Oke stops 22 in first career shutout, 3-0 at Soo
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. — The Saginaw Spirit (36-13-0-1) smothered the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds’ (33-14-2-1) offense in a 3-0 win Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens. Calem Mangone and Josh Bloom both scored for Saginaw with Owen Beck adding his 25th. Charlie Schenkel started for the Soo stopping 14 of 16 shots and Andrew Oke guarded the Saginaw goal, turning away all 22 of the Greyhounds’ shots for his first career OHL shutout.
Saginaw picked up where they left off the previous night scoring only 1:32 into the opening period. Following a Soo delay of game penalty on Spencer Evans, the Spirit drew the puck back to Zayne Parekh who drifted along the Soo blueline. After the Greyhounds forwards applied some pressure to Parekh, the Saginaw defensemen quickly passed the puck to the left circle, finding Michael Misa. The 16-year-old forward collected the pass and fired one of his own through the slot toward Calem Mangone standing on the far post for a deflection and the 1-0 lead.
The Spirit extended their quick lead only 3:02 later off of a breakaway opportunity. Owen Beck created a turnover, and Joey Willis chased after the puck, kicking it ahead for Beck. The Saginaw forward picked up the puck skated to the right circle, and let loose a shot over Schenkel’s glove for his 25th of the season, giving Saginaw a 2-0 lead.
At the end of the first period, Saginaw led 2-0, with shots being in the Soo’s favor 7 to 6.
The second period saw Saginaw and Sault Ste. Marie received a combined eight (8) penalties, with the Greyhounds getting four powerplays to Saginaw’s one. Both teams had ample chances but could not capitalize on them. At the end of the second period, Saginaw had a carryover penalty by Nic Sima for hooking with 58 rolling over into the third period. Sault Ste. Marie continued to lead in shots 8 to 5 in the second and 15 to 11 overall.
The third period opened with Saginaw’s Ethan Hay being cited for tripping, setting the Greyhounds up with 43 seconds of five-on-three opportunity. Despite the chances, Saginaw held off the Soo and kept it at 2-0.
Saginaw scored their third goal on an empty netter at 16:16 into the third. Matyas Sapovaliv and Calem Mangone picked up an assist on Josh Bloom’s fourth goal of the season, setting the 3-0 final score.
This win brought the Saginaw Spirit to 37-13-0-1 on the year, expanding their west division lead, while dropping the Greyhounds to 33-15-2-1.
Saginaw’s next game is on Thursday, February 15th, when they travel out to Barrie for a 7:00 PM start time.
For more information, visit saginawspirit.com or follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
For media inquiries, contact Dillon Clark at [email protected].
