall by Buffalo in 2013

Jimmy Lodge – drafted 3rd round, 84th overall by Winnipeg in 2013

Nick Moutrey – drafted 4th round, 105th overall by Columbus in 2013

Jake Paterson – drafted 3rd round, 80th overall by Detroit in 2012

Cody Payne – drafted 5th round, 145th overall by Boston in 2012 (rights are now with Dallas)

Brandon Prophet – NHL draft eligible 2014, NHL Central Scouting B list

Nikita Serebryakov – NHL draft eligible 2014, NHL Central Scouting B list

Overagers

Ottawa 67’s: Ryan Van Stralen, Philippe Trudeau

Saginaw Spirit: Eric Locke, Kristoff Kontos, Justiin Sefton

Leadership Squad

Ottawa 67’s:  Taylor Fielding (A), Ryan Van Stralen (A), Joesph Blandisi (A)

Saginaw Spirit:  Eric Locke (C), Justin Sefton (A), Justin Kea (A), Kristoff Kontos (A)

Potential Scratches

Ottawa 67's:  Mike Vlajkov, Taylor Davis, Adrian Sloboda
Saginaw Spirit:  ?

*follow us on twitter (@msconduct or @A_Quevillon) for game day scratches

Saginaw Spirit

Who's Gone?

Brandon Archibald – left to persue education at Michigan State)

Garret Ross –  graduated, playing with the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL (Chicago affiliate)

Jason Shaw – graduated, playing with University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Steven Strong – playing with the University of Guelph

Gregg Sutch – graduated, playing with York University

Grant Webermin

Dalton Young – released from team

David Perklin – playing with the Shawinigan Cataractes in the QMJHL

Who's New?

Mitchell Stephens – Saginaw’s 1st round pck in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection

Kris Bennett – Saginaw’s 2rd round pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection

Michael Holmes – Saginaw’s 2nd round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection

Ryan Orban – Saginaw’s 2nd round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection

David Obsjannikov – Saginaw’s 5th round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection

Cody Payne – acquired from Plymouth

Justin Sefton – acquired from London

Sean Callaghan – acquired from Ottawa

Kristoff Kontos – acquired fromMississauga

Ottawa Connections

Sean Callaghan – played two seasons with the Ottawa 67’s

Brandon Prophet – native of Brockville.  Played with the Brockville Braves in CCHL

Ryan Orban – native of Stittsville.  Played with the Ottawa Valley Titans in OMEHL

Cole Cassels – his father Andrew Cassels played 3 seasons with the 67’s

Last season

2012-13 Regular Season Record

Ottawa 67's:  16-46-0-6
Saginaw Spirit:  32-29-4-3

2012-13 OHL Playoffs

Ottawa 67's:  Did not qualify
Saginaw Spirit: Eliminated in the first round by the London Knights in 4 games

2012-13 Head-To-Head Stats

Record: 2-0-0-0 for Saginaw
Combined score: 18-6 for Saginaw

Top scorers

Ottawa 67's

Sean Monahan - 2 goals, 1 assist in 1 game
Dante Salituro - 2 goals, 0 assists in 2 games

Brendan Bell – 1 goal, 1 assist in 2 games

Saginaw Spirit

Vincent Trocheck – 2 goals, 4 assists in 2 games

Garrett Ross – 2 goals, 3 assists in 2 games

Nick Moutrey – 1 goal, 4 assists in 2 games