[{"id":44048,"date":"2026-04-02T22:10:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44048"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:10:44","slug":"spirit-unable-to-hold-off-rangers-in-game-4-see-season-come-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/video\/spirit-unable-to-hold-off-rangers-in-game-4-see-season-come-to-an-end","title":{"rendered":"Spirit unable to hold off Rangers in Game 4, see season come to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: Eric Young<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw, Mich. –\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit hosted the Kitchener Rangers at the Dow Event Center on Thursday night for Game 4 of the OHL playoffs. Facing a 3-0 deficit headed into the game, the Spirit’s season was on the line in a must-win Game 4. The Rangers would rally for four goals straight in the first two periods, and despite a late second-period goal from Dima Zhilkin, the Kitchener Rangers would eliminate Saginaw in a 5-1 Game 4 win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sam O\u2019Reilly opened the scoring for the third time this series on the breakaway, scoring his fourth of the playoffs on a wrist shot. O\u2019Reilly blocked a shot for the breakaway, scoring unassisted at 6:39 to make it 1-0 for Kitchener.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers extended their lead late in the first with Dylan Edwards scoring his first post-season goal blocker side from the left circle. Cameron Arquette had the primary assist, and Carson Campbell picked off a pass in the neutral zone for an odd-man rush for the secondary assist to make it 2-0 in favor of the Rangers at 13:25.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With 14.4 seconds left in the period, Dylan Edwards scored his second of the period on the power play, driving the net and maneuvering past Stepan Shurygin. Jack Pridham and Cameron Reid picked up the assists as the Rangers took a three-goal lead into the second.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 1: SAG 0 – 3 KIT (Total Shots:4 – 26)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christian Humphreys extended the lead for the Rangers after he fired in a shot down near the goal line over the shoulder of Shurygin for his third of the series. Luca Romano picked up the assist on the rush, giving the Rangers a 4-0 lead at 17:42.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just 47 seconds later, Dima Zhilkin put the Spirit on the board on the power play, tipping in a pass from Nikita Klepov at the back door for his third of the playoffs. Carson Harmer picked up the secondary assist as the Spirit trailed 4-1 at 18:29.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 2: SAG 1 – 4 KIT (2nd period shots: 6 – 8 Total shots: 10 – 34)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With the net empty, Christian Humphreys picked up his second of the game after he broke loose to ice the game and the series for Kitchener. Jack Pridham picked up the assist for his second point of the game, as the Rangers led 5-1 at 14:33.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Final: SAG 1 – 5 KIT (3rd period shots 4 – 8, Total shots 14 – 42)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powerplays: SAG 1\/5 KIT 1\/4<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Goaltenders: SAG: Stepan Shurygin (34 saves, 39 shots) KIT: Christian Kirsch (21 saves, 25 shots)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With a loss tonight, the Saginaw Spirit are eliminated from the OHL playoffs. They hold onto the 6th overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection, which is set on June 12-13th in Kingston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Eric Young   Saginaw, Mich. –\u00a0 The Saginaw Spirit hosted the Kitchener Rangers at the Dow Event Center on Thursday night for Game 4 of the OHL playoffs. Facing a 3-0 deficit headed into the game, the Spirit’s season was on the line in a must-win Game 4. The Rangers would rally for four…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-21","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/04\/02220405\/vs-Kit-Game-4-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28916,"target_video":{"video_id":"2550882","partner_id":"31006","player_id":"47894","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/sd\/2550882.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/ld\/2550882.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/hsd\/2550882.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/fhd\/2550882.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/streaming\/2550882\/2550882.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/webp\/2550882.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44045,"date":"2026-04-02T10:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44045"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:23:17","slug":"game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-vs-kitchener-rangers-1-game-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-vs-kitchener-rangers-1-game-4","title":{"rendered":"GAME PREVIEW: Saginaw Spirit (8) vs Kitchener Rangers (1) \u2013 Game 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saginaw, Mich. – <\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit (0-3) host the Kitchener Rangers (3-0) for Game 4 of their opening round playoff series on Thursday night at the Dow Event Center. The Spirit need a victory in order to continue their playoff run in 2026 as they trail the Rangers 3-0 in the series.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tonight’s Game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Puck drop is at 7:05 pm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Broadcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radio: 100.5 FM WSGW, WSGW.com<\/a><\/p>\n

TV: FloHockey<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Series So Far (KIT leads 3-0):<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rangers took Game 1 and Game 2 at home, with Sam O\u2019Reilly scoring twice in Game 1 and having the game-winner in Game 2. Kitchener trailed late in Game 1, but a three-goal third period would give them a 6-4 win. Headed into Game 2, Christian Kirsch would shine with a 14-save shutout victory.<\/p>\n

In their most recent matchup, the Spirit hosted the Rangers for Game 3 at the Dow Event Center. Nikita Klepov picked up his first OHL playoff goal, giving the Spirit a 3-2 lead in the third period, with Egor Barabanov picking up his second assist of the game.\u00a0 After a late goal from Gabriel Chiarot in the third to tie it, Luca Romano was the overtime hero for Kitchener to put them on the brink of an opening round sweep. Spirit goaltender Stepan Shurygin recorded just the fourth 50-save performance in team playoff history, stopping 50 of 54 Kitchener shots.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Players to Watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overage defenseman James Guo scored his first goal of the series in Game 3, having a multi-point night in the 4-3 OT loss. Guo was named the third star of the game with a goal and an assist, and has now set a career high in playoff points with three (1G-2A) in three games against the Rangers this series.<\/p>\n

