Spirit fall to Soo at home, 5-2
Photo: Eric Young
Saginaw, Mich. — The Saginaw Spirit (20-10-0-1) fell to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 5-2 on Thursday night. Marco Mignosa and Jack Beck each netted two goals and Michael Misa notched a goal and an assist. Charlie Schenkel started for the Greyhounds in the win stopping 32 of 34, while Andrew Oke and Nolan Lalonde combined for 20 saves on 25 shots.
Saginaw opened the first period with a flurry of shots that led to the Spirit’s first goal of the game. After steady Saginaw offensive pressure, a Soo defender sent the puck around the back of the net after gaining possession. The puck took a strange bounce off the corner boards, off the back of the cage, and stopped dead in behind the net. Calem Mangone rushed behind the net and flung a pass to the slot. Michael Misa cut straight down from the point, collected the pass, and fired a shot glove side. Misa’s shot blazed past Sault Ste. Marie goaltender Charlie Schenkel for Misa’s team leading 15th goal of the year and setting the Spirit up 1-0.
The Soo responded 47 seconds later after a drive to the net by Brenden Sirizzotti. Andrew Gibson began by collecting the puck in the neutral zone and gliding back into his zone. Travis Hayes collected the puck and quickly tapped it to Sirizzotti. He raced up the right boards, closing off the Saginaw defender, and driving to the net with just enough space in front of Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke to slide it between his legs and past the goal line. Sirizzotti’s 12th of the year tied the game up for the Greyhounds 1-1.
At 11:06 the Greyhounds’ Spencer Evans received a holding penalty setting up Saginaw on its first power play of the game. One minute into this powerplay, the Spirit’s Joey Willis was called for a hooking minor, setting up one minute of four-on-four and a half-time powerplay for the Soo.
Saginaw would kill off the penalty, however two seconds after the penalty ended Andrew Gibson flung a pass across to Jack Beck who tipped the puck toward the net but wide. Gibson retrieved the puck and backhanded a pass to Marco Mignosa. His shot caught goaltender Andrew Oke off guard and found an open spot in between his blocker and pad, finding the twine for Mignosa’s 13th of the year and the 2-1 lead.
At the end of the first period, Saginaw trailed Sault Ste. Marie 2-1 despite outshooting the Greyhounds 16-9.
Sault Ste. Marie continued their scoring ways 2:48 into the second period. The play began with Saginaw taking the puck away from the Greyhounds in the Spirit defensive zone. A stretch pass up the boards was picked off by Spencer Evans who turned and shot the puck off the glass. The puck rebounded out to Jack Beck, who drove to the net and snapped a shot between the legs of Andrew Oke and into the net for Beck’s 12th goal of the year.
Nolan Lalonde would take over goaltending duties for Oke after 22:48 of play.
At 6:54, Saginaw’s Ethan Hay would be called for a cross-checking penalty, followed by double-minor for roughing on Saginaw’s Braden Haché and a minor slashing penalty on Sault Ste. Marie’s Justin Cloutier. This set the Greyhounds up with a 1:44 five-on-three powerplay, followed by a short five-on-four powerplay.
Saginaw killed off both penalties and entered the second intermission still trailing 3-1. The Soo outshot the Spirit in the second 11-10 but continued to be outshoot overall 26-20.
To begin the third period, Sault Ste. Marie’s Christopher Brown received a double-minor for high sticking to give Saginaw a golden chance to get back into the game.
The Spirit took advantage in the closing seconds of the first penalty when Michael Misa flung a pass around the boards to Dean Loukus. While skating with the puck near the near boards, Loukus fell but was able to push the puck to Zayne Parekh standing near the blue line. Parekh received the pass, skating in toward the left circle, and let a shot rip short side. The shot beat the glove of Schenkel and pierced the netting for Parekh’s 13th goal of the season and bringing the Spirit to within one.
Just after the ending of the second penalty to Brown, the Soo’s Spencer Evans deflected a pass in the defensive zone that was picked up by winger Travis Hayes. As Hayes collected the puck, he kept his eyes up ice and fired a stretch pass for Jack Beck racing toward the Saginaw zone. A clean reception by Beck, and a quick wrist shot on the move, helped find an open hole past goaltender Nolan Lalonde for Beck’s second of the game and a 4-2 Greyhounds lead.
Marco Mignosa would add an empty net goal to set a 5-2 final with shots being 8-5 for the Spirit in the final frame and 34 to 25 overall.
The Spirit are back in action on Saturday, December 30th to play the Windsor Spitfires at the Dow Event Center. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 pm.
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].
