SMITH

Saginaw (1-4-1-0) hosts the Rangers (5-2-1-0) Saturday at the Dow Event Center. It’s the middle game of a three-in-three for the Blueshirts that also sees the club travel to Sault Ste. Marie Friday and Flint on Sunday. It has been a tough go for the Spirit. The team has not made it past the second round of the playoffs in 15 years as a franchise.

This season, the youngsters are having trouble scoring but they do play a disciplined game and have solid goaltending in veteran Evan Cormier.

“I think I’ve matured as a coach and person and I’ve learned to understand that sometimes the effort is there and the execution may not be,” said Smith. “So far our guys have worked extremely hard and understand it’s going to be a process.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive things so far. If we can continue to build on that and get better maybe a couple of these one goal games go our way. We’ve had some really good signs of a bright future here and you hope it comes sooner than later.”

And after a brief break from the game, Smith is more than happy to be part of the turnaround.