PR - Spirit

Guelph Spirit a Mystery of the East

The Guelph Spirit wrapped up the first half of their season in a rare way - by winning back to back games. "This season has really been a mystery," stated GM Warren Goodlet. "On paper, we look great, but we just haven't had the wins."

The GM may have a point. The Spirit currently sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one point out of the final playoffspot, currently occupied by the Pontiacs. (This writer would like to point out that, after years of griping, the East is stronger than the West right now - the Spirit would be in a playoff position if they were a Western Conference team.) While not out of the running by a long shot, the stats would seem to indicate that the Spirit should be much higher.

In looking at the important team stats, the Spirit rank:

9th in powerplay (14.5%)

13th in penalty kill (86.2%)

11th in GF/G (3.26)

10th in GA/G (3.13)

14th in SF/G (26.6)

4th in SA/G (25.5)

Now, other than shots against, none of these are incredible numbers. But they don't look like the stats of team that is worse than at least 16 other teams in the league. The only statistical black spot on the Spirit is PIM/game, where they currently sit at 7th highest, at 21.4 PIM/game. However, as the GM is quick to point out, "A lot of those come from fighting majors that don't put us short-handed. I've lost track of the number of times we've had to defend ourselves, but we don't seem to take a lot of minor penalties."

So what is it that plagues the Spirit? What can be done to turn them around? Will Goodlet pull of a major deal to shake up the team?

"I'll be frank. I like our team. I wouldn't turn down a good deal, particularly if it would translate a couple of our solid role players up front into one more bona fida scorer, but overall I'm pleased with the team's makeup. I think we need two things: 1) some more time - we made several big changes this year, bringing in two new goalies (Tommy Salo and Marty Turco), Boyd (Gordon) and Aaron (Rome). I think as they learn the system, they'll continue to improve. 2) We need our players healthy. So far this year, there's been an unprecedented amount of injuries to the club: Steen, Vanek, Gordon and Salo have all missed time."

"But more damaging has been the blows to the defensive corps: Miko Kaltva, Dion Phaneuf, Aaron Rome, Nathan Guenin and Nolan Yonkman have all missed time with injuries. That's five of our seven guys who have been out. It's tough on the players who are still in there, because they've been forced back into action a little sooner than we'd like, and it's tough on our goalies, who have to get used to new defensive pairings on a regular basis. Hopefully the second half will leave us a lot healthier."

The Spirit may also have something else going for them. Following a series of disappointing games, the Spirit mixed up their lines, promoting youngster Alex Steen to the top line. He has responded in an incredible way, with a four goal performance, including the game-winning overtime marker in a 6-5 win over the Misconduct, and then a hat-trick (plus an assist) the following night in a 6-3 win over the Saints. If the Spirit have truly found their #1 center, the team could put together quite a run in the 2nd half.

"We're not out of this by a long-shot," states Goodlet. "Plus, our farm team is tearing up the league - heck, I'm even leading the farm league in scoring myself! Look out for us in the second half."