Saginaw vs. Plymouth 2-15-08

[aj0512]

Another huge game tonight for the Spirit. The Whalers are in town which means we can probably expect another close game between the two clubs. With a victory tonight and a Guelph loss at #1 Kitchener we can leap into 7th place in the standings. Let's go Spirit!!!

[spiritfan8]

Sladok, Hayes and Stefan won't be participating tonight--the OHL finally handed down its version of justice from the brawl against Kingston last week.
www.ontariohockeyleague.com/media_notes/

[acin]

what happened with the coaches being involved?

[spiritfan8]

The both came out on the ice and started yelling at each other. Maverty took off his coat and threw it. From the punishments handed down, it's pretty clear that the league thought Plymouth was mostly responsible for the whole brawl.

[acin]

haha love it

[sensspiritfan]

Saginaw looks disinterested AGAIN. No consistancey.

Why does this team not play well against teams that are close to them in the standings but play great against teams that are way ahead of them in the standings.

Poor penalties cost everytime.

Another short handed goal.

It's about time that we have 2 defencemen on the ice for the powerplay as we seem to be scored on way too often. This goal was a direct result of a giveaway at our own blueline. Zaborsky should be on forward where he will do more damage on the opposition and give a little more punch to the second unit.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

It seems every game Saginaw plays Plymouth this season that the Whalers always win the special teams battle. That's the difference so far tonight.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

It's now 4-1 Plymouth.......YUCK!!!

EDIT: It's 4-1 Plymouth at the end of 2 periods. Saginaw is Ofer on the PP and has given up a SH goal.

Attendance listed as 3613 on the on line scoresheet. A Friday night in mid February against Plymouth and there are less than 4000 fans in the building. Is the weather bad this evening??

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Side Note: My wife says Fic sounds like he's announcing a horse race.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Chappell cuts the Plymouth lead to only 2. It's 4-2 with 14 minutes left. Still time to salvage something but Saginaw needs the next goal.

[SaginawGensFan]

McDonough needs to start staying out of the penalty box. He is 3rd on the team in PIM's behind only Jarram & Combs & tied with Allicock.

Also, I mentioned this a while back, but I think Joe McCann would love to play Saginaw every game. Only 28 points this season, but it seems every game against Saginaw he picks up points! 2 more tonight!

EDIT: Just looked, McCann has 2g, 3a (5 pts) & is a +3 in 6 games so far this season against Saginaw. That means he has almost 20% of his points (18% actually) vs. Saginaw this season!

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Plymouth wins it 4-2 and leads the season series 4-2. In other key games tonight Guelph and Kitchener are tied 2-2 in the 3rd period while Sudbury leads Owen Sound 3-2 in the 3rd period.

Fic just mentioned that Saginaw is now 4-6 in their last 10 games at home.

[sensspiritfan]

Spirit never quit in the third unfortunately they didn't start until the third.

Just seems like we are not ready to play at the start of a game. It was like we were chasing the puck most of the game with Plymouth in possesion for the majority of the time.

I agree McDonough needs to stay on the ice, it's tough to score from the penalty box.

Comrie showed that he can be effective on forward as well.

We seem to take it to the opposition when the D are given the green light and jump into the play.

[aj0512]

Well, looking at the bright side of things, Owen Sound and Guelph both lose tonight, so our playoff magic number goes down to 12 and we are still just one point behind Guelph. But it looks like Sarnia will get a win tonight over Windsor last I checked. Still disappointing...we could have gained some ground tonight. Oh well.

Possible 1st round playoff preview this Sunday at the Dow. Let's hope the Spirit can send a message.

[spiritfan8]

sensspiritfan said:

Saginaw looks disinterested AGAIN. No consistancey.

Why does this team not play well against teams that are close to them in the standings but play great against teams that are way ahead of them in the standings.

Poor penalties cost everytime.

Another short handed goal.

It's about time that we have 2 defencemen on the ice for the powerplay as we seem to be scored on way too often. This goal was a direct result of a giveaway at our own blueline. Zaborsky should be on forward where he will do more damage on the opposition and give a little more punch to the second unit.

Excellent observation re: point on the PP. The observation was made tonight that Watson must have zero faith in his d-men because Zaborsky is still at the point, which made sense earlier in the season. Now, not so much. It's true our d-men are very young, however (sorry, guys, I haven't mentioned him in awhile!!!!) McNeil was playing the point when he was 17. I'll grant that the team was a whole lot worse then, but by the time he was 18, we had a quarterback. I'm really surprised that none of our young guys have even been tried out back there. Zaborsky is gone after this season--someone is going to have to take the plunge next year.
What is it with us and Plymouth??? Take away Smith and they aren't even that good!!! Year after year they kick our tails. Tonight they had a head coach and 2 players suspended, and 2 or 3 guys out w/ injuries, and they STILL made us look bad. For the second time this season, I annoyed my son by missing one of his big basketball games (he coaches) because "It's Plymouth". For the second time, his team went down to the wire and pulled it out with less than 5 seconds to go. I swear, I'm not missing any more b-ball for "Plymouth".