GDT Saginaw @ London - 1.12.24

[donjohnson]

Big one tonight...London toasted us the last time we were in their building. Obviously a new-look Spirit team coming off a big win over the Spitfires who aren't the best this year. Guessing we'll be without two big faceoff guys in Hay (suspension) and Sapo. I've heard nothing and I'm assuming he'll sit out the rest of this weekend but maybe he's fine.

Here's what I would LOVE to see tonight...our Top 4 defensemen (Parekh, Dionocio, Donovan and Hache) show what they'll need to do in the playoffs and just be a veteran, shut-down crew. It's so exciting the way they jump in the play but to win in the playoffs, we're going to need to play some shut-down as well and I'd love to see an example of that tonight. Physical play, blocked shots, winning 50/50 pucks in corners, smart passes in our zone. We have PLENTY of offense up front and I'd love to see the dmen play a little conservatively tonight and show the London's that we can play any game out there.

That said, I'm guessing the first shift we'll see a dman deep and it will lead to a 2on1 coming back the other way

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Unfortunately donjohnson your last sentence is closer to the truth.

[aj0512]

Sapovaliv is scratched tonight.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Jan 12, 2024 17:06:14 GMT -5 aj0512 said:

Sapovaliv is scratched tonight.

Guo, Forgione, and Hay (suspension) as well.

[donjohnson]

Still trying to figure out how boulton hits parekh high and then drops the gloves before Gervais and London ends up with a 2min power play

[MidlandSpiritFan]

What a disaster tonight!

[IGive1]

Let’s be honest, they got run out of that building for the second time in a row. . I suggested at the trade deadline they needed to upgrade their physicality, sandpaper and goaltending. I was told I was wrong. Hopefully some other team can knock London out before they face the Spirit bcz they do not match up well at all. London built that team to play like that in the playoffs

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Jan 13, 2024 8:26:31 GMT -5 IGive1 said:

Let’s be honest, they got run out of that building for the second time in a row. . I suggested at the trade deadline they needed to upgrade their physicality, sandpaper and goaltending. I was told I was wrong. Hopefully some other team can knock London out before they face the Spirit bcz they do not match up well at all. London built that team to play like that in the playoffs

To a slightly lesser degree, Oshawa did the same thing to them.

[eric8199]

Jan 13, 2024 8:26:31 GMT -5 IGive1 said:

Let’s be honest, they got run out of that building for the second time in a row. . I suggested at the trade deadline they needed to upgrade their physicality, sandpaper and goaltending. I was told I was wrong. Hopefully some other team can knock London out before they face the Spirit bcz they do not match up well at all. London built that team to play like that in the playoffs

OK. Let's look at goaltending, shall we? Andrew Oke is currently 7th in the OHL. So you want to upgrade the 7th goaltender in the league. Who do we have to choose from?

#1. Michael Simpson, London. London is our biggest challenge this year. They are going for a title, and they're our rival, they're not trading their goaltender, and if they did, they wouldn't trade him to us.

#2. Brayden Gillespie, Guelph. They're one spot behind us in the standings. They're not trading him.

#3. Jackson Parsons, Kitchener. Kitchner is going for it. They're not trading him.

#4. Jacob Oster, Oshawa. We saw him the other night. He stole that game. He's not going anywhere.

#5. Charlie Schenkel, SSM. No team in the league dislikes Saginaw more than the Soo right now. They're not trading with us, and Schenkel isn't going anywhere.

#6. Carter George, Owen Sound. He's played 32 games this season for Guelph, who is also in the running. Probably our best chance, but he's not going anywhere. He also has the same goals against as Oke and nearly the same save percentage. What are you giving up for a lateral move?

#7. Oke, Saginaw. He's not good enough for you.

#8. Ryerson Leenders, Mississauga. They're third in the east. They're not trading their goalie.

#9. Ben Gaudreau, Erie. Was already traded from Sarnia. Would have loved to get him to be honest, but we didn't. He's also an OA, so which OA are you giving up for him?

#10. Nolan Lalonde, Saginaw. Apparently he's also not good enough.

I think we need to put the goaltending thing to rest, once and for all. Even if goaltending was a problem (it's not), you think you're going to find a backup somewhere who is better than the two we have? Good luck.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

Eric, good analysis. I would add Dom DeVincentis from North Bay to your list. North Bay brought in players to take another kick at the can so he wasn’t going to be traded either.

