Foundations key for short-staffed teams in OHL exhibition play

With both teams playing minus important players due to NHL training camps and injuries, the focus was less on the final result and more process oriented.

Special teams helped the Saginaw Spirit to a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League pre-season victory over the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Spirit scored once on the power play and added a pair of shorthanded markers in the win.

Both teams played the game three players short of a full lineup.

The game was one in which Greyhounds coach John Dean was looking for a foundation from young players getting some OHL experience.

“We want to establish a foundation of good habits,” Dean said. “Our floor needs to be a decently good standard. That’s winning 50/50 battles, tracking, get above the puck. These things are a foundation for a hockey team before you can get into the fun stuff and some of the more structural points.”

Dean said he felt the Greyhounds got that “sporadically.”

“(Saginaw) capitalized when we didn’t have it,” Dean added.

Dean also said that structural mistakes in a game like Wednesday’s “I’m actually not as upset about because it’s going to take time.”

“It’s our first time in a game-like situation where you’re practicing a lot of information that’s been given to them over the last two weeks,” Dean also said. “It’s the foundational mistakes, the identity mistakes, those are the ones that we can’t let slide.”

For Saginaw coach Chris Lazary, the goal in Wednesday’s contest was similar to that of the Greyhounds in a sense.

“Our goal is just getting into our identity and trying to execute the things that we want to work on,” Lazary said. “We’ve got a lot of new guys that haven’t played in the league or a lot of guys that haven’t played a lot of minutes. (It’s) finding the Saginaw Spirit way.”

Lazary added that the hope is “for progress.”

“There’s some stuff we’ve still got to work on. The last 40 (minutes) was good,” Lazary added. “We open up a week today (and) we want to make sure we’re the best version of ourselves. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The Spirit coach added that there were positives from the young players that got into the lineup for Saginaw.

“(Jacob) Cloutier was good, proving that he could maybe be a top-six or a top-nine guy,” Lazary said. “Carson Harmer, for his fourth game, is starting the learn the centre position and the intricacies that we play with at this level.”

Lazary also said there were positives from defencemen Kaden Sienko and Josh Glavin as well.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Erik Muxlow banged in a rebound in tight past Saginaw netminder Andrew Oke after getting stopped initially. The puck got to Muxlow in close after Oke made a save on a Brady Smith shot from the high slot.

Michael Misa tied the game for Saginaw late in the opening period as he beat Greyhounds goaltender Reid Thomas with a shot from the left circle glove side. The goal came 29 seconds into a two-man advantage for the Spirit.

The Greyhounds retook the lead 2:55 into the second period as Carson Andrew beat Spirit goaltender Sammy DiBlasi on a wraparound to the stick side

Saginaw tied the game at two just under two minutes later as Kristian Epperson beat Thomas on a one-timer after a pass from Misa.

Saginaw took the lead just under six minutes into the second period as Jacob Cloutier beat Thomas with a shot from the left side on a shorthanded 2-on-1.

Saginaw took a 4-2 lead at 7:56 as Misa took a cross-ice pass in the left circle from Calem Mangone and beat Thomas high glove side.

The Greyhounds made it a one-goal game 1:58 into the third period after Sam Bowness beat DiBlasi high glove side from the high slot after a Spencer Evans shot went wide and rebounded off the end boards and back into the slot.

With 9:50 to go in the third, Nic Sima restored Saginaw’s two goal lead as he redirected a pass from Misa past Thomas to make it a 5-3 game.

Sima extended the lead to 6-3 as he converted a pass from Liam Storch on a 2-on-1.

Thomas made 30 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.

Misa paced the Spirit offensively with two goals and two assists in the victory while Epperson had a goal and a pair of helpers.

In addition to the two-goal night for Sima, defenceman James Guo also had a two-point game with a pair of assists.

Oke saw action in one period for the Spirit after getting the start in goal. The overage netminder stopped seven of the eight shots he faced. DiBlasi stopped 16 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Greyhounds wrap up pre-season play with a pair of games this weekend, facing Sudbury on Friday night before meeting Saginaw on Sunday, both on the road.

With seven players out of the lineup while attending NHL camps, Dean said there is potential that the team could have some return for Sunday, but it wasn’t a guarantee.

Defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker missed Wednesday’s contest due to a lower-body injury suffered in the Sault’s exhibition opener against Sudbury on Sept. 1.

Dean said the blueliner’s injury was a potential six to eight week return from the time of the injury. Dean added that the recovery process was moving along well for McConnell-Barker, but he was “probably in the four to six range now.”

Veteran forward Marco Mignosa also was out of the lineup Wednesday due to illness, but Dean said a return for this weekend was possible.