PATIENCE KEY FOR SPITFIRES
Bigger role for overager McEneny
The backbone of the Windsor Spitfires’ defence last season leaned heavily on a four-man core of Jalen Chatfield, Logan Stanley, Mikhail Sergachev and Sean Day.
Together and healthy at the Memorial Cup, those four logged heavy minutes, including special teams play, to lead the team to the title, but the club is facing the possibility that all four will not return this season.
Chatfield has graduated, Stanley has been traded and Sergachev and Day could remain in pro hockey if NHL clubs deem each ready to play and not return them to Windsor.
That leaves the team’s Memorial Cup third pairing of Austin McEneny and Tyler Nother to not only assume some of those heavy minutes, but to also provide leadership to what is shaping up to be a very young defensive unit.
“It’s a big change,” the 20-yearold McEneny said. “My role last year, it wasn’t easy getting ice time. There were guys in front of me I wasn’t going to beat out.
“Now, I’m an overage guy and I’ve got to be more of a leader. This year, I’m coming in with a more expectations and a lot more on my shoulders. It’s a big step for me and I’m excited to start it.”
The 19-year-old Nother is entering his third season with the Spitfires after coming over in a trade with London in 2015.
“There’ll be new opportunities this year that I didn’t get last year just because of the players we had,” Nother said. “Everyone’s going to get fresh opportunities and going to grow.”
The only other player on the team’s back end with any experience in the league is Connor Corcoran, who was the team’s top pick in the 2016 OHL draft.
“We kind of protected him last year and he really only played about 10 games back there,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said of Corcoran. “We like Corky and we have to see. He’s got a little bit of experience and we expect a lot.”
The team’s other four defencemen — Nathan Staios, Louka Henault, Russian import pick Lev Starikov and Thomas Stevenson — have never played a game in the league.
“It’ll be interesting on defence with the young guys,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said. “That will be our strength next year. In the meantime, there’ll be some hiccups just from young defencemen being in the lineup every night.”
Letowski admits the club will lean heaving on McEneny, who was a camp invite last year after playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Nother.
“It’s just going to be a totally different feel to the defence,” Letowski said. “Mac will be really leaned on. He played important minutes for most of the year. He’s got real good experience.
“Nother’s a guy we really liked, but under the circumstances there wasn’t a lot of ice time (last year). We’re hoping he can take a big step and we need him to. If does what he’s capable of, he can be relied on to play heavy minutes.”
The Spitfires have high hopes for the four rookies on defence. Staios, who is the son of former NHL defenceman Steve Staios, was the team’s first-round pick in this year’s OHL draft. Henault was the club’s second pick, while the six-foot-seven, 190-pound Starikov was the team’s secondround pick in the CHL Import Draft. The six-foot-three, 200-pound Stevenson was a late pick by the Spitfires in 2015, but made strides the past two seasons to earn a contract.
“We’re going to have a lot of younger players and, being an older guy, my responsibility is to help them adjust because I remember when I was 16,” Nother said.
Taking on a bigger role and helping the younger guys make a smooth transition to the OHL will go a long way in the club’s development and playoff hopes this season.
“We went to Buffalo and I was very impressed,” McEneny said of the young players. “With the hard work these guys do, you tell them what to do and they want to learn. They want to develop and they want to make the team better.”