Saginaw falls to Barrie in shootout 4-3
Saginaw falls to Barrie in shootout 4-3
01/19/12
The Saginaw Spirit were defeated by the Barrie Colts 4-3 on Thursday night. The game would make its way past overtime and into a shootout. Scoring goals for the Spirit were Michael Fine, Eric Locke, and Brandon Saad.
The game would start off in a defensive battle between these two team meeting for the second and final time of the 2011-12 OHL season. Justin Kea and Norm Ezekiel would mix things up 4:26 into the first period hoping to give each respective team an offensive spark they had been searching for. Later in the period, Ezekiel would break that standstill firing a shot that beat Spirit goalie Windsor, giving the Colts a 1-0 lead heading into the 1st intermission.
The second period would get off to a great start for the Spirit, as Michael Fine would find the back of the net on a power play with his 14th goal of the season and first for Saginaw in the game knotting the score at one a piece. Assists on the goal came from Josh Shalla and Frank Schumacher. Barrie would soon answer the Spirit with a goal coming from Zach Hall at the 12:48 mark of the period. A back and forth battle would soon ensue as the period would end in a 2-2 tie. Scoring Saginaw’s second goal would be center Eric Locke finding his way past Barrie goalie Alex Fotinos.
Both teams would emerge from the locker room looking to settle a great hockey game. Saginaw would strike first on a beautiful shorthanded goal scored by the newly appointed Spirit Captain, Brandon Saad. Both teams would battle to the final minutes of the game until Tanner Pearson would fire a shot from the face-off, scoring with 1:20 left to go in the third period and with the extra attacker on the ice. Pearson’s goal tied the game at 3-3 and would send each team into the 5 minute overtime session.
Overtime would see both teams struggle to find the game winning goal. A great defensive battle late would send both teams to a shootout. Scoring goals in the shootout for Saginaw would be Carlos Amestoy and Brandon Saad, but the Barrie Colts would prove to be too much netting all 3 goals and taking the 4-3 victory.
