Guelph Storm blanked by Saginaw Spirit

SAGINAW – The Guelph Storm yielded four goals in the third period as they were blanked 6-0 by the Saginaw Spirit in Ontario Hockey League play Saturday at the Dow Event Center.

Saginaw scored a single goal in the first period and added another one in the second.

The Spirit’s four third-period goals came in the first eight and a half minutes of the period.

Josh Bloom had a pair of goals for Saginaw while single goals were netted by Will Bishop, Michael Misa, Hunter Haight and Alex Christopoulos. Misa collected two assists while single assists were given to Rodwin Dionicio, Calem Mangone, Owen Beck and Zayne Parekh.

The Spirit outshot the Storm 34-22 and went 1-for-5 on their power play while Guelph was scoreless on five power plays.

Andrew Oke recorded the shutout for Saginaw with 22 saves while Damian Slavik had 28 saves for the Storm.

Saginaw is at 46-15-1-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and is tied for first in the Western Conference with the London Knights (45-14-1-3) with 94 points apiece while the Storm (28-27-5-1), Owen Sound Attack (27-27-5-3) and Erie Otters (28-27-5-1) are tied with 62 points apiece and are two points ahead of the eighth-place Flint Firebirds (28-30-3-1). Soo Greyhounds (42-16-3-1) are third in the conference and Kitchener Rangers (40-21-2-0) are fourth. Top four have clinched berths in the playoffs.

On the outside of the playoffs are the Sarnia Sting (23-34-3-1) and Windsor Spitfires (18-36-5-3). Windsor has been eliminated from the playoff race.

The Storm have seven games remaining on their regular-season schedule. They’re to play the Spitfires at Windsor’s WFCU Centre Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

• Guelph Sports Journal