A gutsy battle waged by a young Spitfires club ended Thursday night, as the London Knights capped an opening round series sweep with an 8-3 win at the WFCU Centre. The game was the last in the Ontario Hockey League for overagers John Cullen, Zack MacQueen and Derek Holden.
Kerby Rychel, Chris Marchese and Michael Clarke scored for Windsor.
Ryan Rupert scored three goals for London and Chris Tierney added a pair, as the Knights moved on to the Western Conference semi-finals.
"I knew we were in tough," head coach Bob Boughner told windsorspitfires.com. "I thought when it started we could win a game or two and make it interesting. But that didn't happen."
Boughner said he wants his young returning core to take something from the experience.
"I talked to them about remembering this feeling. About turning this into something positive down the road."
SCORING
1ST PERIOD
LDN R.RUPERT (1) (WELYCHKA, HORVAT) 4:09
LDN WELYCHKA (1) (ATHANASIOU, MAATTA) 7:56
WSR RYCHEL (2) 16:22
2ND PERIOD
LDN MCKEGG (1) (NAMESTNIKOV) 1:10
LDN R.RUPERT (2) (MCKEGG, GRIFFITH) 3:18 PP
LDN TIERNEY (2) (ANDERSON, TINORDI) 7:12
3RD PERIOD
WSR MARCHESE (1) (DEVLIN, JOHNSON) 13:05
LDN R.RUPERT (3) (DOMI, COOK) 14:49 PP
LDN TIERNEY (3) 17:18 SH
LDN ATHANASIOU (1) 18:11 SH
WSR CLARKE (1) (POSA, BATEMAN) 19:26
SHOTS
WSR 13 - 7 - 19 = 39
LDN 10 - 14 - 16 = 40
PPS
WSR 0-FOR-2
LDN 2-FOR-5
