New OHL Segment

I am moving up in the journalism world. No longer am I just a blogger but now I have media access to the home games of the Windsor Spitfires. My first game was last night when the rebuilding Spits took on the high flying London Knights. I have decided that since most of the Spits games are Thursday nights, Friday will be the day for an OHL segment, giving an update on the standings as well as recapping the Spits games from the past week.  Hopefully this experience is just the beginning of my journalism career.

The Knights entered last nights game with a four point lead on the Plymouth Whalers for first in the Western Conference while the Spitfires had a three point lead over eighth place Guelph and ninth place Sault Ste. Marie. The top eight make the playoffs meaning the Spitfires have to keep wining if the want to play past the regular season.

Their performance last night though was not that of a team looking to sneak into the playoffs. Sure London was faster and more experienced but Windsor still was not competing nearly enough. Many times their breakout passes would be intercepted they did not register many shots to start the game and their starting goalie barely lasted fourteen minutes. I have been to many Spits games this season as a fan and I know they can play better than that. They did beat the Knights at the start of the year on October 7th but since London has added players while Windsor has lost players. The teams play once more on Febuary 17th in London and I am sure the game will be more competitive.

Here is how the game played out by period.

In the first period London broke out and scored three goals on their first eight shots, getting starting goalie Jaroslav Pavelka pulled. The scoring was opened when Jarred Knight put a puck on net from the high boards and it deflected off a stick and through Pavelka's legs. It wasn't the hardest shot, but by changing directions it was able to find its way past the goalie. The assists went to Greg McKegg and Max Domi. Shortly after, Vladislav Namestnikov showed why he was a first round pick with a nifty back hand pass from behind the net right onto the stick of Josh Anderson who potted an easy goal. Namestnikov must have known his NHL GM Steve Yzerman was watching as he was putting on a show with his passes. The other assist went to Chris Tierney. After many London rushes Andreas Athanasiou was able to dangle around three Spits players for a scoring chance, but he was hooked by Michael Clarke, giving London their first power play. With a very fast cycle game and lots of quick passes the Knights powerplay connected with Seth Griffith getting his first goal and team leading 37th. The assist went to Austin Watson and the goal brought an end to Pavelka's night. He was replaced by sixteen year old Jordan Dekort making his OHL debut. The Knights continued to get scoring chances for most of the period while Windsor was not able to get many shots. The period ended with a couple fights. Nick Ebert on Windsor took on rookie Ryan Rupert of London, a short fight as both players quickly fell. Then, as soon as the puck was dropped, Ty Bilcke of Windsor and Kyle Flemington on London fought with each player landing some solid punches. The fight was Bilcke's league leading 30th of the year. The period ended with London out shooting Windsor 11-5.

The second period was more of the same from both teams. Neither team had many chances at the beginning but London was able to score once. Griffith got his second of the game on a nice shot from the slot. The assists went to Bo Horvat and Jarred Tinordi. The rest of the period saw both teams try to get scoring chances and it was Windsor's best period of the night. Saverio Posa on Windsor hit the post and Kerby Rychel saw his two on one with Alexander Khokhlachev get broken up by London's Tyler Ferry. Former Knight Corry Perry of the Anaheim Ducks, who play in Detroit against the Red Wings tonight, was at the game as well as Tie Domi who was watching his son Max on London. Max set up Greg McKeg with a nice pass but McKeg ran out of room and his backhand shot was an easy save for Dekort. With 19 seconds left in the period, Nick Ebert shot the puck over the glass giving London a powerplay to start the third. The period ended with Windsor out shooting London 12-5 in the period and 17-16 in the game.

London started the third period with five forwards on their powerplay. McKeg and Rupert played the points while Knight, Namestnikov and Watson were on forward. This gave London plenty of offensive opportunities but this time they could not convert.  Both teams then continued the same back and forth play of the second period with both teams turning the puck over before getting a scoring chance. Ebert, Posa and Bateman did a good job intercepting passes but they also saw their own passes get intercepted a few times. With under ten minutes to go, Griffith completed his hat trick on passes from his talented line mates Watson and Namestnikov. From there London kept the offence coming and nothing was going right for Windsor. The Spits got their first power play of the game with three minutes left when Griffith got two for roughing and two for high sticking while Clarke got two for roughing. Then with two minutes and one second to play, Horvat shot the puck over the glass and also went to the box giving Windsor a five on three. They called time out but could not get any shots past Ferry and Scott Harrington who each made a couple blocks. The game ended with the score of 5-0 and with London out shooting Windsor 28-25.

I really enjoyed being able to experience the Spits game from a different perspective and look forward to doing it again when the Spits take on the Erie Otters. The other scores around the league did not really affect the Spits standings position but the Spits still need to win some games to remain in playoff position.

Last night saw four other games around the league.

Niagara 11 Mississauga 0

Owen Sound 4 Brampton 2

Peterborough 5 Owen Sound 4

Sarnia 3 Barrie 2

You can expect to read some more OHL posts on this blog in the future. This media pass is a great oppertunity to get to know other writers and journalists, form connections and build a portfolio. I look forward to continuing that adventure.

Please comment below or email me at josh@jbenny.com with feedback on my writing. You can follow me on Twitter @jbenny15 and you can visit my website www.jbenny.com.