Saginaw earns 5-4 win on home ice
SAGINAW -- The Saginaw Spirit beat the Guelph Storm 5-4 Sunday night at The Dow Event Center of Saginaw, with the win giving the Spirit a Western Conference leading 58 points and 27-8-3-1. Mathew Sisca and Ivan Telegin paved the way for the Spirit victory, with each accounting for a goal and two assists.
The first period saw lots of action as Guelph opened scoring early in the contest then the Spirit answering with three straight goals. Storm winger Taylor Beck notched a power play goal at 6:52 from center Michael Latta to make it 1-0, but Spirit winger Josh Shalla responded with his thirty-second goal of the season to make it 1-1. Wingers Jordan Szwarz and Anthony Camara earned the helpers on the goal, which came at the 7:40 mark. Center Ivan Telegin followed with his eighth of the season from center Mathew Sisca at 8:40 in the period to make it 2-1, and then center Vincent Trocheck battled for a short handed goal at 10:23 assisted by Brandon Saad to give the Spirit a two goal advantage.
The two teams would trade goals in the second period. Guelph’s Richard Panik would tally a power play marker at 2:53 in the second from center Daniel Erlich to reduce the deficit and make it 3-2, however later in the frame winger Garret Ross would notch a goal from Telegin and Sisca to make it 4-2.
The Storm would open the third period to make it 4-3, with Latta scoring at the 9:49 mark from Beck and winger Zack Mitchell. The back-and-forth scoring action would continue, with Saginaw’s Sisca scoring his third point of the night with a goal at 13:28 from Telegin moving the score to 5-3. Guelph would continue to push late in the period, moving the game within a goal at 18:07 after Beck scored his twenty-fifth of the season from Latta and Erlich. The Spirit defense was able to clamp down on the opposition and secure the win, by a score of 5-4 in regulation.
Spirit goalie Mavric Parks tallied 28 saves on 32 shots, Guelph goalie Garret Sparks posted 28 saves on 33 shots.
