Mickey top of mind for DiPietro and Co.

The Windsor Spitfires were dealing with a lot of emotions Sunday.

The club played its annual game to mark the anniversary of former captain Mickey Renaud’s death and also faced the loss of leading scorer Jane Smith, who was handed an eight-game suspension Saturday for violating the Canadian Hockey League’s anti-doping policy.

Inspired by a tribute video and ceremony for Renaud and shaking off Smith’s loss, the Spitfires posted the club’s most lopsided victory of the season with a 7-0 win over the Flint Firebirds before a season-high crowd of 6,098 at the WFCU Centre.

“This game had a whole bunch of titles you can put on it,” Spitfires goaltender Mikey DiPietro said. “With our game, we wanted to represent Mickey with pride. It was more for playing for Mickey. Mickey definitely being No. 1, but it was a big game no matter what.”

Club officials said the 20-yearold Smith’s positive test came from taking an over-the-counter sinus medication.

“While attempting to recover from an upper respiratory tract infection, Jake purchased an over-the-counter cold and sinus medication, which contained an ingredient that is restricted by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s ( WADA) prohibited list,” Spitfires athletic therapist Joey Garland said in a statement.

“Even though he took the recommended dosage, Jake’s sample slightly exceeded the acceptable limit for pseudoephedrine set for by WADA, and administration, on behalf of the CHL by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). Jake was unaware that the medicine contained pseudoephedrine and was merely trying to get healthy.”

The Spitfires shook off Smith’s loss by getting seven goals from six different players as the club has taken seven of a possible eight points in its last four games.

“I was worried about missing him,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said of Smith’s loss. “He’s our top scorer and we have a tough time scoring goals to begin with.

“I was a little concerned, but kind of nice timing that Igor (Larionov) was able to come back in (after missing 16 games with a concussion) and he was ready. I knew that would help a bit.”

The Spitfires scored six times in the opening period and outshot the Firebirds 17-4 in the first 20 minutes to take control. The last time Windsor put up six goals in the opening period was Dec. 20, 2013, in an 11-6 win over Saginaw.