Scoring in Tuesday night’s matchup gave Nikita Klepov his first career OHL playoff goal and his second point of the game. The regular season point leader currently has four points (1G-3A) in three playoff games, and is tied with Egor Barabanov in points against the Rangers this postseason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw\u2019s NHL-Drafted Players: <\/strong>Jacob Cloutier (WPG)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With an assist in Game 3, Christian Humphreys has taken the lead in points for the Rangers so far in this series. With two goals and four assists in three games, the Colorado Avalanche prospect is tied for seventh in points across the league in the playoffs. Humphreys had 85 (27G-58A) in 63 games this season, with two goals and three assists coming in four games against Saginaw.<\/p>\n

Alexander Bilecki picked up his first career OHL playoff goal in Tuesday’s matchup, giving him four points (1G-3A) in three games against Saginaw. The defenseman is tied for third across the OHL in points in the playoffs amongst defensemen. Bilecki had 29 points (9G-20A) in 66 games this season with the Rangers, setting a career high in points in his sophomore season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener\u2019s NHL Drafted Players<\/strong>: Luke Ellinas (OTT), Gabriel Chiarot (VAN), Sam O\u2019Reilly (TBL), Jack Pridham (CHI), Christian Humphreys (COL), Matthew Hlacar (TOR), Luca Romano (NYI), Cameron Reid (NSH), Andrew MacNeil (MTL), Christian Kirsch (SJ), Matthew Andonovski (OTT), Jared Woolley (LAK)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saginaw, Mich. – The Saginaw Spirit (0-3) host the Kitchener Rangers (3-0) for Game 4 of their opening round playoff series on Thursday night at the Dow Event Center. The Spirit need a victory in order to continue their playoff run in 2026 as they trail the Rangers 3-0 in the series. \u00a0 Tonight’s Game:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/04\/02102250\/Game-Day-Web.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28916,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44042,"date":"2026-03-31T23:43:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44042"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:43:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:43:46","slug":"shurygin-stops-50-in-game-3-ot-loss-to-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/video\/shurygin-stops-50-in-game-3-ot-loss-to-rangers","title":{"rendered":"Shurygin stops 50 in Game 3 OT loss to Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: Eric Young<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw, Mich. – <\/em><\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit hosted the Kitchener Rangers for Game 3 three of the OHL playoffs after trailing 2-0 in the series. The Rangers would open the scoring in the first after a slap shot from Matthew Andonovski, but the Spirit would rally behind James Guo\u2019s first goal of the series. After a back-and-forth game between the two clubs, the Rangers would win 4-3 in overtime to take a 3-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Kitchener Rangers opened the scoring early in the first period, with Matthew Andonovski scoring off the face-off, firing a slap shot past Stepan Shurygin from the blue line. Luca Romano picked up the only assist after winning the face-off, as the Rangers led 1-0 at 1:26.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit would respond later in the frame, with James Guo firing in a one-timer for his first of the post-season. Nikita Klepov danced around defenders to set up the shot in the left circle for the assist, as the teams stood tied at one at the end of the first period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 1: SAG 1 – 1 KIT (Total Shots: 3 – 18)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alexander Bilecki restored the one-goal lead for the Rangers after his shot from the blue line bounced through traffic past Stepan Shurygin. Tanner Lam and Haeden Ellis picked up the assists as the Spirit trailed 2-1 at 8:23.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With just over a minute to go in the period, the Spirit tied Game 3 after Bode Stewart fired in a shot from the slot through the five-hole of Christian Kirsch. Egor Barabanov found him from the right-wings boards for the primary assist, and James Guo picked up the secondary assist for his second point of the game to tie it at two at 18:25.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 2: SAG 2 – 2 KIT (2nd period shots: 10 – 18 Total shots: 36 – 13)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nikita Klepov would give the Spirit their first lead of the game after he fired in his first OHL playoff goal on the power play, firing in a one-timer from the right circle. Egor Barabanov set him up for his second assist of the game, and Levi Harper picked up the secondary assist as the Spirit led 2-1 at 2:31.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gabriel Chiarot tied it for the Rangers after his wrist shot from the point found its way past Shurygin for his second of the series. Carson Campbell and Cameron Reid picked up the assists as the Spirit and Rangers stood tied at three at 14:21.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 3: SAG 3 – 3 KIT (3rd period shots 7 – 14, Total shots 20 – 50)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Luca Romano would be the overtime hero for the Kitchener Rangers after he cleaned up a rebound in the crease to secure the win. Alexander Bilecki picked up the primary assist, and Christian Humphreys earned the secondary as the Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the series, winning 4-3 at 6:39 of overtime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Final: SAG 3 – 4 KIT (OT shots 0 – 4, Total shots 20 – 54)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powerplays: SAG 1\/5 KIT 0\/4<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Goaltenders: SAG: Stepan Shurygin (50 saves, 54 shots) KIT: Christian Kirsch (17 saves, 20 shots)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Game 4 between the Spirit and the Rangers is set for Thursday, April 2nd at the Dow Event Center. Puck drop as the Spirit try to extend their season is set for 7:05pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Eric Young   Saginaw, Mich. – The Saginaw Spirit hosted the Kitchener Rangers for Game 3 three of the OHL playoffs after trailing 2-0 in the series. The Rangers would open the scoring in the first after a slap shot from Matthew Andonovski, but the Spirit would rally behind James Guo\u2019s first goal of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-21","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/31222305\/vs-KIT-Game-3-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28907,"target_video":{"video_id":"2548875","partner_id":"31006","player_id":"47894","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/sd\/2548875.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/ld\/2548875.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/hsd\/2548875.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/fhd\/2548875.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/streaming\/2548875\/2548875.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31006\/webp\/2548875.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44039,"date":"2026-03-31T10:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44039"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:10:11","slug":"game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-vs-kitchener-rangers-1-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-vs-kitchener-rangers-1-game-3","title":{"rendered":"GAME PREVIEW: Saginaw Spirit (8) vs Kitchener Rangers (1) \u2013 Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saginaw, Mich. – <\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit (0-2) host the Kitchener Rangers (2-0) for Game 3 of their opening round playoffs series on March 31st, 2026, at the Dow Event Center. The Spirit look to respond after dropping the first two games in Kitchener over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tonight’s Game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Puck drop is at 7:05pm.<\/p>\n

Tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Broadcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radio: 100.5 FM WSGW, WSGW.com<\/a><\/p>\n

TV: FloHockey<\/a> Great Lakes Sports & Entertainment Network\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Antenna: 5.2 Charter\/Spectrum: Channel 199 Comcast\/Xfinity: Channel 1182)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Series so Far (KIT leads 2-0):<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rangers took Game 1 in Kitchener, with Sam O\u2019Reilly and Christian Humphreys each scoring twice in the win. The Rangers were perfect on the power play, capitalizing on all three opportunities as well as staying out of the box themselves, giving Saginaw no power play chances. Despite Dima Zhilkin scoring twice and adding an assist, the Spirit would fall 6-4 after the Rangers scored three third period goals.<\/p>\n

In Game 2, neither team found the back of the net until the third period, where the Rangers pushed for four in the final frame. Sam O\u2019Reilly would have the game winner, opening the scoring early in the third for a 4-0 Rangers victory. The Rangers pressured the Spirit both offensively and defensively, stopping all three power play opportunities and holding the Spirit to shotless in the third period. Christian Kirsch stood strong in the net for Kitchener, stopping 14 shots for his first career playoff shutout.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Players to Watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dima Zhilkin continues to lead the Spirit in scoring this postseason after a three-point Game 1 (2G-1A). Though he and the Spirit were held off the scoresheet in Game 2, Zhilkin helped the Spirit significantly in the faceoff dot (7\/10, 70%). Zhilkin had 75 points (36G-39A) in 59 games this season, with one goal and one assist in three games against Kitchener.<\/p>\n

Center Egor Barabanov also enjoyed a multi-point Game 1, with a goal and an assist. He finished his first OHL season with points in each of his last six contests (2G-8A\u201410P). Barabanov was second in team scoring this season behind Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy winner Nikita Klepov and was the fourth-highest scorer in the OHL with 91 points. His 63 regular season assists were second to only Brantford\u2019s Jake O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw\u2019s NHL-Drafted Players: <\/strong>Jacob Cloutier (WPG)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a goal on Sunday night, Sam O\u2019Reilly picked up his third goal of the playoffs as well as the game-winner in Game 2. O\u2019Reilly picked up two goals and an assist in Game 1 for a three-point night, and is two points away from his 40th career OHL playoff point. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect had four points (1G-3A) in four games against the Spirit in the regular season and now has four points (3G-1A) in two games against them in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Goaltender Christian Kirsch stopped all 14 shots in Game 2 for his first career playoff shutout. Kirsch finished the regular season with four shutouts, tied for the second-most in the OHL. The San Jose Sharks prospect has both Kitchener wins in the series, a 2.00 playoff GAA and .897 SV%. Including the end of the regular season, Kirsch has wins in eight of his last ten starts dating back to February 20th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener\u2019s NHL Drafted Players<\/strong>: Luke Ellinas (OTT), Gabriel Chiarot (VAN), Sam O\u2019Reilly (TBL), Jack Pridham (CHI), Christian Humphreys (COL), Matthew Hlacar (TOR), Luca Romano (NYI), Cameron Reid (NSH), Andrew MacNeil (MTL), Christian Kirsch (SJ), Matthew Andonovski (OTT), Jared Woolley (LAK)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saginaw, Mich. – The Saginaw Spirit (0-2) host the Kitchener Rangers (2-0) for Game 3 of their opening round playoffs series on March 31st, 2026, at the Dow Event Center. The Spirit look to respond after dropping the first two games in Kitchener over the weekend. \u00a0 Tonight’s Game: Puck drop is at 7:05pm. Tickets…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/31100948\/Game-Day-Web-2.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28907,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44036,"date":"2026-03-30T16:53:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44036"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:53:29","slug":"2026-ohl-awards-spirits-klepov-wins-eddie-powers-memorial-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/video\/2026-ohl-awards-spirits-klepov-wins-eddie-powers-memorial-trophy","title":{"rendered":"2026 OHL Awards – Spirit’s Klepov wins Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO –\u00a0<\/strong>The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) is pleased to formally recognize Saginaw Spirit forward Nikita Klepov<\/a> as the 2025-26 recipient of the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy, presented annually to the League’s top point producer.<\/p>\n

