Spitfires hit the road for three games on weekend
Last season’s young squad was among the OHL’s best away from home
The Windsor Spitfires’ surprise sixth-place finish in the Western Conference last season was partially built on a solid road record.
Now, the club hopes to build on that success from a year ago as it embarks on its first extended road trip of the season starting here in the nation’s capital on Friday against the 67’s. Game time at TD Place Arena is 7 p.m.
“I honestly like playing on the road better sometimes because you’re more focused and there are less distractions,” Spitfires forward Tyler Angle said. Despite icing one of the youngest rosters in the league last season, the Spitfires finished with a 16-171-0 record away from home. Only eight teams in the league held a better road record in 2017-18. “It’s harder to win on the road, that’s just how it is at any level,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said. “It was something we were really proud of. We tried to be consistent in our game.” Windsor’s road record was just four points shy of matching the club’s mark at home, where the team picked up 37 points with a 16-13-3-2 record. “We had a lot of young guys and we took it pretty serious when we went on the road,” Angle said. The Spitfires will also play in Peterborough against the Petes on Saturday before wrapping up the trip on Sunday afternoon in Kingston against the Frontenacs, as the team also plays three games in three days for the first time this season.
“Honestly, it’s nice to have three games,” Letowski said. “(Twogame) weekends are tough. You just feel like you’re getting into games and then you’ve got to wait another week.”
But there are plenty of challenges associated with being on the road, including the long travel and bouncing from city to city. “You don’t get as much sleep as you would want to,” Spitfires forward Daniel D’Amico said. “It’s hard to adapt when you’re going from home to hotel. You have different rooms, different beds and different everything.”
The club will also have to deal with the hostile environment of an opposing rink and the opposition getting last change, which can sometimes leave some of Windsor’s young players out against older and more developed players. “I remember my first year, it was difficult playing against the top lines in the league,” Angle said. “Sometimes that happens, and you just have to focus on getting the puck out and trying to stay focused, and get off after you get the puck out and let the other guys come on and do the work against that line.” But after last year’s success, the Spitfires are hoping to better last year’s road success. They’ll get plenty of chances to show that, with seven of the team’s next nine games away from the WFCU Centre.
“I think we can be even better,” Angle said. “I think we have a better skill team than last year right now. We’re more competitive in the lineup and the lines and pretty equal.”
For D’Amico, the key to success, especially being away from home, is to work hard. That’s a message he hopes the younger players understand.
“Just work hard and get on every puck,” said D’Amico, who scored an overtime winning goal in Ottawa as a rookie last season. “That’s what the coaches want to see. If you’re working hard, you’re going to get a lot of shifts. That’s what brought my game up a level last year.”