Were your rankings based on goals against average or save percentage? Just curious.

[IGive1]

Jan 13, 2024 11:05:56 GMT -5 eric8199 said:

Jan 13, 2024 8:26:31 GMT -5 IGive1 said:

Let’s be honest, they got run out of that building for the second time in a row. . I suggested at the trade deadline they needed to upgrade their physicality, sandpaper and goaltending. I was told I was wrong. Hopefully some other team can knock London out before they face the Spirit bcz they do not match up well at all. London built that team to play like that in the playoffs

OK. Let's look at goaltending, shall we? Andrew Oke is currently 7th in the OHL. So you want to upgrade the 7th goaltender in the league. Who do we have to choose from?

#1. Michael Simpson, London. London is our biggest challenge this year. They are going for a title, and they're our rival, they're not trading their goaltender, and if they did, they wouldn't trade him to us.

#2. Brayden Gillespie, Guelph. They're one spot behind us in the standings. They're not trading him.

#3. Jackson Parsons, Kitchener. Kitchner is going for it. They're not trading him.

#4. Jacob Oster, Oshawa. We saw him the other night. He stole that game. He's not going anywhere.

#5. Charlie Schenkel, SSM. No team in the league dislikes Saginaw more than the Soo right now. They're not trading with us, and Schenkel isn't going anywhere.

#6. Carter George, Owen Sound. He's played 32 games this season for Guelph, who is also in the running. Probably our best chance, but he's not going anywhere. He also has the same goals against as Oke and nearly the same save percentage. What are you giving up for a lateral move?

#7. Oke, Saginaw. He's not good enough for you.

#8. Ryerson Leenders, Mississauga. They're third in the east. They're not trading their goalie.

#9. Ben Gaudreau, Erie. Was already traded from Sarnia. Would have loved to get him to be honest, but we didn't. He's also an OA, so which OA are you giving up for him?

#10. Nolan Lalonde, Saginaw. Apparently he's also not good enough.

I think we need to put the goaltending thing to rest, once and for all. Even if goaltending was a problem (it's not), you think you're going to find a backup somewhere who is better than the two we have? Good luck.

Oke and either of:
Day Flint
Surzycia Sarnia

[swoopster]

The Spirit are built by design, an offence based team that feels that physical play and defence take a back seat. As donjohnson stated "five up and 2 on 1 coming back". I watched the replay of Cowen ferris wheeling in our zone to score a goal and nobody touched him.

We needed to pick up a DEFENSIVE defenceman and we didn't.

Eric is 100% correct... It is not the goalies but a team that wants nothing other than soft play and marginal defense as it's gameplan.

[donjohnson]

Team played very well last night against Guelph despite missing 5 regulars.

Watching the other team tease Zayne and Dionocio into penalties is going to get old the 2nd half of the season.

I would take a straight up Punnett for Christopoulus trade right now... I don't understand how he scored 50 goals last year...Lazary needs to figure out how to use him in our offense.

We definitely got tougher with the trades but we needed that one more big defenseman like a Punnett who was available for not a lot of cost... Could have traded Christo to the Eastern conference, gained some picks and then brought in a tough guy.

Love the way Beck plays... That one timer is a cannon and he's not afraid to play physically... He and Bloom together on the penalty kill is lethal. Reminds me of when we added Tippett but I think Beck seems a bit better

[aj0512]

Jan 14, 2024 10:19:44 GMT -5 donjohnson said:

I would take a straight up Punnett for Christopoulus trade right now... I don't understand how he scored 50 goals last year...Lazary needs to figure out how to use him in our offense.

A friend and I had this exact same thought last night. When we first acquired Christopoulus I thought he would really excel in Lazary's system, but the production been quite sporadic. He's essentially just taken the spot vacated by Dean Loukus on the third line now. I was really hoping Punnett would have found his way back here because I think he's exactly what we really needed in my opinion. But it is what it is.

Owen Beck is showing why he was the big fish at the deadline this year. Really enjoy watching him play and glad to have him in a Spirit uniform.

Otherwise, I was quite pleased with how we bounced back last night after the London debacle. Especially only dressing 11 forwards and 5 d-men. Guelph is a pretty solid club and it could have been a lot worse than 5-2. A good character win which hopefully helps the team gel as we get ready for the far East road trip next weekend.

[swoopster]

I compare beck to Ryan McLeod. Plays at 100% net to net. And we were warned by those on the Spits website that Christo was marginal.