Ice Hockey team

Saginaw Spirit

Club · United States · OHL

«The Spirit»

410 Matches

206 wins

204 losses

1579–1597 Goals

−18 Difference

3.9 Scored per game

Form W L L W W W

Wendler Arena sits inside the Dow Event Center in downtown Saginaw, and for a franchise that has never lifted the OHL's own championship, the building has still hosted the biggest night in its history: 5,527 seats' worth of home ice was enough to put Saginaw in the hosting rotation when the Spirit reached the 2024 Memorial Cup, and they won it, beating the London Knights 4–3 in the final without ever having played in the tournament before.

The franchise itself arrived by way of North Bay, Ontario, where owner Dick Garber bought the Centennials and moved them to Michigan for the 2002–03 season. It has since built its identity less on OHL silverware — the club has never reached the league final — than on the players who passed through on their way to the NHL. Michael Misa left as the franchise's all-time leading scorer; Vincent Trocheck, T.J. Brodie and Filip Hronek all wore the jersey before establishing themselves in the pros.

Flint, less than 30 miles down the road, is the nearest rival, and the two sides play for the Coors Light I-75 Divide Cup, a fixture that traces back to when the Saginaw Gears and Flint Generals faced off in the International Hockey League. The Spirit have twice reached the Western Conference Final without going further, falling to the Guelph Storm in 2018–19 and to the same London side that would later meet them in the Memorial Cup final, in 2023–24.

2024 remains the club's only Memorial Cup.

Latest results

Fixtures and results

12 Oct	OHL	Windsor Spitfires A	3:2	W
11 Oct	OHL	Kitchener Rangers H	4:2	W
3 Oct	OHL	Mississauga Steelheads A	3:2	W
3 Oct	OHL	Kitchener Rangers A	3:4	L
27 Sep	OHL	Windsor Spitfires H	3:6	L
26 Sep	OHL	Niagara IceDogs H	5:3	W