By Chris Lucas
In Play Magazine
Windsor blew out the Whalers 5-0 tonight as they now have a 3-0 lead in the series.
Dale Mitchell scored early to give Windsor the early lead. From there on out, it was nothing but Windsor.
Adam Henrique banged home a rebound in the second to score the only goal of the second period.
Eric Wellwood scored in the third and that's when it all started. The Windsor players and fans started getting under the Whalers players skin. Starting with defencemen Leo Jenner getting kicked out of the game. From there Ryan Ellis and Mitchell both scored on the power play to take their lead to 5-0. after that, Derek Lanoue and Matt Hackett collided, causing Hackett to throw punches with his blocker at Lanoue's head. Plymouth's Head Coach Michael Vellucci was also tossed from the game and that's how it would end.
Head Coach of the Spits Bob Boughner tells In Play! how he's glad the fans are helping them out.
“Our job is to try and frustrate the other team. It's great at home when the fans are chanting and we got that energy off it but, we had a lot of fans come over to Plymouth and that was a good thing about game two. We felt that presence from the fans and that helps us out.”
Taylor Hall explains to In Play! how you need to protect yourself when games start getting ugly.
“I didn't play when we went up 5-0, I just sat on the bench the last eight minutes and even if I went out there I'm sure I would have had Kassian on my side.”
Tonight's In Play! Magazine player of the game goes to Philipp Grubauer. He was given the shut-out in tonight's contest and had 16 saves. Even though there weren't a lot of shots, there were still a lot of times where he had to make a big save.
Grubauer tells In Play! how the team played well defensively.
“Our whole team did an awesome job in our end and they made it pretty easy for me back there.”
On Wednesday, Windsor travels to Plymouth to try for the sweep in game four. Game time will start at 7 p.m.
Hackett may be out for the next game due to suspension for punching Lanoue with his blocker. Check back to In Play! for further information.
Game Notes
- With tonight’s 5-0 win, Windsor takes a 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Semi-Finals of the 2010 OHL Playoffs. Windsor outshot the Whalers 36 to 16 in the contest and have won their first seven playoff games of the 2010 post-season and can close out the series with a Game four win in Plymouth on Wednesday. Game time in Plymouth is set for 7:05 pm.
- Defenceman Ryan Ellis scored one goal and added two assists in the contest and was named the Penalty Box’s First Star of the game. He is leading the series in scoring with nine points in three games. Ellis is ranked first amongst all OHL defencemen, second on the Spitfires and third in league scoring with 15 points in seven games. He also leads all defencemen and is second in the league with 13 assists. Ellis has recorded points in each of the Spitfires seven playoff games, posting multi-point performances in his past five games.
- Forward Dale Mitchell scored two goals in the contest, the second consecutive game in which he has scored a pair of goals, and was selected as the Penalty Box’s Second Star of the game. He has six goals and four assists in seven Spitfire playoff games and is second on the team’s goal scoring list and third overall in team scoring during the playoffs.
- Forward Taylor Hall registered two assists in the game and was selected as the Penalty Box’s Third Star of the game. Hall has enjoyed multi-point performances in each of Windsor’s seven playoff wins. Hall is currently ranked first in the OHL with nine goals and leads the entire league with a +12 plus-minus rating. He is also tied for second in the OHL with 16 points in the playoffs and second in scoring during this series with eight points in three games.
- Goaltender Philipp Grubauer wins his seventh consecutive game of the playoffs, stopping all 16 shots that he faced for his first career shutout. He is ranked first in the OHL with seven playoffs wins, third in the OHL with a 2.02 goals against average and seventh in the league with a .916 save percentage.
- Forwards Adam Henrique and Eric Wellwood scored one goal each in Windsor’s victory, marking the second consecutive game that they have each scored. Henrique is ranked third on the Spitfires with five goals during the playoffs. Henrique has nine points and Wellwood has registered seven points in seven playoff games each.
- Defencemen Ryan Ellis, Marc Cantin and Mark Cundari as well as forward Adam Henrique are all tied for seventh in the OHL’s plus-minus department with +8 ratings during the playoffs. Cundari is also tied for fourth amongst all OHL defencemen in scoring with seven points in seven games.
- Windsor scored two power play goals on nine opportunities tonight. The team’s power play is ranked second overall in the OHL, operating at a 28.9% clip during the playoffs.
- Windsor killed all six of Plymouth’s power play opportunities tonight. The Spitfires are first in the OHL, killing 92.5% of their penalties during the playoffs.
- Forward Stephen Johnston missed the game due to injury.
Spitfires’ Series Recap
2010 Windsor Spitfires “CODE RED” Playoff Run – Round Two
#1 Windsor vs. #4 Plymouth – OHL Western Conference Semi-Final Series (Round Two), 2010 OHL Playoffs
Game 1 Thursday, April 1st – Plymouth at Windsor, 7:05 pm (Windsor wins 5-1)
Game 2 Saturday, April 3rd – Windsor at Plymouth, 7:05 pm (Windsor wins 5-3)
Game 3 Monday, April 5th – Plymouth at Windsor, 7:05 pm (Windsor wins 5-0)
Game 4 Wednesday, April 7th – Windsor at Plymouth, 7:05 pm
Game 5 Thursday, April 8th – Plymouth at Windsor, 7:05 pm *
Game 6 Saturday, April 10th – Windsor at Plymouth, 7:05 pm *
Game 7 Monday, April 12th – Plymouth at Windsor, 7:05 pm *
* If necessary
