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(Chelsea, Michigan) The Windsor Spitfires opened their 2010 pre-season schedule in Chelsea, Michigan at the Arctic Coliseum against the West Division rival Plymouth Whalers. With 12 new faces in the lineup and newly appointed head coach Bob Jones behind the bench, the Windsor Spitfires hockey operations department had yet another opportunity to evaluate the new, incoming talent to select their squad for the 2010-2011 season.
In the opening frame, Plymouth had the early jump and scored the game’s opening goal as Max Iafrate, son of NHL alumnus Al Iafrate, unleashed a wrist shot from 20 feet out to take an early 1-0 lead. With both teams settling in after the first five minutes of play, both teams played a more physical brand of hockey and Spitfire forward Mitch Dunning left the game at the 8:53 mark after suffering an undisclosed injury following a hit from Plymouth’s Nick Malysa. The hit seemed to light a fire under the Spitfires and they dominated the rest of the period, keeping the Whalers pinned in their zone but were unable to beat Whalers goaltender Scott Wedgewood. Plymouth took their 1-0 lead to the dressing room after 20 minutes of play.
The second period was filled with physical play from both teams, with Spitfires forward Zack MacQueen and Whalers defenceman Nick Maylsa dropping the gloves just over the midway point of the second period. With few scoring chances for either side, Plymouth kept their one goal lead heading into the third period.
The third period saw the game open up, with each team getting chances on both ends. Spitfires goaltender Michael Nishi and Whalers goalie Matt Malahak matched each other save for save until Windsor evened the score at 1-1 on a Steven Trojanovic blast from the point with just over five minutes left in the game. With 1:40 left, the Spitfires took their first lead of the game, as Eric Locke banged home a Stephen Johnston rebound to give Windsor a 2-1 edge. Not to be outdone, the Whalers found themselves on the power play with less than a minute left in the game and pulled Mahalak from the Whaler goal for an extra attacker. With the 6 on 4 advantage, Stefan Noesen of Plymouth scored the game tying goal with 51 seconds left in the contest.
The game ended tied at 2-2 and both teams will meet again on Labour Day (Monday, September 6th) at the WFCU Centre. Game time is set for 2 p.m.