Klepov\u2019s 97 points included 37 goals and 60 assists over 67 games, with a total of 38 points on the man advantage, the third-most in the OHL. The 17-year-old from Deerfield Beach, Florida carves out a unique place in OHL history, becoming the first rookie within his first two years of OHL eligibility to claim the honour since Jack Valiquette of the 1973-74 Soo Greyhounds, who also did so as a 17-year-old. He\u2019s the first American-based player to lead the OHL in scoring since Jason Robertson of the Niagara IceDogs in 2018-19. He joins a host of other prominent Americans with their names engraved on the trophy including Alex DeBrincat (Erie, 2016-17), Kevin Labanc (Barrie, 2015-16), Vincent Trocheck (Plymouth, 2012-13), Patrick Kane (London, 2006-07) and Rob Schremp (London, 2005-06).<\/p>\n

“We are proud of all that Nikita has been able to accomplish this season,” said Spirit General Manager Dave Drinkill. “Leading the league in scoring is impressive on its own, but to do it as a rookie is a testament to his work ethic and talent. His skills on the ice are immediately apparent to anyone who has seen Nikita play, but that skill comes from tons of work in practice, the gym, and in the video room.”<\/p>\n

\n

Klepov gives the Spirit back-to-back Eddie Powers Trophy winners as he follows in the footsteps of Michael Misa, who produced 134 points (62-72\u2013134) before being selected second overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2025 NHL Draft. Klepov\u2019s 37 goals tie a Spirit rookie record originally set by Cole Perfetti during the 2018-19 season. He recorded at least three points in a game 13 different times.<\/p>\n

As some have noted, it marks the first time the OHL\u2019s leading scorer has produced fewer than 100 points in a span of over 60 years, when eventual OHL coaching legend Wayne Maxner of the 1962-63 J. Ross Robertson Cup champion Niagara Falls Flyers registered 94 points (32-62\u201394) over 50 games.<\/p>\n

Selected by the Spirit with the 35th overall pick of the 2025 CHL Import Draft, Klepov came to Saginaw from the USHL\u2019s Sioux City Musketeers. He won a gold medal with the United States at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and is committed to Michigan State University (NCAA). Klepov was ranked 16th among North American skaters on NHL Central Scouting\u2019s midterm rankings for the 2026 NHL Draft released in January.<\/p>\n

The Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy was donated by the Toronto Marlboro Athletic Club in memory of Eddie Powers and was first awarded in 1945-46 to Tod Sloan of St. Michael\u2019s who scored 79 points in 25 games. Other recent OHL recipients have included the aforementioned Michael Misa, David Goyette of the Sudbury Wolves in 2023-24, Matthew Maggio of the Windsor Spitfires in 2022-23 and Wyatt Johnston of the Windsor Spitfires in 2021-22. Klepov joins other recent NHL Draft eligibles to win the Eddie Powers in Misa, Marco Rossi of the Ottawa 67\u2019s in 2019-20 and Dylan Strome of the Erie Otters in 2014-15.<\/p>\n

Misa will be formally recognized with the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy at the OHL Awards Ceremony at the Hockey Hall of Fame in June.<\/p>\n

For a complete list of OHL award winners,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHL Draft prospect Nikita Klepov of the Saginaw Spirit earns the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the OHL’s leading scorer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-21","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/03\/30153701\/Klepov-Eddie-Powers-Web.jpeg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44032,"date":"2026-03-29T22:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T02:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44032"},"modified":"2026-03-29T22:06:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T02:06:46","slug":"spirit-surrender-four-in-third-period-trail-rangers-2-0-in-opening-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/spirit-surrender-four-in-third-period-trail-rangers-2-0-in-opening-round","title":{"rendered":"Spirit surrender four goals Game 2, trail Rangers 2-0 in opening round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: Hailey Tripodi<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener, Ont. <\/b>\u2013 A stalemate 40 minutes kept the Spirit and the Rangers in a neck-and-neck battle in Game 2 of the first round of the OHL Playoffs, but a third period push from Kitchener gave them the 4-0 win on Sunday in Kitchener.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first period was a deadlock between the two teams, although the ice was titled in favor of the Rangers. Kitchener saw more high quality in the frame, but were shut down by goaltender Stepan Shurygin. The Spirit did see the first power play of the game after an early high sticking call to the Rangers, but could not capitalize.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The game was an intense matchup early, and the period belonged to the goaltenders Shurygin and Christian Kirsch after the first twenty minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 1: SAG: 0 \u2013 KIT: 0\u00a0 (Total Shots: 4 – 7 )<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The second period was similar to the first, with the netminders as the stars of the period, especially Stepan Shurygin, who denied a penalty shot and a late Rangers push.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shurygin came up with big saves early and was given a break when Saginaw saw its second powerplay of the night early in the second. The Spirit could not find a way past Kirsch, but did find more momentum, creating high quality chances throughout the period.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christian Humphreys was awarded a penalty shot midway through the period after being taken down by James Guo. Stepan Shurygin shut him down on the chance with his stick.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit netminder came up big again in the final minutes of the period, stopping a push from Kitchener, but the game remained scoreless heading into the final period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 2: SAG: 0\u00a0 \u2013 KIT: 0 (2nd period shots: 10 \u2013 11 Total shots: 14 – 18 )<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The deadlock was broken in the opening minute of the third period after a shot from Carson Campbell deflected off of Sam O\u2019Reilly and into the net to put the Rangers on the board first. The goal marked O\u2019Reilly\u2019s third of the series, after two goals in Game 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only minutes later, a costly turnover in the slot gave Gabe Chiarot an open look at the net to give the Rangers some insurance with a 2-0 lead. After Chiarot\u2019s goal, the Spirit got their third power play opportunity of the night, but could not find a shot on net in the man advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers kept their foot on the gas in the third after getting on the board. Tanner Lam extended the lead, burying home a backdoor rebound opportunity off a shot from Alexander Bilecki to give Kitchener a 3-0 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The floodgates had opened for the Rangers, and they showed no signs of stopping. In the final minutes, Cameron Arquette won the puck on the boards and found Cameron Reid on the left circle to send the puck past Shuryin once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Final: SAG: 0\u00a0 \u2013 KIT: 4\u00a0 (3rd period shots 0\u00a0 – 9 , Total shots 14 \u2013 27)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powerplays: SAG 0\/2 KIT 0\/0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Goaltenders: SAG Stepan Shurygin (23 saves, 27 shots), KIT Christian Kirsch (14 saves, 14 shots)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The series now heads to the Dow Event Center with Game 3 taking place on Tuesday, March 31st. Puck drop is set for 7:05pm.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Hailey Tripodi   Kitchener, Ont. \u2013 A stalemate 40 minutes kept the Spirit and the Rangers in a neck-and-neck battle in Game 2 of the first round of the OHL Playoffs, but a third period push from Kitchener gave them the 4-0 win on Sunday in Kitchener.   The first period was a deadlock…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/29220515\/0Y0A4091_DxO-scaled-e1774836341478.jpg",2560,1442,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28900,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44030,"date":"2026-03-29T10:23:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44030"},"modified":"2026-03-29T10:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:23:54","slug":"game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-at-kitchener-rangers-1-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-at-kitchener-rangers-1-game-2","title":{"rendered":"GAME PREVIEW: Saginaw Spirit (8) at Kitchener Rangers (1) – Game 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. <\/b>\u2013 The Saginaw Spirit (0-1) prepare for Game 2 against the Kitchener Rangers (1-0) on Sunday night, looking to bounce back after falling in a back-and-forth Game 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s Game:<\/b><\/p>\n

Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Broadcast:<\/b><\/p>\n

Radio: 100.5 FM WSGW,<\/span> WSGW.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

TV:<\/span> FloHockey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Series So Far (KIT leads 1-0):<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers got ahead early in Game 1, with a power play goal from Sam O\u2019Reilly at the halfway point of the frame. The Spirit found a response in the first minute of the second period, thanks to Egor Barabanov. Saginaw applied offensive pressure throughout the period, and captain Dima Zhilkin sent the puck into the back of the net, giving the Spirit the lead later in the period. The final two minutes created a flurry from either side. O\u2019Reilly scored his second of the night in the final two minutes of the period; however, Levi Harper scored on a one-timer exactly a minute later to reclaim the Spirit lead heading into the final period.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The third period was controlled by the Rangers, scoring four goals in the final 20 minutes. Christian Humphreys scored his third point of the night after assists on both O\u2019Reilly goals to tie the game up. Zhilkin scored his second of the night, but three unanswered goals from the Rangers gave them the 6-4 victory in Game 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Players to Watch:<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit captain, Dima Zhilkin, had an outstanding Game 1 against the Rangers with two goals, one assist, and a plus-three rating. Zhilkin had a total of nine points (3G-5A) in eight games in March to finish a career-high regular season. Zhilkin\u2019s goals on Friday night marked his first OHL playoff goals, after securing three assists in last season’s playoff matchup against Erie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Levi Harper enjoyed his first taste of the OHL playoffs with a two-point night, scoring a goal at the end of the second period and assisting Dima Zhilkin\u2019s first-period goal. Harper ended his rookie season as the leading OHL rookie blueliner with 57 points (12G-45A) and third best amongst all OHL rookies. Harper had a quieter March, but has had a lot of success against the Rangers with a point in all four games against Kitchener in the regular season (1G-3A\u20134P).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw\u2019s NHL-Drafted Players: <\/b>Jacob Cloutier (WPG)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian Humphreys led the way for the Rangers on Friday, earning first star of the night honors for a four-point game (2G-2A). Humphreys assisted both O\u2019Reilly goals and scored the two Kitchener game-tying goals in the third period. Friday\u2019s game marked Humphreys\u2019 first multi-goal OHL playoff game.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jack Pridham was a huge catalyst for the Rangers in Game 1 with three assists on the night. Pridham had seven shots on goal as a persistent threat to the Spirit. In the regular season, Pridham secured a career-high 90 points (46G-44A). The Rangers’ leading regular-season scorer was one of five players to hit the 90-point mark in the regular season (joining Saginaw’s Nikita Klepov and Egor Barabanov). Including Friday\u2019s assists, Pridham has 16 points (7G-9A) over 18 OHL playoff games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener\u2019s NHL Drafted Players: <\/b>Luke Ellinas (OTT), Gabriel Chiarot (VAN), Sam O\u2019Reilly (TBL), Jack Pridham (CHI), Christian Humphreys (COL), Matthew Hlacar (TOR), Luca Romano (NYI), Cameron Reid (NSH), Andrew MacNeil (MTL), Christian Kirsch (SJ), Matthew Andonovski (OTT), Jared Woolley (LAK)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. \u2013 The Saginaw Spirit (0-1) prepare for Game 2 against the Kitchener Rangers (1-0) on Sunday night, looking to bounce back after falling in a back-and-forth Game 1.\u00a0   Tonight\u2019s Game: Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.   Broadcast: Radio: 100.5 FM WSGW, WSGW.com TV: FloHockey   Series So Far (KIT leads 1-0):…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/29102313\/Game-Day-Web-1.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28900,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44027,"date":"2026-03-27T22:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44027"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:29:47","slug":"zhilkin-records-three-points-in-close-game-1-loss-to-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/zhilkin-records-three-points-in-close-game-1-loss-to-rangers","title":{"rendered":"Zhilkin records three points in close Game 1 loss to Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. – <\/em><\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit visited the Kitchener Rangers for Game 1 of the OHL Playoffs at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Dima Zhilkin finished the night with two goals and an assist, and Levi Harper, Nikita Klepov, and Egor Barabanov each had two-point games. Neither team held more than a one-goal lead until the very end of the game, a 6-4 Rangers win with an empty netter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers drew first blood on the power-play, with Sam O\u2019Reilly tipping in a point shot from Jack Pridham for the first goal of the series. Christian Humphreys picked up the secondary assist as the Rangers led the Spirit 1-0 10:13 into the first.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

