Friday Night Spitfire Update

Last night I went back to the WFCU Center to watch another Windsor Spitfire game as a media member. This time I was even able to get a couple of interviews which will be integrated throughout the post. They played the Plymouth Whalers who are the 2nd highest point team in the league behind the London Knightss and were expected to dominate the 7th place Spits. However, Windsor carried the play most of the game and finished the game out shooting Plymouth 41-24. But the many shots did not lead to many goals and Plymouth won the game 4-3. Here is a period by period break down of the game.

To start the game, Ryan Ellis the most decorated defenceman in Spitfire history, surprised everyone and returned to drop the ceremonial first puck. His appearance brought the crowd to their feet and his presence gave some life to the Spits. Windsor got an early scoring chance but they couldn't keep the pressure once Stephan Alonge got into a fight with the Whaler's J.T. Miller. Miller won and it gave Plymouth life as they began to carry the play. The Plymouth pressure was too much for even themselves and Matt Mistele ran John Cullen for a goaltender interference penalty. This would be the first of 8 minor penalties for Plymouth. Still, this powerplay doesn't go over well for Windsor and Stefan Noesen scores a shorthanded goal. The assists went to Rickard Rakell and Austin Levi. Shortly after the penalty ends though Windsor gets back with a goal from Jordan Maletta. Brandon Devlin sent Maletta behind the defence and he made a nice backhand move to score. The other assist went to the Adam Bateman. It was then time for rookie forward Ty Bilcke to continue adding to his penalty minute lead when he dropped the gloves with Jamie Devane. Devane is known for causing problems when his team plays Windsor and he really hammered Bilcke. Bilcke now has 197 penalty minutes in 50 games.  Windsor continued to carry the play and after Saverio Posa on the Spits and Garrett Meurs on Plymouth both get penalties creating a 4 on 4. This 4 on 4 was again dominated by the Spits and Nick Ebert was able to walk into the shot and fire home his 4th goal of the year. Ben Johnson and Brady Vail got the assists and the Spits led 2-1. After the game Ebert described the goal with "I just rifled it on net there and got pretty lucky". With 1:30 to go in the period Maletta crushes Danny Vanderwiel from behind and gets a 4 minute penalty. The Plymouth period was not much better than Windsor's had been and the period ended with Beau Schmitz getting a hooking penalty ending the powerplay. The period shots were 19-7 for Windsor but the play was more balanced than that stat appears.

Plymouth soent most of the second period shorthanded. It started 4 on 4 but once those penalties were done it was a march to the box for the Whalers. First Michael Whaley for slashing, then Miller for hooking followed by Noesen for boarding. But the only goal goes to Vanderwiel, who returned from being hit by Maletta and scored after Cullen missed a poke check. The assists on the 2-2 goal went to Schmitz and Noesen. Nick Ebert and Brandon Devlin on defence watched Vanderwiel skate past them for the goal; not their best shift. This goal led to the game's third fight, Alonge again this time against Nick Malaysa. Alonge gets his jersey pulled over his head and doesn't get many shots in. As play continued, Nick Czinder for Windsor gets a break all alone but cannot score. It has been that way for him the last few games. For the second time in the period, Whaley gets a penalty for slashing and although Devlin gets a good chance, this powerplay doesn't last. Alexander Khokhlachev interfered with goaltender Matt Mahalak which draws a penalty. While playing 4 on 4 again, Plymouth some how gets a 4 on 1 rush but the pass hops over Miller's stick cancelling the scoring chance.  The period ends 4 on 4 again but this time it was Jeff Braithwaite of Windsor and Alex Aleardi for the Whalers going off for roughing. The shots at the end of the period 35-14 in favour of Windsor but the score remained 2-2. After the game when asked how being tied at this point felt, Braithwaite said "Its a positive to look up and see the shots, but we got to take advantage of our shots".

The third period started with a 4 on 4 and shortly after Windsor got another powerplay. Austin Levi got called for cross checking and this powerplay was a strong one, ending with a post shot by Nick Holden. But it was still tied. This is when it began to fall apart for Windsor. Brady Vail took a hooking minor and Nick Ebert took a high sticking penalty which gave Plymouth a 27 second 5 on 3. After calling time out, Jamie Devan finishes a nice passing play to give the Whalers a 3-2 lead. The assists went to Rakell and Miller. But Plymouth gets bit by the penalty bug again and after Garrett Meurs took a hooking penalty, Jeff Braithwaite gets a powerplay goal. It was announced to his first as a Spitfire but after the game he told us "That wasn't my first. I scored in Guelph. They gave me the puck still". The assists went to Khoklachev and Chris Marchese and it appeared Windsor might be able to finish Plymouth off.  They get one final powerplay when Dario Trutmann went off for checking from behind but it was a bad powerplay that saw Windsor get past the blue line once; an offside play. Here the Spits called timeout in order to calm down but shortly after the game winning goal was scored. After the puck was turned over at the Spits blue line, Colin MacDonald flubbed a shot in on Cullen which some how beat him glove side with just over 2 minutes to go in the game. It was MacDonald's first goal of the year and it certainly was important. Though they pulled their goalie, Windsor couldn't tie the game. Plymouth pinned the puck along the boards behind their net and the Spits couldn't get it loose. The final score was 4-3 and the final shots were 41-24 Windsor.

After the game Nick Ebert told the press that with the game tied 2 to 2 after the second and the shots so heavily favouring the Spits "It was demoralizing but we tried to stay positive. We out shot them by so many shots there and we worked so hard, we just didn't come out with the two points". Braithwaite added "We probably deserved to win that game. Everyone played well, we just had some bad goals". He also added that coach Bob Boughner said "Keep your heads up, we deserved a better outcome".

The Spits still sat in 7th place in the Western Conference even with the loss. But they only were 4 points ahead of 9th place Guelph and had played 4 less games. Tonight was a better night for Windsor in the standings. Not only did Guelph lose to the Sarnia Sting, but Windsor actually won in London against the top seeded Knights. This win gives the Spitfires a 6 point cushion and slightly improves their playoff chances. Still, the Spits play their third game of the weekend Saturday against the Owen Sound Attack in a game to honour their late Captain Mickey Renaud. What a perfect time to get another win.