Get to know our opponents: Saginaw Spirit

The Moose Jaw Warriors will open their first Memorial Cup on Friday night when they face off with the host Saginaw Spirit at the Dow Event Center.

It will be the Warriors’ first game against an Ontario Hockey League opponent on the biggest stage in junior hockey.

The Spirit will present a tough test for the Warriors to open up the tournament, especially in front of a loud home crowd.

Saginaw finished second in the OHL during the regular season with a 50-16-1-1 record, just two points behind the OHL Champion London Knights.

The two top regular season teams then met in the OHL’s Western Conference Final with the Spirit pushing the Knights to six games before losing out.

Saginaw was led in the regular season by top NHL Draft prosepct Zayne Parekh. The 17-year-old defenceman had 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games as he led the team in scoring.

Offensively, Parekh is helped by former exceptional status player 16-year-old Michael Misa, who finished with 29 goals and 75 points in 67 games this season.

The Spirit’s big addition at the OHL Trade Deadline was Montreal Canadiens prospect and Canadian World Junior team member Owen Beck, who had 34 goals and 81 points in 57 games.

In the playoffs, Anaheim Ducks prospect Rodwin Dionicio led the way for the Spirit with five goals and 17 points in 17 games.

The Spirit split starts in goal during the regular season with Andrew Oke posting a 29-10-1-0 record in 41 games with a 2.89 goals against average and 0.890 save percentage.

Nolan Lalonde appeared in 36 games, going 21-8-1-1 with a 3.31 goals against average and 0.869 save percentage.

In the playoffs, the Spirit split starts until Oke was injured in the second round. Lalonde ended up going 5-7-0 in 12 games with a 2.79 goals against average and 0.893 save percentage.

Oke was 5-0-0 with a 1.82 goals against average and 0.938 save percentage in his five games.

This is the Spirit’s first ever appearance in the Memorial Cup as well and they will look to become the third host to win the title in the last decade.

The Warriors and Spirit face off on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Moose Jaw will then get a few days off to prepare for the Knights on Monday and the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday to close out the round robin.