After 1: SAG 0 – 1 KIT (Total Shots: 3 – 11)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Fifty-nine seconds into the second, Egor Barabanov would tie it at one after he drove the net from the left circle, squeaking one past Christian Kirsch. Dima Zhilkin and James Guo picked up the assists as the Spirit stood tied at 1-1 with the Rangers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit continued their offensive pressure in the second, with captain Dima Zhilkin giving the Spirit their first lead of the series after he tipped in a shot from the left circle. Levi Harper fired the initial shot for the primary assist, and Nikita Klepov picked up the secondary at 18:14.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers repeated their first goal of the game to tie it in the second, with Sam O\u2019Reilly scoring his second of the game after tipping in a shot in the crease. Jack Pridham and Christian Humphreys picked up the assists for their second points of the game, as the two teams stood tied at 18:14.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Levi Harper slapped in a loose puck with under a minute to go to restore the lead for Saginaw. Harper scored unassisted at 19:14 to give the Spirit a 3-2 advantage headed into the third.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 2: SAG 3 – 2 KIT (2nd period shots: 12 – 9 Total shots: 15 – 20)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christian Humphreys responded early in the third for the Rangers after he was found wide open in the left circle for his first of the playoffs. Jack Pridham sent it cross ice for his third assist of the game, and Alexander Bilecki picked up the secondary assist as the Rangers tied it at 3-3 at 4:30.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit would take back the lead for the third time after Dima Zhilkin fired in his second goal of the night from between the dots, blocker side past Kirsch. Egor Barabanov picked up the primary assist, and Nikita Klepov picked up the secondary as the Saginaw Spirit led 4-3 at 10:12.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rangers would again tie it on the power play, with Christian Humphreys picking up his second of the night after firing in a rocket from the slot. Cameron Reid picked up the primary assist, and Sam O\u2019Reilly picked up his third point of the night with the secondary assist at 12:37.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener captain Cameron Reid scored his first career playoff goal to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead late in the first, firing a steep-angle shot past Shurygin. Dylan Edwards and Carson Campbell picked up the assists as the Rangers took the lead at 13:16.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Matthew Andonovski would ice the game for the Rangers, scoring into the empty net at 19:55 to make it a 6-4 game in favor of Kitchener.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Final: SAG 4 – 6 KIT (3rd period shots 10 – 20, Total shots 25 – 40)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powerplays: SAG 0\/0 KIT 3\/3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Goaltenders: SAG: Stepan Shurygin (34 saves, 39 shots) KIT: Christian Kirsch (21 saves, 25 shots)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Spirit, trailing 1-0 in the series, stay in Kitchener for Game 2 on Sunday night. Puck drop is at 7:00pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. – The Saginaw Spirit visited the Kitchener Rangers for Game 1 of the OHL Playoffs at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Dima Zhilkin finished the night with two goals and an assist, and Levi Harper, Nikita Klepov, and Egor Barabanov each had two-point games. Neither team held more than a one-goal lead until the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/27221644\/b28fa412-25f8-452b-b460-b9423e0ccc03IMG_0328-scaled-e1774664394876.jpg",1707,960,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28891,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44022,"date":"2026-03-27T14:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44022"},"modified":"2026-03-27T14:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:45:11","slug":"series-hq-kitchener-rangers-vs-saginaw-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/series-hq-kitchener-rangers-vs-saginaw-spirit","title":{"rendered":"Series HQ: Kitchener Rangers vs. Saginaw Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””](1) Kitchener Rangers (47-14-5-2) vs. (8) Saginaw Spirit (26-34-4-4)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

