The Stouffville Spirit had to feel pretty good about itself heading to the Christmas Break.
The Spirit (20-12-0-4) won both its games DUING the weekend before the holiday,
The Spirit is in fifth place in the Ontario Junior Hockey League East, four points out of third. (More on that later.)
Riley Pope scored with 2.2 seconds remaining in double overtime to lift the Spirit to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the St. Michael’s Buzzers in Toronto Dec. 20.
Two nights later in Pickering, the Spirit blanked the hometown Panthers 4-0. Rookie goaltender Masen Johnston recorded his first OJHL shutout. Another first-year player, Josh Bonnyman, scored two goals. Pope earned two assists.
The Spirit returns from the break visiting the Haliburton County Huskies Sunday, Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. It’s another proverbial ‘four-point game’ in the tightly-packed East standings, with the Huskies in that third-place spot.
The Spirit is then off for another nine days before hosting the same Huskies Jan. 9 at the Stouffville Arena. It’s a 3:30 matinee.
Fourth-place Wellington is in Stouffville Jan. 11.
STATS GUYS
Pope leads or co-leads the Spirit in points (42), goals (16) and assists (26). He’s in 13th place in the league points race.
Evans Breckles has also scored 16 goals.
Lachlan Wells is second in points with 37.
David Paglia, who leads the team in points by a defenceman (26), is in 12th spot league-wide.
Kyle Downey’s 16 wins are second highest in the 24-team league, His 2.57 goals-against average is 10th best. Downey has three shutouts.
UNIVERSITY GAMES
Three members of the Spirit have been selected to play in a new series pitting teams of 20-year-old, graduating players from the OJHL against Ontario University Athletics teams.
Captain David Paglia, Riley Pope and Lachlan Wells will represent the Spirit in a game against Toronto Metropolitan University at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto January 4 at 6:15 p.m. The game will be webcast on YouTube.
Another team of OJHLers will play the Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks at Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa on January 5 at 4 p.m.
TMU Head Coach Johnny Duco played for the Spirit in 2003-04.
MEDIA
All Spirit games are broadcast on 102.9FM whistlefm.ca radio and FloHockey TV.
https://www.flohockey.tv/leagues/10826657-ontario-junior-hockey-league-ojhl (subscription required).
Chris Mayberry will have the play-by-play from Haliburton County Sunday.
Spirit This Week is sponsored by Farmer Jack’s in Stouffville and Sharon.
