Spirit set new points record, clinch West Division title

The Saginaw Spirit are officially enjoying their most successful season in the club’s history that stretches back to 2002-03.

The Spirit prevailed over the Sarnia Sting on Friday, taking a 4-2 victory at Progressive Auto Sales Arena to secure a single season high 98 points, improving their record to 48-16-0-1. What’s more, the Spirit clinched their fourth West Division title, earning the Bumbacco Trophy for the first time since their second of back-to-back division titles in 2020.

The @SpiritHockey are West Division Champions for the fourth time! 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/SOaFepoByI

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) March 23, 2024

Owen Beck collected a pair of assists in Friday’s win, stretching his point streak to 18 games, four shy of Jan Mursak’s 2006-07 club record of 22. Top draft eligible defenceman Zayne Parekh also ran his goal total to 32, lighting the lamp in the record-setting victory. Parekh sits one point up on Kitchener’s Hunter Brzustewicz for the most by an OHL blueliner this season with 91 (32-59–91) over 64 games.

Saginaw currently owns the OHL’s third best power play and second best penalty kill.

The Spirit won past West Division titles in 2011, 2019 and 2020. Their latest division crown comes in a year they’re preparing to host the 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Dow that gets underway on Friday, May 24th at the Dow Event Center.

The Bumbacco Trophy was inaugurated in 1994-95 when the league realigned into three divisions. The award is named after former Soo Greyhounds general manager Angelo Bumbacco.

The Spirit round-out their regular season schedule with two more games, hosting Windsor on Saturday night before visiting the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better… we made franchise history 🤩 pic.twitter.com/8ZPHfnhCEv

— Saginaw Spirit (@SpiritHockey) March 23, 2024