Year after Cup win, where are they now?
There was no cake cutting or special ceremony to mark the occasion for the Windsor Spitfires. Monday marked the club’s oneyear anniversary of its historic Memorial Cup title run on home ice at the WFCU Centre and the club celebrated with the simple release of a team video. “There’s no reunion or anything,” said Spitfires goalie Mikey DiPietro, who spent the day with other Vancouver Canucks prospects in Toronto. “The game is so busy all the time, guys are everywhere and it’s hard to keep in contact, but when you do, you haven’t missed a beat. That’s why I love the game of hockey.” After being knocked out in the first round of the OHL playoffs, the Spitfires were forced to sit on the sidelines for 44 days before the 99th Memorial Cup opened and then promptly went unbeaten in the event. A 4-3 win over the OHL champion Erie Otters made the Spitfires the first club to lose in the first round of the playoffs and come back to win the Memorial Cup.
“Now, looking back full year, you put in perspective how hard things were to get there and you appreciate getting there,” DiPietro said. “It just shows, if you get hot at right time and the stars align, the hard work pays off.” But soon after the championship, the Spitfires began a rebuild of the roster with an eye to the future and few pieces remain from that roster. Following is a look at last year’s championship roster and where each is a year later. Austin McEneny: Overage defenceman was traded to Kitchener in January, but a shoulder injury ended his season in the conference final.
Jeremiah Addison: Co-captain had five goals in four games for Spitfires at Memorial Cup, but Montreal Canadiens prospect had shoulder surgery that sidelined him from making his pro debut with the Laval Rocket until March 23 and he played just six games.
Gabriel Vilardi: An all-star at Memorial Cup after picking up seven points in four games, he was a first-round NHL pick by the Los Angeles Kings. A back injury sidelined him for half a season and when he was ready to return, he was traded to the Kingston Frontenacs.
Logan Stanley: First of seven players traded for the rebuild. Served as an alternate captain for Kitchener and helped the team to the Western Conference final. Adam Laishram: Opted not to return for an overage season and headed St. Francis Xavier University, which went to the U SPORTS men’s gold-medal match and lost to the University of Alberta.
Logan Brown: Started the season in the NHL with Ottawa, was returned to Windsor, but became another victim of the rebuild and was traded to Kitchener.
Julius Nattinen: Finnish centre started his first pro season in the Anaheim Ducks’ farm system. Had four goals and 12 points in 55 games for the San Diego Gulls. Cole Purboo: Rookie fourth-line grinder for Memorial Cup team ended up the leading scorer on the roster with 21 goals and 49 points in 68 games.
Hayden McCool: Wanted to finish his junior career closer to home and Spitfires obliged with a trade to the Oshawa Generals. He is expected to play university hockey at Ryerson in the fall.
Tyler Nother: Started the season with the Spitfires, but forced to retire from hockey due to concussion issues. He’s now a student at Queen’s University. Mikhail Sergachev: Another club all-star from the Memorial Cup, he had another year of junior hockey eligibility, but made the jump to the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a standout season as the team reached the Eastern Conference final. Graham Knott: Another that made the jump to pro hockey as the Chicago Blackhawks’ prospect posted four goals and nine points in 70 games for AHL Rockford.
Jalen Chatfield: Co-captain signed as a free agent by the Vancouver Canucks, he earned high praise for his first season in the AHL with Utica where he had two goals and seven points in 60 games.
Luke Boka: Shot-blocking specialist played a bigger offensive role as one of the few returning Spitfires this past season and also a key part of the team’s leadership group.
Sean Day: Former exceptional status player was returned the Spitfires early in the season by the New York Rangers and he became another rebuilding piece for the future after being dealt to Kingston.
Aaron Luchuk: Scored the gamewinning goal in the Memorial Cup final and became the team’s heart-and-soul captain, but was traded to the Barrie Colts just before signing a free-agent deal with the Ottawa Senators. Cristiano DiGiacinto: Scrappy winger started the year in pro hockey with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen, but eventually opted to begin his university career at Acadia.
Jeremy Bracco: He set up Luchuk’s game-winning goal and moved on to pro hockey with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, who are currently playing in the AHL’s Calder Cup final.
Michael DiPietro: Memorial Cup all-star goalie was an NHL pick by the Vancouver Canucks and returned to the club and became the first Spitfires goalie ever named OHL’s goalie of the year. Mario Culina: Started the season playing university hockey, was picked up by Sudbury and eventually landed in Kitchener and was reunited with former teammates Brown, McEneny and Stanley. Rocky Thompson: Turned his Memorial Cup title into a deal with the expansion Las Vegas Knights to become head coach of the team’s AHL farm team in Chicago, which finished first in its division.
Trevor Letowski: Jumped from associate coach to head coach after Thompson’s departure and guided team to a sixth-place finish in a tough Western Conference. Finished third in voting for OHL coach of the year.
Jarred Smith: Became Letowski’s right-hand man and after guiding the team to a 5-2-1-0 mark while he was away with world junior team and earned a promotion to associate coach.
Warren Rychel: Had pro interest after building his third Memorial Cup champion in nine years. He built the championship team in 2016-17 by bringing in eight players and eight draft picks while shipping out three players and 22 draft picks with 13 of those being second-round picks and another four picks in the third round. Turned around to start a rebuild this season by acquiring 12 picks along towering centre Curtis Douglas and former firstround OHL picks Cody Morgan and Grayson Ladd.