Menace Analyst - Mikayla Guarasci

Milton Menace Preview: Menace at Stouffville Spirit - February 23, 2023

The Milton Menace are back in action on Thursday when they head to Stouffville to take on the Spirit.

The Menace are looking to build on Sunday’s massive win in Collingwood. The Menace beat the conference-leading Blues 3-2, with goals from Thomas Gordon, Justin O’Donnell and Owen Kindree.

Jared Coccimiglio was an impactful player for the Menace in Collingwood, grabbing assists on all three goals. The forward has recorded points in each of the Menace’s last five games, with two goals and six assists for eight points since Feb. 8.

Every point matters for Milton as they continue to be in a race with Pickering for fourth place in the standings. They sit just one point back of the Panthers with five games remaining. The Menace’s regular season record sits at 29-17-1-2.

The Spirit come into this game off a 6-3 loss to Pickering on Monday. They have lost three of their last four games. They sit eighth in the North/West Conference with a regular season record of 17-26-1-6.

Thursday’s game is the final meeting between the teams this season. Three of the four games this season needed overtime to decide a winner. Milton leads the season series 3-1, winning the most recent game between these teams on Jan. 29. Aidan Hughes had the double-overtime game-winner in that meeting.

Milton has struggled on the power play over their last few games, going 0-6 in Collingwood on Sunday. They will go up against one of the top penalty kills in the league on Thursday in Stouffville. The Spirit’s penalty kill has operated at 88.1% this season. The Menace must be on their game to execute offence with the man advantage against a strong penalty kill unit.

Puck drop will come at 7:30 on Thursday from Stouffville Arena. The game will be available on Hockey TV for viewing.