OHL Roundup: Spitfires remain in Western Conference playoff race
Saturday, March 02, 2013 by: Brad Coccimiglio
With seven playoff spots clinched in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference clinched, it’s down to the Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires for the final seed.
With both teams in action on Saturday, the Spirit entered action with a nine-point edge on the Spitfires. The Spitfires managed to gain a point on the Spirit after an overtime loss on Saturday. The Spirit fell in regulation time to the Sarnia Sting.
In Erie, Spencer Abraham scored 31 seconds into overtime to give the Erie Otters a 5-4 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Abraham finished the night with two goals and an assist in the win. Dane Fox also had two goals and an assist in the win. J.P. Labardo had two assists for the Otters. Connor Crisp also scored in the win. Alexander Khokhlachev scored a pair of goals for Windsor. Ben Johnson and Nick Ebert added two assists each. Ryan Verbeek and Josh Ho-Sang also scored in the loss.
In Saginaw, Reid Boucher scored three times to increase his league-leading goal total to 60 as the Sarnia Sting beat the Saginaw Spirit 8-7. Charles Sarault set up a pair of goals for the Sting, which gives him 102 points and a four-point lead over Soo Greyhounds forward Nick Cousins in the OHL scoring race. Craig Duininck had a goal and an assist for the Sting in the win. Tyler Hore, Anthony DeAngelo, Bryan Moore and Nickolas Latta also had two assists each in the win. Mike DiPaolo, Daniel Nikandrov, Nikolay Goldobin and Alex Carnevale also scored for Sarnia. Jimmy Lodge had a pair of goals for the Spirit in the loss. Garret Ross, Zach Bratina and Gregg Sutch added a goal and an assist each for Saginaw. Brandon Lindberg and Terry Trafford also scored in the loss.
In Belleville, Brett Ritchie had two goals and an assist as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Belleville Bulls 5-4 in overtime. Carter Verhaeghe also scored a pair of goals for the IceDogs in the win, which included the overtime winner. Steven Shipley had a goal and an assist in the win. Ryan Strome chipped in with two assists. Carter Sandlak had a goal and two assists for the Bulls. Austen Brassard had a goal and an assist in the loss. Aaron Berisha and Alan Quine also scored for Belleville.
In Owen Sound, Cody Ceci had two goals and two assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Mississauga Steelheads 6-1. Artur Gavrus added two goals and an assist in the win for Owen Sound. Daniel Milne had a goal and an assist in the win while Chris Bigras chipped in with two assists. Gemel Smith also scored for Owen Sound. Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 28 shots. Lucas Venuto had the lone goal for Mississauga in the loss.
