SPITS TROUNCED BY RELENTLESS ATTACK
One-sided loss cause for grumbling among home fans, who mock-cheer home team
For the most part this season, fans of the Windsor Spitfires have been patient and understanding of the team’s rebuilding plan after last season’s Memorial Cup title.
There have been some spotty efforts and some games where the young club was simply overmatched by age, experience or talent, but rarely have the Spitfires been embarrassed on the ice.
Patience ran thin all around on Thursday as the Spitfires were humbled in a 9-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack before 4,691 at the WFCU Centre that often drew mocking applause for the home team.
“There’s not really much to say after a game like that,” Spitfires overage defenceman Zach Shankar said. “Obviously, we came out flat, didn’t follow the game plan and that’s what happens against a team like that with just tons of skill up front and on the back end.” In a battle with Saginaw and Guelph for the final three seeds in the Western Conference, the Spitfires aren’t even looking at a playoff matchup against the Attack, who are battling London for fourth in the conference. Windsor is eyeing a first-round matchup with a nationally ranked team — Sault Ste Marie, Kitchener or Sarnia — and Thursday was not a good omen as to how that could play out. “They’re just like a team we’re going to play in the playoffs,” Shankar said of the Attack. “So obviously, we know what to expect. “Nothing ’s going to be easy and if we’re not ready to play 100 per cent, everyone in the lineup, we’re not going to win games.” A bad pinch by defenceman Lev Starikov allowed the Attack to head back two-on-one and Maksimi Sushko had the Attack on the board less than two minutes into the game.
“We missed assignments early and often,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said.
Nick Suzuki and Mitchell Russell extended the Owen Sound lead to 3-0 in the second period before Mathew MacDougall got the Spitfires on the board.
But the goal brought no momentum as the Attack countered with goals from Daylon Groulx, Suzuki, Jonah Gadjovich, Ethan Szypula and Marino Moro to close the period and turn the game into a runaway at 8-1 after 40 minutes, which drew a sarcastic cheer from the crowd when the last minute of the period was announced.
“Their fourth goal was a tough bounce for (goaltender Mikey DiPietro) and it seems we didn’t have a response for it after that,” Shankar said.
The Spitfires have allowed nine goals to an opponent twice this season and both have come at the hands of the Attack, who outscored Windsor 28-12 in four meetings this season. “They were executing at a very high level and we just didn’t play well,” Letowski said. “They exposed us in all areas. You get down a lot of goals and our game just slid away. You just have to throw that one away this time of year.”
Windsor remains tied with
Saginaw for seventh place in the conference and holds the tiebreaker while trailing sixthplace Guelph by a point. All three teams have two games left. “There’s not enough time (left) in the season to pout about that game,” Shankar said. “We obviously have two big games coming up this weekend. Sixth (place) is still available to us to get, if we win them both, so we just have to put this game behind us.”