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Post by ricardo on Dec 26, 2023 21:03:41 GMT -5
Now that Christmas is over, we can look ahead to the second half of the season. The Spirit won 16 out of 18 before Christmas so the question would be can they keep it up? They'll be shorthanded for a bit without Sapovaliv and Dionicio, so they'll have to overcome that. Currently they're six points behind the Soo with three games in hand for first place in the division and nine behind Kitchener for first place in the conference with four games in hand.
One thing to look ahead at is the schedule in March where the Spirit only have three home games but have eight road games. By comparison they have six home/seven road games in January and seven home/four road in February. They need to take full advantage of all the home games in January and February.
On top of all of that, there's the trade deadline in a couple of weeks.
I think it's going to be lots of fun over the next few months and then into the playoffs.
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Post by donjohnson on Dec 27, 2023 10:59:50 GMT -5
Will be interesting to see how teams change at the deadline but many of those March road games are against good teams. Should be a good predictor of how the playoffs will go if we can make it through that month unscathed.
I read on hfboards that the trade freeze ends today at Noon (except for players in World Juniors) so it will be interesting to see if any moves were queued up over break and get announced early today.
There's also a lot of talk on hfboards that Owen Beck would not be a good fit for us because we're already strong at the Center position. After watching his highlights from last year, I couldn't disagree more...he's that strong on the puck guy that I think we really need and we could move Haight to a wing if we end up getting him.
It will be a really interesting trade deadline...everyone knows the Spirit are adding but are others going to add or are they going to try to grab picks and young players and go for it in the next year or two. I like where we are positioned and like ricardo said, we've won 16/18 with the only losses being a Soo game we should have won and a London game that we just weren't going to win. I think that our current team is as good as anyone in the league and if we can add a couple pieces, I think we have the potential to be the odds-on favorite to win the league outright which would be so awesome!
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Post by aj0512 on Dec 27, 2023 13:35:48 GMT -5
Yes, the holiday trade freeze for non-WJC players is over and the deadline is two weeks from today. My prediction is Owen Beck ends up here or in Sudbury. A reunion in Mississauga could also be interesting, but I feel like next year is the Steelheads' time to go for it. This might be one of the most interesting trade deadlines in recent memory since there are so many teams out there who could be buyers. Whatever the prices are, I'm sure Saginaw will be paying a premium as the MC hosts.
Big weekend coming up. At the risk of sounding like I'm already making excuses, I'm not a fan of how our schedule is set up. A home game Saturday night, and then a 4-hour bus ride up to the Soo for a Sunday afternoon game. Meanwhile, the Soo gets a home game on Saturday. Going to be tough to go up there and get two points.
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Post by donjohnson on Dec 28, 2023 10:18:36 GMT -5
For those hoping to see the new ribbon-board tonight, Goslin just posted on his facebook that they had parts issues and it's not ready to go. From the video he posted, it looks like just about everything is up there but he said power, trim, "magnetic faces" (not sure what that means) and some other things still need to be completed. Hopefully they get the parts in and it will be ready to see on the 6th against the Petes.
The other thing hidden in his post was that both corner scoreboards are now gone and they will put a static scoreboard above the zamboni alley. I had asked someone about this previously and they thought they would keep the corner scoreboards for when they have non-spirit games there that don't use the main video board. I'll have to get used to a new way to look at the score...I wonder how they'll use the video ring for any score/stats or if it will just be advertisements (I probably know the answer to that question)
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Post by aj0512 on Dec 29, 2023 9:41:02 GMT -5
Another game against the Hounds where it felt like we probably should have scored 4 or 5 times in the first period, but nothing to show for it. But in the 2nd and 3rd periods we were sloppy and had too many defensive breakdowns. IMO, the Sunday game at the Soo is a must-win.
The new scoreboard setup is gonna take some getting used to. I looked up at the corners so many times last night, lol. Putting one of them above the zamboni alley works well enough, I guess. I wonder what they did with the other board. I hope they put some stats/time on the ribbon boards, but I'm guessing it will just be all advertisements.