For the better part of six seasons, the Midwest Division has belonged to the London Knights, but that has changed. The Kitchener Rangers dethroned the reigning Memorial Cup champions this season, claiming their first Holody Trophy since a non-London team last won it back in 2018. Now, with the division title secured and the top seed in the Western Conference in hand, the Rangers open the playoffs against the eighth-seeded Saginaw Spirit, a young and offensively gifted club that will need to pull off something special to advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the regular-season series offers little encouragement for Saginaw, as Kitchener swept all four meetings, two of the four games were decided by a single goal, including a shootout win in December. But as any playoff hockey fan knows, the regular season means very little once the calendar flips to late March.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener Rangers<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a Kitchener team on a mission. Under head coach Jussi Ahokas, the Rangers are enjoying their third consecutive 40-win season, and with the franchise’s fifth OHL championship and first since 2008 firmly in their sights, there is an extra edge to this group. That fire was further stoked when Kitchener lost out on hosting the 2027 Memorial Cup, adding another layer of motivation to an already hungry dressing room. Additionally, the Rangers will enjoy home-ice advantage for the opening games of the series, and with a 13-1 record in their last 14 home games, they know that playing in front of R-Town is not easy for any opponent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leading the charge is one of the deepest collections of overage talent in the league. Jack Pridham has put together a 90-point season, Dylan Edwards has contributed 87, and Matthew Andonovski, who had a brief stint in the AHL, rounds out a trio of overagers that would be the envy of any program in the OHL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the trade deadline only made Kitchener more dangerous. The Rangers added Sam O’Reilly and Jared Woolley, both acquired from London, in moves that sent a clear message about their intentions. O’Reilly in particular has fit in seamlessly, and alongside Pridham, the two have combined for 13 of the team’s staggering 19 shorthanded goals this season. That number demands attention, and opposing powerplay units will have to be on high alert every time Kitchener skates a man down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian Humphreys has also been a standout contributor, posting 81 points over 57 games and providing the Rangers with yet another legitimate offensive threat from a roster that seemingly has no weak links.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between the pipes, Kitchener lost the reigning OHL Overager and Goaltender of the Year in Jackson Parsons heading into the season, leaving a significant void to fill. The club has turned to import goaltender Christian Kirsch, and while his numbers have not been entirely lights out, they have done enough to keep the Rangers atop the standings all season long.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw Spirit<\/b><\/p>\n

The Spirit arrive as the eighth seed, but do not let the record fool you into dismissing what this young Saginaw roster is capable of offensively. The Spirit boast the OHL’s leading scorer in Nikita Klepov, whose 97-point season has been nothing short of spectacular. Right behind him is linemate Egor Barbanov with 91 points, and Dima Zhilkin adds another 75, giving Saginaw one of the most potent top-three offensive weapons of any team in the playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the blue line, rookie defenceman Levi Harper etched his name into the franchise record books this season, setting a new Saginaw record for points by a rookie defenceman. That kind of production from a first-year player on the backend bodes well for the future of this program.<\/span><\/p>\n

In goal, first-year netminder Stepan Shurygin’s raw numbers may not jump off the page, but context matters. Shurygin appeared in 59 of Saginaw’s 68 games and faced more shots than any other goaltender in the league by nearly 100. He has been tested relentlessly all season long, and that workload and experience could prove valuable when the pressure of the playoffs arrives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Saginaw to have any realistic chance in this series, they will need secondary contributors to step up alongside their top three scorers, and they will almost certainly need to strike first. If the Spirit can get on the board early and exploit Kirsch, who is notoriously vulnerable to the opening goal, they have the offensive firepower to keep themselves in games. But whether they can sustain that over the course of a full series against this Rangers roster is another question entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kitchener is built like a championship contender, and they know it. The depth of their overage core, the addition of O’Reilly at the deadline and the league’s most dangerous shorthanded attack make the Rangers the team to beat in the Eastern Conference and arguably in the entire league.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saginaw counters with the OHL’s leading scorer, a dynamic one-two punch at the top of their lineup, and a goaltender who has seen more rubber this season than anyone in the league. They are young, they are skilled, and they have nothing to lose.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the season series tells a clear story, and Kitchener’s combination of experience, depth, and motivation makes them a very difficult team to beat four times. The Rangers enter the playoffs hungry, focused, and with unfinished business on their minds. And Saginaw will need everything to go right to pull off the upset, but the offensive talent is there to at least make Kitchener earn it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Series Schedule:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

* <\/span>if needed<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Game 1 \u2013 Friday, March 27 at Kitchener, 7:00pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 2 \u2013 Sunday, March 29 at Kitchener, 7:00pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 3 \u2013 Tuesday, March 31 at Saginaw, 7:05pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 4 \u2013 Thursday, April 2 at Saginaw, 7:05pm<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 5 \u2013 Friday, April 3 at Kitchener, 7:00pm*<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 6 \u2013 Monday, April 6 at Saginaw, 7:05pm*<\/span><\/p>\n

Game 7 \u2013 Tuesday, April 7 at Kitchener, 7:00pm*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Season Series:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Kitchener wins 4-0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oct. 11 – KIT 3 at SAG 1<\/span><\/p>\n

Nov. 7 – SAG 2 at KIT 5<\/span><\/p>\n

Dec. 13 – KIT 5 at SAG 4 \u2013 SO<\/span><\/p>\n

Jan. 16 – SAG 4 at KIT 7\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Playoff History:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This marks the second time that Kitchener and Saginaw have met in the OHL Playoffs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2010 KIT def. SAG 4-2 \u2013 First Round.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitchener’s loaded roster meets Saginaw’s star power. Can Klepov and the young Spirit pull off the upset in R Town?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/03\/26170244\/2026-Playoff-Series-HQ_KITvsSAG.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44019,"date":"2026-03-27T10:49:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T14:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/?p=44019"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:49:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T14:49:32","slug":"game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-at-kitchener-rangers-1-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/article\/game-preview-saginaw-spirit-8-at-kitchener-rangers-1-game-1","title":{"rendered":"GAME PREVIEW: Saginaw Spirit (8) at Kitchener Rangers (1) \u2013 Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. – <\/strong>The Saginaw Spirit (26-34-4-4 reg. season) visit the Kitchener Rangers (47-14-5-2 reg. season) on Friday, March 27th, at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. This is Game 1 of the opening round series between the eight seeded Spirit, and the Western Conference\u2019s top seeded Rangers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tonight’s Game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Broadcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radio: 100.5 FM WSGW, WSGW.com<\/a><\/p>\n

