Spirit soars past the Soo
Goalie Ivan Prosvetov stood tall — all 6-foot-5 of him — and Saginaw Spirit blanked the Soo Greyhounds 5-0 tonight to advance to the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference championship series for the first time in franchise history.
The win by Saginaw — complete with 34 saves by the rookie Prosvetov — gave the Spirit the best-of-seven, Western Conference semi-final series four games to two.
In taking the series, Saginaw won two of three road games in the Soo, including tonight’s clincher.
Sault Ste. Marie products Nick Porco and Camaryn Baber combined for tonight’s game winner for Saginaw.
Porco converted a perfect pass from Baber to give Saginaw a 1-0 lead and the Spirit never trailed in the Game 6 victory.
Saginaw will meet the winner of the London Knights-Guelph Storm series for the Western Conference crown. That series is tied 3-3 with the seventh-and-deciding game slated for London on Tuesday night.
The Spirit came into being in 2002 after the North Bay Centennials were sold and relocated to Saginaw by owner Dick Garber. Garber remains a majority owner of the Spirit to this day.
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Pretty tough to watch Northern Ontario talent send the hometown team packing for the year. It was meant to be for Saginaw, they loaded up at the deadline to compete for a championship.
Sure, Michigan is a hockey hotbed but what does it say that an American-based team and a division rival sees more potential in Soo and Northern-bred talent than a Northern Ontario-based team? The Greyhounds management and coaching staff did a wonderful job this year but is there a bias in the organization against local talent and Northern leagues? Who’s scouting the Soo for the Soo?