3-2 victory over Plymouth secures fifth straight triumph
The Saginaw Spirit beat their cross-state rival the Plymouth Whalers in a 3-2 shootout Sunday night at The Dow Event Center of Saginaw. The win marks Saginaw’s fifth straight, and following wins against Barrie and Sarnia early in the week gives the Spirit a Stanley Steemer Clean Sweep. The win over Plymouth also gives Saginaw an OHL West Division leading 78 points and 37-16-3-1 record, with the third highest single season point total in the team’s nine year history. The Spirit garnered 80 points in the 2008-2009 season and 91 points in the 2006-2007 season; the Spirit have 11 games remaining in the regular season with a high of 22 points still up for grabs.
SAGINAW --
Saginaw winger Josh Shalla started off scoring with a power play goal at the 6:40 mark courtesy assists from winger Jordan Szwarz and center Ivan Telegin, putting the Spirit up 1-0. The Spirit would retain the one goal lead until the final minutes of the second frame, when Whalers Center Mitchell Heard tied the score at one apiece with a goal assisted by defenseman Colin MacDonald and winger R.J. Mahalak.
Plymouth’s Heard would score his second of the night to open the third, at 1:57 in the period from defenseman Austin Levi and winger Stefan Noesen. The Spirit would battle back to tie up the game and force overtime, with Telegin knocking in his sixteenth of the season from defensemen Ryan O’Connor and Dalton Prout.
The game would move beyond a scoreless overtime and into a shootout, with both teams scoring in the opening salvo. Vincent Trocheck put the Spirit up 1-0 in the shootout but then Noesen followed suit moments later to even up the round. The shootout would progress past two more rounds before Saginaw’s O’Connor put the puck past Plymouth netminder Matt Mahalak and Spirit goalie Mavric Parks stopped the Whaler’s Heard in the counter-attack to secure the 3-2 win.
Saginaw’s Parks earned the game’s first star honors with 29 saves on 31 shots while Plymouth’s Mahalak earned second star honors with 37 saves on 39 shots.
