Spits lose 8th straight to Attack in Owen Sound

9-2 drubbing up north marks eighth consecutive road loss to Attack

Windsor Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski can see the big picture.

The club’s first three games in three nights test of the season ended in a humbling 9-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack, who are ranked No. 2 in the Canadian Hockey League, on Saturday before a crowd of 2,941 at the J.D. McArthur Arena.

However, under the circumstances, a young Windsor team that has leaned heavily on its veteran players came away from the stretch with three out of a possible six points with two of those games against nationally ranked teams.

“Tough schedule,” said Letowski, who was back at practice on Monday. “We got the Sault, we got Owen Sound and the Guelph team’s good, too, (but) we took three points.”

For a team still looking to integrate youth into the lineup, the reality is this will be a learning process throughout the season and being able to play .500 hockey each week is a feat that will likely lead to the team’s ultimate goal of a playoff spot at the end of the season.

But players weren’t looking to make excuses for a Saturday game that quickly got out of hand.

“We really didn’t come to play and they’re a really good team and exposed us,” Spitfires forward Cole Purboo said.

The tiny confines of the J.D. McArthur Arena make it a tough spot to play. Windsor has lost eight-straight games in Owen Sound with the club’s last win coming in overtime back on Oct. 27, 2013.

“It’ll humble you,” Letowski said. “It’s the first real, true adversity we’ve had as a young group.

“Everything’s kind of went great so far. It’s just a game we let get away from us. It just shows we’ve got lots of work to do here.”

Windsor produced just 15 shots in the game while the Attack had 17 in the first period and built a 4-0 lead on a pair of goals by Jonah Gadjovich and singles by Nick Szuki and Aidan Dudas.

“It’s a small barn and you have to be ready to go off the hop,” Spitfires overage defenceman Austin McEneny said. “Three (games) in three (nights) and we just weren’t ready. There’s no excuse. We have to come ready for the games.”

But McEneny is one of a handful of veterans logging heavy minutes on a Windsor team trying to protect its younger players, and fatigue looked like it finally caught up to them.

“We really lean on a few guys, so it’s hard on them,” Letowski said. “It’s a lot of hockey. I’m sure that was a factor.”

Two Alan Lyszczarczyk powerplay goals pushed Owen Sound’s lead to 6-0 before Purboo broke the shutout, but Markus Phillips, Dudas and Struthers made it 9-1 Owen Sound. That’s when Letowski relented and pulled Brock Baier in favour of Michael DiPietro, who the club was trying to give a day of rest after playing the first six games to start the season.

“It’s his first game and it happens,” McEneny said of Baier, who allowed nine goals on 33 shots. “He’s got to shake it off. We’ve talked to him and hopefully he can move forward from here.”

Windsor rookie William Sirman scored his first Ontario Hockey League goal for the only marker in the third period as the Attack finished with a dominating 42-15 edge in shots.

“Take a couple of minutes to think about it and I’m done with it and I hope everyone else is done with it,” Purboo said of the loss. “It was a pretty bad game, but we can’t focus on that because we have a another game to play this week.”