The Saginaw Spirit exploded for five unanswered goals in the third period en route to a crushing 7-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday in the Memorial Cup semifinals.
Host team of the competition, the Spirit therefore makes an appointment in the final with the other Ontario team, the London Knights, best team in the preliminary phase of the tournament.
Canadiens prospect Owen Beck, who is playing in a second consecutive Memorial Cup after 2023 with Peterborough, was among the scorers for Saginaw.
The game for Canadian Hockey League supremacy will be played Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Saginaw will try to become the first team to win in its first appearance since the Saint John Sea Dogs in 2011 and the eighth since 1972. The Spirit are also trying to be the third host team in six years to win in the last six tournaments, after Windsor (2017) and Saint John (2022).
Rodwin Dionicio scored one goal and assisted on three others, while Lincoln Moore and Sébastien Gervais both had a goal and two assists. Braden Haché and Owen Beck scored the other goals for the winners. Andrew Oke made 23 saves, with Jagger Firkus the only one to thwart him.
Jackson Unger stopped 30 shots in the loss.
Hay opened the scoring at 3:03 of the first and Lucas Brenton thought he had tied the game a little over a minute later, but a goaltender obstruction challenge was won by the Spirit. Firkus still brought both teams back to square one at 7:08.
The Spirit completely took control of the game in the second, scoring three goals in the first half of the period. The Spirit scored five times in the second period and didn’t look back after that.
