The Saginaw Spirit skated to a fourth-straight win on Saturday, and Chris Lazary became the winningest coach in the club’s 21-year history.
Sebastien Gervais’ third period goal stood-up as the game winner as the Spirit edged the Sudbury Wolves 4-3, improving to 20-9-0-1 through 30 games heading into the December break. The win was the 155th of Lazary’s OHL head coaching career, all wins he’s collected with Saginaw since he took over as the club’s head coach in 2018-19. He surpasses the prior mark held by Todd Watson, who coached the Spirit from 2007 to midway through the 2011-12 season.
The 41-year-old Lazary has been in the OHL since 2014 when he started as an assistant coach with the Sarnia Sting. He’s been with the Spirit organization since the beginning of 2016-17, joining as an associate coach alongside Spencer Carbery, who now coaches the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
Throughout his time as head coach in Saginaw, Lazary has contributed to the development of such names as Cole Perfetti (Winnipeg Jets), Owen Tippett (Philadelphia Flyers), Ryan McLeod (Edmonton Oilers) and Ilya Solovyov (Calgary Flames). The Spirit reached the Western Conference Championship Series under his guidance in 2019, and skated to consecutive West Division titles in 2019 and 2020. Lazary and the Spirit are on a mission for Memorial Cup glory in 2024, serving as hosts of the CHL’s annual national championship next spring.
https://twitter.com/SpiritHockey/status/1736242335078318082?s=20
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