Kingston's young trio carries Frontenacs to big win over Spirit

Snyder, Kulemin, Kuzma combined for 9 points while Betts stopped 29 shots.

A pair of 16-year-olds provided the offensive spark for the Kingston Frontenacs.

Nolan Snyder and Aleks Kulemin led the way in a 8-2 victory over the visiting Saginaw Spirit Friday night. 

Snyder had two goals on the night. The first one was a wrist shot after taking a pass from Robin Kuzma at the 7:13 mark of the first period, the second goal came at 13:23 on a deflection from a wrist shot by Nolan Turnbull who was playing in his first-career OHL game.

Snyder says the recent offensive output is giving new life to the team.

The line of Snyder, Kulemin, and Kuzma combined for nine points in the game.

Goaltender Gavin Betts was sharp in net early when the game was still close. One of the 29 saves he made was in the first period when he stopped a backhander by Brody Pepoy with his stick while lying flat on his stomach.

Betts was making his first start since leaving last Friday's game against the Steelheads with back spasms. He says his success the last couple of weeks has been attributed to being more focused on his game.

Head coach Troy Mann says despite the team's offensive output, Betts has been his best player in the last few games.

The Frontenacs pulled away in the second period with five unanswered goals capped off by Kulemin's 8th goal of the season. Kuzma, Matthew Frost, Kieren Dervin, Jack Dever, and Landon Wright also scored for Kingston (20-21-2-2).

Nikita Kleptov and Bode Stewart replied for the Spirit (17-21-3-4) while Kaleb Papineau stopped 18 shots.

The win by the Frontenacs is their 7th straight at home.

The Frontenacs won despite missing two of their top defensemen: Maleek McGowan (flu) and Will Bishop (suspension). 

Mann expects Bishop back on Sunday in Oshawa while McGowan is still day-to-day. Forward Nolan Buttar was also out with an injury.

Both teams were 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

The next game for the Frontenacs is Sunday night against the Generals in Oshawa. Game time is 6:05 pm and you can listen to Jim Gilchrist on the call with Upper Canada Fuel and Burner Frontenacs Hockey on Kingston's New Country 98.9.

Story by Ken Hashizume