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Post by kingpin794 on Dec 29, 2023 10:34:40 GMT -5
These games are whatever. Yeah not great to lose ground on the Soo but we effectively don’t have 4/5 key players that are going to be here in the playoffs onward. (Yes I know same goes for the Soo). Point is, this isn’t a game to gauge where teams are at. Lines are weird. Chemistry is weird. Get what we can before the deadline. Then hunker down. Let Soo fans celebrate a regular season win in Dec.
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Post by eric8199 on Dec 29, 2023 20:15:33 GMT -5
Another game against the Hounds where it felt like we probably should have scored 4 or 5 times in the first period, but nothing to show for it. But in the 2nd and 3rd periods we were sloppy and had too many defensive breakdowns. IMO, the Sunday game at the Soo is a must-win. The new scoreboard setup is gonna take some getting used to. I looked up at the corners so many times last night, lol. Putting one of them above the zamboni alley works well enough, I guess. I wonder what they did with the other board. I hope they put some stats/time on the ribbon boards, but I'm guessing it will just be all advertisements. I’ve heard there will be stats and possible an out of town scoreboard on the ends but not sure how reliable that is. I think the ribbons will make the arena look a lot more modern, and my understanding is the kids think they’re great. The Flint players really liked the, being added. |
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Post by MidlandSpiritFan on Dec 30, 2023 14:41:23 GMT -5
Saginaw currently has 17 home games (including tonight) and 20 road games (including tomorrow) remaining in the regular season.
December - 1 home, 1 road
January - 6 home, 7 road
February - 7 home, 4 road
March - 3 home, 8 road
1 home, 2 road, 2 home, 2 road, 1 home, 4 road, 7 home, 4 road, 3 home, 4 road, 2 home, 3 road, 1 home, 1 road
It is imperative that Saginaw protects home ice in January and February.
Anyone know if 7 straight home games is the most ever?
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Post by kingpin794 on Dec 31, 2023 18:52:46 GMT -5
Week could have gone south fast. Loss on Thursday and we were 8 back. Pull out a win on Saturday. Sudbury does us a solid. Then win in the Soo in under 24 hours. Back down to 4 pts with 3 games in hand instead. Very good week. First of the year is when deals start happening.
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Post by MidlandSpiritFan on Jan 4, 2024 23:01:30 GMT -5
Great 3-2 road win at Kitchener tonight. Wasn’t looking good when the Spirit fell behind 2-0 in the 1st period. Great bounce back in periods 2 and 3 to get the win. Special teams the difference as Saginaw went 2 for 6 on the power play and 3 for 3 on the penalty kill including killing a 6 on 4 the last 2 minutes when Kitchener pulled the goaltender. Saginaw outshot the Rangers 33 to 13. At one point in the 1st period Kitchener had 2 goals on only 3 shots.
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Post by donjohnson on Jan 5, 2024 9:14:18 GMT -5
Great 3-2 road win at Kitchener tonight. Wasn’t looking good when the Spirit fell behind 2-0 in the 1st period. Great bounce back in periods 2 and 3 to get the win. Special teams the difference as Saginaw went 2 for 6 on the power play and 3 for 3 on the penalty kill including killing a 6 on 4 the last 2 minutes when Kitchener pulled the goaltender. Saginaw outshot the Rangers 33 to 13. At one point in the 1st period Kitchener had 2 goals on only 3 shots. 2 disallowed goals last night, one very early in the game. I didn't see many replays of that one but the second one (by Sima) seemed pretty obvious and when they showed the after-goal celebration, he looked a little guilty of kicking. Spirit took advantage of a late 5min major penalty (slew-foot) which to the credit of the Kitchener announcers, they said it was a legit call vs. being homers like the Soo or old Flint announcers. |
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Post by Bthumme on Jan 6, 2024 19:51:11 GMT -5
Wasn’t sure what to expect with Bloom coming back, but he looks fantastic, and a clear cut step above most - at least after 1 period so far.
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Post by spiritfan8 on Jan 7, 2024 21:54:46 GMT -5
I was very impressed with the Kitchener announcers. You’re always going to get some homerism, but they did a great job of PBP and analysis and kept it on a even keel.
Agree re:Bloom. He probably should have 4 or 5 points by now.
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