By Chris Lucas
In Play Magazine
The best way to describe tonight's game is playoff hockey as the Spitfires defeated the Whalers 6-3.
Adam Henrique started the scoring in this one as he banged home a rebound. But Ryan Hayes silenced the loud Windsor crowd with a goal to tie it up. With Windsor on the power play, Henrique and Matt Hackett started stirring things up as Henrique shoved Hackett's mask. Windsor would not capitalize on the power play and would head to the second tied.
Taylor Hall buried the first one in the second by roofing one with a beautiful snipe from the hash-marks. Then Justin Shugg scored on a one-timer and the Spits would start to pull away. Hall was sent on a breakaway, but was hauled down and was given a penalty shot but Hackett turned him away. Greg Nemisz however, would rifle a shot top corner to give Windsor the 4-1 lead.
After some rough play from both squads, Garrett Meurs finished the loose puck. Tyler Seguin followed up with a slap shot from the point that trickled through Troy Passingham's legs. Ryan Ellis would put this game out of reach though with a one-timer from the point and Shugg would put in his second of the game on an empty-netter to seal the win for Windsor.
The officiating in this game was terrible, there were five total fights including Harry Young being put through the gate and into the Plymouth bench. Hackett was shoved down on four different occasions and both teams were constantly throwing cheap shots at one another. This was truly playoff hockey.
Head Coach of the Spits Bob Boughner tells In Play! about how he wanted his team to play this type of game. “Before the game I told them I wanted to treat it like a playoff game. We did a good job and we played a hard 60 minutes.”
Tonight's In Play! Magazine player of the game goes to Hall. He scored an important second goal for Windsor and set up Ellis at the point to put Plymouth out of reach.
Spitfires’ Game Notes
Courtesy Windsor Spitfires
- With last night’s win, the CHL’s #3 ranked team snapped a two-game losing streak against the Whalers. The Spitfires are now 4-2-0-1 against the Whalers this season.
- Defenceman Ryan Ellis scored one goal and three assists, as he was named the first star of last night’s game. Ellis extended his point streak and assist streak to 14 consecutive games, which are the highest streaks posted amongst all OHL defensemen this season. Ellis’ assist streak is the second longest in the OHL this season behind teammate Taylor Hall’s 16 game assist streak and Ellis’ point streak is the fourth longest amongst all OHL players this season. He has 56 points in 43 games this season and is fourth amongst OHL defensemen in scoring and is also tied for fifth with teammate Taylor Hall in the league with a +34 plus-minus rating
- Defenceman Mark Cundari registered one assist in last night’s contest and he is ranked second in the OHL with a +39 plus-minus rating. Cundari is also sixth amongst OHL defencemen in scoring with 51 points in 57 games this season.
- Windsor records 52 shots on goal and outshot the Whalers 52-27, this was the 17th game in which the Spitfires have recorded 50 or more shots on goal in this season.
- Forward Justin Shugg scored two goals against the Whalers and he is ranked 16th in the OHL scoring race with 69 points in 60 games this season. He is also enjoying an eleven game point streak. Shugg is also tied for seventh in the OHL and for the team lead with teammate Taylor Hall in goals scored with 35 this season
- Forward Taylor Hall scored one goal and added one assist last night. He has recorded at least one point in 22 of his past 23 games. Hall is second overall in the OHL scoring race with 91 points in 52 games. Hall is tied for first in the OHL with 56 assists and is also tied for seventh in the OHL in goals scored with 35.
- Goaltender Troy Passingham secured the win for the Spitfires last night and is tied for the league lead with 34 wins this season, making 24 saves on 27 shots faced. He is also ranked fifth in the OHL with a 2.65 goals against average and is tied for fifth in the league with 3 shutouts.
- Four Spitfires are ranked in OHL’s top 20 scorers (Hall 2nd with 91 points, Nemisz tied for 14th with 70 points, Shugg 16th with 69 points, Henrique tied for 17th with 68 points)
- Windsor was without Zack Kassian due to suspension and lost Greg Nemisz to a thigh injury in the third period. Nemisz scored the game winning goal for the Spitfires at 17:23 of the second period last night.
- Windsor scored one goal on four play opportunities last night. Windsor is first in the league in power play efficiency, operating at a 26.7% clip. They have scored at least one power play goal in 22 of their past 24 games.
- Windsor killed all four of its penalties last night and are tied for third in the OHL in penalty killing at 84.5%
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