TV: FloHockey<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regular Season:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Spirit secured their fourth consecutive playoff berth in 2026, closing out their season last weekend with a visit to the Soo Greyhounds and a home finale against the Sarnia Sting. Saginaw fell 5-1 against the Greyhounds in Sault St. Marie, and end the season in overtime against the Sting, falling 4-3 at the Dow Event Center. Nikita Klepov ended the season on a six-game point streak (2G-8A-10P), capturing the OHL\u2019s scoring title with 97 points.<\/p>\n

With a 47-14-5-2 record, the Rangers clinched a Midwest Division title for the first time since 2018, and the top spot in the Western Conference. Like the Spirit, the Rangers would drop both of their final games last week, falling to the Sting 4-3 at home and losing to the Owen Sound Attack 8-7 in overtime. Cameron Arquette and Alex Forrest both picked up three points in the loss to the Attack, with Forrest picking up his first career OHL point in the process.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Head-to-Head 2025-2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kitchener swept the four-game series against the Spirit this season, with their most recent win coming on January 16th. Jack Pridham scored three goals in the 7-4 win for his second hat-trick of the season against the Spirit. Saginaw picked up a point in a December 13th shootout loss to the Rangers where Egor Barabanov picked up two points. He and Nikita Klepov co-led the team in scoring against Kitchener this season with five points each.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Players to Watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n

With 97 points (37G-60A) in 67 games, Nikita Klepov took the organization\u2019s second consecutive Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league\u2019s top scorer. His six-game scoring streak to end the regular season was tied with Egor Barabanov for the longest active streak at the time. It was also his eighth streak of the season lasting five or more games. He scored in his last visit to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on January 16th, and finished the season with 2G-3A\u20145P against the Rangers. Klepov was Saginaw\u2019s only player this year to manage multiple goals against their would-be first round opponent.<\/p>\n

Sitting third amongst OHL rookies this season in scoring is Spirit defenseman Levi Harper, who picked up 57 (12G-45A) in 68 games. His point total established a new record for rookie blueliners in Saginaw. Harper was a point-per-game player against Kitchener this season with a goal and three assists in four games. Despite being blanked in the team\u2019s final regular season game, he ended the year with 1G-3A\u20144P in his last four games.<\/p>\n

Goaltender Stepan Shurygin led his OHL peers in games played (59), as well as minutes (3417), shots faced (1920), and saves (1704) this season. His games played and minute totals were each the fourth-most by a Spirit goaltender in a single season, while his save total was second (Eddie Pasquale, 1821, 2008-09). Shurygin finished his first OHL season with a 24-27-3-4 record, 3.79GAA and .888SV%.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saginaw\u2019s NHL-Drafted players:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacob Cloutier (WPG)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jack Pridham led the Kitchener Rangers this season in scoring, picking up 90 points (46G-44A) in 65 games. The Blackhawks prospect ended the season with a 13-game point streak, netting 20 points (11G-9A) in that span. Pridham picked up nine points (7G-2A) in four games against the Spirit. Last year, Pridham picked up 13 points (7G-6A) in 16 playoff games with Kitchener, including four multi-point nights.<\/p>\n

Kitchener Captain Cameron Reid set a career high in points this season with 56 (15G-41A) in 57 games. The defenseman picked up his 100th career assist early this month, and ten assists in 24 playoff games. Reid had four points (2G-2A) in three games this season against Saginaw and was drafted 21st overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2025 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

Sam O\u2019Reilly was named the OHL Player of the Month for March, picking up 19 points (5G-14A) in 8 games with the Rangers. O\u2019Reilly spent his first 163 games with the London Knights, winning two OHL Championships and the 2025 Memorial Cup before being traded to the Rangers earlier this season. O\u2019Reilly has picked up 71 points (29-42A) in 56 games this season, with 43 points (17G-26A) in 28 games with Kitchener.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kitchener\u2019s NHL Drafted Players<\/strong>: Luke Ellinas (OTT), Gabriel Chiarot (VAN), Sam O\u2019Reilly (TBL), Jack Pridham (CHI), Christian Humphreys (COL), Matthew Hlacar (TOR), Luca Romano (NYI), Cameron Reid (NSH), Andrew MacNeil (MTL), Christian Kirsch (SJ), Matthew Andonovski (OTT), Jared Woolley (LAK)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitchener, Ont. – The Saginaw Spirit (26-34-4-4 reg. season) visit the Kitchener Rangers (47-14-5-2 reg. season) on Friday, March 27th, at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. This is Game 1 of the opening round series between the eight seeded Spirit, and the Western Conference\u2019s top seeded Rangers. \u00a0 Tonight’s Game: Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":44020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-44019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-387","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2026\/03\/27104914\/Game-Day-Web.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28892,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-spirit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]